The Scare Factor

As I pointed out in "Net Banality", the hysteria being whipped up over "Net Neutrality" is unfounded nonsense. This particular article superbly points out that Commerce Department requests for some specifics as to the technological feasibility of what NN proponents claim are likely events produced nothing. No responder could offer anything of substance. Gosh....who'da thunk?

The FCC has not yet decided what to make of the underwhelming evidence it received, but the Federal Trade Commission has. The FTC recently released a staff report summarizing the results of a two-day workshop, as well as research conducted by the commission's Broadband Task Force.

The FTC staff concluded that there is little evidence of actual anticompetitive conduct by broadband providers: "[T]here is little evidence to date of consumer harm from anticompetitive practices by ISPs or any other network operators; the allegations of anticompetitive conduct focus mainly on effects that may occur if certain actions, such as exclusive agreements or vertical integration, are undertaken in the future."

What we have though is FCC as bad cop FTC as good cop. Even if I agree with the FTC's conclusions, I can't help but think that in the end, the government will win and we'll be the losers.