Opinion
Don’t Gut Net Neutrality. It’s Good for People and Business
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Network neutrality is crucial for growth of both new and established companies; virtually all sales, from the largest company to the smallest new business, now rely on the internet.
By Nicholas Economides
The invention and commercialization of the internet is one of the things that makes America great. And what makes the internet great is the easy, unrestricted, and free availability of all kinds of information, regardless of the content provider, a regime known as network neutrality. Having supported the fast growth of internet-based companies that currently serve as the backbone of today’s US economy, net neutrality is pro-business, pro-growth, and pro-freedom.
But President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison to the Federal Communications Commission’s transition team sends a clear message: Net neutrality is in grave danger. Eisenach consulted for Verizon, and Jamison worked for Sprint. These companies, together with AT&T and cable TV providers, are fierce enemies of network neutrality, since the system limits their ability to exercise market power and exploit content providers and consumers. Without net neutrality rules, prioritization of internet traffic by telecom and cable companies would skew the competition for content, as well as tilt the scales in the dissemination of all political and social views in favor of websites and companies that are able to pay internet access providers.
Read the full article as published in WIRED.
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Nicholas Economides is a Professor of Economics.
But President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison to the Federal Communications Commission’s transition team sends a clear message: Net neutrality is in grave danger. Eisenach consulted for Verizon, and Jamison worked for Sprint. These companies, together with AT&T and cable TV providers, are fierce enemies of network neutrality, since the system limits their ability to exercise market power and exploit content providers and consumers. Without net neutrality rules, prioritization of internet traffic by telecom and cable companies would skew the competition for content, as well as tilt the scales in the dissemination of all political and social views in favor of websites and companies that are able to pay internet access providers.
Read the full article as published in WIRED.
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Nicholas Economides is a Professor of Economics.