Net Neutrality (blog #2)

OK.   Here we go.  Talk about stressed out in 2010.  It’s all about technology growing too large too fast and nobody knows what to do with(about) it. 

Regulating broadband (against Net Neutrality) is absurd.  How much of the ice berg we call freedom are we going to let the government chip away at before we realize it’s too late to turn back?  The lending crisis and the recent exposure of government greed proven by the ever widening gap between the upper and lower classes of the United States should be enough for the majority of U.S. citizens to take their rights seriously and quit being made fools of. 

The government and some of the big corporations such as Comcast are panicking.  Internet technology has grown so fast and so large no one knows how to handle it.  Comcast is afraid of losing its rank among the large broadband corporations so they are trying to get the government to make laws that will give them the power to have control over the Internet freedom we have now so that they can keep their rank by force rather than performance.  If Comcast would spend half as much energy producing a great product at prices consumers couldn’t turn down they wouldn’t have to worry about it.  Instead, they are approaching their fears the wrong way.  If net neutrality is shot down and Comcast sets precedence for this type of regulation more regulation of its type will follow and this is scary.

In an episode of “Q&A” on C-SPAN, Brian Lamb was interviewing Meredith Whitney, Financial Analyst and CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC.  One of the questions asked Whitney’s opinion about Financial Regulation.  I felt her answer was a good answer regarding any kind of consumer regulation imposed by the Federal Government.  Whitney answered, “If you underestimate your audience, your audience will turn on you and I think politicians have grossly underestimated the American people and that’s dangerous,” (Whitney, 2010).

Like Bob Pepper said in the video we watched in week 2 Bob Pepper on Net Neutrality, “does it mean do you want new regulation; no, you don’t need it,” (Pepper, 2010).   “Farber, one of the creators of the Internet, said that, if issues feared by net neutrality advocates do arise, there are already laws to deal with them.  “Antitrust law works fairly well and can be used effectively if someone gets out of line, and the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] has the ability to act if something egregious happens,” he said.  (Rash, 2010).

References:

Pepper, B. (no date given).  Bob Pepper on Net Neutrality.  HowStuffWorks.  Retrieved from https://cotc.angellearning.com/section/content/default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=51514380B47F4AD9BEFC97824E606A20.  November 1, 2010.

Rash, W. (2006). Net neutrality debate lingers. eWeek, 23(27), 17. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.  November 1, 2010.

Whitney, M. (2010).  Q&A.  C-SPAN.  Retrieved from http://www.q-and-a.org/search.aspx?For=Meredith+Whitney.  November 1, 2010.