Net Neutrality, Dec 2017

At this point, if you aren't familiar with the Net Neutrality argument, it's a bit of a moot point to bother explaining it. TLDR: The Obama Administration put some controls in place that regulate ISP's under "Title II" classifications within the FCC to ensure a level playing field. Today, Dec 14th, the FCC plans to roll that regulation back. It's a bummer because there's been so much stink made against rolling back the regulation but it doesn't seem to have much of any impact on our elected officials.

I lamented about this on Twitter and was directed to this Ben Thompson article on Pro-Neutrality, Anti-Title II, a calm, non-hysterical, non-antagonizing argument for rolling back the classification. There's even a follow-up piece that adds even more insight and color. Both are completely worth a read. Except the facts are wrong. This WIRED rebuttal points out how every argument Thompson makes for the Title II removal is inaccurate and a misrepresentation. Back to square one.

I'm all ears on hearing how this rollback could be a good thing. I don't tend to the type that trusts big companies will "Do the right thing" or that "the market will sort it out" because that is absolute nonsense thinking.

Hopefully this rollback won't be the end of the conversation. The Internet belongs to the entire world and there's serious innovation and goodness that has yet to be built that only a Neutral Internet can foster.