The New Plan for Net Neutrality

Recently the FCC has decided to take an approach to the issue of net neutrality. They have decided to take a “hybrid solution” that will try to regulate Internet traffic. With many people debating about the future of the Internet, it is hard to say if anyone will be satisfied with any solution to this problem. That is why with this new plan the FCC hopes that they will satisfy both the cable companies and tech companies that support it.

The new plan is devised through a “split the baby” approach that will try to please everyone. Through this plan, the FCC decided to have both a “Whole Sale” and “Retail” regulation for the data that is transmitted through the Internet. The whole sale part comprises of the exchange of data between the content providers and the I.S.P and the retail part will comprise of the data that users will access. Both parts of this plan will be regulated by the FCC and they will try to regulate both portions of the exchange of data. Also, through this plan the I.S.P will be treated as a common carrier and they won’t be able to charge companies more money to provide better services to users. With this plan in place the FCC will allow more regulations that will provide for more equality for data transfers but at the same time allow for specialized services for companies that have special needs. However, opponents of this plan believe that this is another mixed up approach that will apply different regulations and laws to support it. With this plan, I.S.P and the FCC can find loop holes that will allow them to do anything that they want without the user’s consents. These are the arguments that people place on the fight for net neutrality and it shows the different disagreements on the freedom of data exchange on the Internet.

All of these arguments are leading to FCC regulations over the Internet. While I believe that there is some government regulation over the Internet, it shouldn't be blown up to this proportion. While the I.S.P is over stepping the bounds on what they are doing, the FCC should just enforce the regulations that they already have to provide net neutrality. However, they should focus on the real problem that is causing all of this drama. They should focus on the broadband that is connecting the whole country. The main reason why we are worrying about new neutrality is that the service the I.S.P provides isn't allowing it to serve all users equally. That is why content providers have to pay more to allow for their content to be presented faster to users. However, if broadband speeds and bandwidth are increased then the I.S.P can provide data at equal rates. If the bandwidth could support more traffic then there wouldn't be any need to pay the I.S.P more money because all of this traffic could be handled. That is why the FCC should focus more on these problems instead on worrying about the current ones that they have.  If they were cyber libertarians then they would focus on the bigger picture and they would not worry about the government regulating them because there would be no need for them. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/technology/fcc-considering-hybrid-regulatory-approach-to-net-neutrality.html?_r=0