Am I The Only Techie Against Net Neutrality?

by Joshua Steimle

As near as I can gather, just about anyone who is steeped in technology is in favor of “Net Neutrality” legislation. I am no fan of Comcast or any other ISP I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with and I’m skeptical of large businesses generally and dislike being on their side, but in this case I can’t help it. As a tech entrepreneur and U.S. citizen I am firmly opposed to Net Neutrality as legislation or policy (I have no problem with it as a principle) and any other regulation of the Internet by any government. In taking this stand, I realize I may be the only techie, if I can aspire to that label, opposed to Net Neutrality and that I open myself to accusations of killing the dreams of young entrepreneurs, wrecking free speech, and destroying the Internet. Nevertheless, here are three reasons I’m against Net Neutrality.

Am I The Only Techie Against Net Neutrality? [continued…]


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2 responses to “Am I The Only Techie Against Net Neutrality?”

  1. John Galt Avatar
    John Galt

    @Will Tower – Obviously, by your canned reply, you didn’t read the whole article. Click the link to the website with the rest of the facts and try and read with an open mind. I know it’s hard when the elitist, corporate-owned media is bombarding us with why Net Neutrality is a good thing. But you have to ask yourself why are they FOR it?… along with most of the big corporate players???

  2. Will Tower Avatar
    Will Tower

    Sir, I believe you may have fundamentally misunderstood the issue at play here. Net Neutrality is of course an important part of the internet and the only reason it’s been brought up in the fcc is through a series of legal battles, which large cable companies have instigated through infringements of the principle (See, Netflix). You have listed out a series of programs and things the government has ruined through regulation, but I fail to see how that applies here. It is a regulation, but it is one that will protect consumers and content creators whilst preventing the middleman from taking too large a cut. Small companies would easily rise up to compete if the contracts surrounding the business allowed for it on the principle of service alone, and besides, if capatilism were allowed without this regulation the action requires constant shopping from the consumer to make sure that the little guy hasn’t taken some of the sweetness out of the deal. I fail to see how a regulation that promotes entrepreneurship in small websites and protects consumers could be bad.

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