The FCC’s call for comments on net neutrality ended on Friday and, as Wired News reports, over 11,000 individuals had something to say on the issue. As much as I like the idea of people getting involved in politics, the NN issue has brought out the sad, herd-like, mentality of a lot of people who simply want to vent against what they see as “the fabulously wealthy and the corporate world” (see Wired piece).
Net neutrality is a non-issue that became a big issue BECAUSE some fabulously wealthy corporations (think Google and Ebay here) wanted everyone to get into a tizzy so they had better bargaining chips for broadband prices for themselves. Indeed, the nature of the net neutrality debate was recently revealed when a bill to establish net neutrality principles was defeated in Maine. After the defeat, supporters of net neutrality claimed a victory simply because the legislature agreed to a non-binding resolution to study the issue. Claiming success when the reality is actually defeat smacks of the kind of tactics corrupt dictatorships resort to in their last days. Perhaps this is a sign that the net neutrality militia is about to go belly-up.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.