My unpopular opinion of the day: I’m scared of Net Neutrality.
I have no doubt that this seems positively outlandish to many people, so let me explain.
Of course I’m for good internet service, and all that. I don’t want my ISP direct my traffic to services they’d prefer I visit, or restrict what I can do, or any of that. I’m totally for freedom on the internet.
So, you may ask, what am I worried about? Isn’t Net Neutrality supposed to prevent greedy corporations from infringing on my internet freedom?
As things stand right now, there is a concern that my ISP might do some things I don’t like. And if that happens, my recourse will be to either negotiate better service with my ISP (fat chance, I know), or go find another ISP that will give me service I’d prefer. That may seem like a pretty raw deal for me, but it gets better when a lot of other people share my preferences. If company A starts throttling back Netflix traffic, then company B stands to gain quite a lot of customers by advertising that they allow Netflix traffic, for example. That puts a lot of pressure on companies to give consumers what they want, or risk losing their customers to competitors who will.
In the end, the internet service I get is whatever my ISP and I negotiate it will be, keeping in mind that a lot of other consumers are out there who want the same things I do.
Now, let’s suppose Net Neutrality becomes a thing. The government steps in and tells every ISP in the country what it must do and what it can’t do. How could that be bad?
I think it’s bad, because it puts politicians and bureaucrats in the middle of the negotiation between consumers and service providers. If the politicians make a rule that I don’t like, I’m just stuck. That rule is going to apply to every ISP in the country, and I can’t negotiate it at all. I can’t go find another ISP that will do what I want. My only recourse is my vote.
Under that system, my power is dramatically reduced. Instead of being able to vote with my feet, I must now vote with the ballot box. Instead of being able to switch from company A, to some other company whose service I prefer, I’m left with my one ballot, and perhaps the alternative of investing quite a lot in swaying the votes of others - and I expect the wealthy people who run the corporations to have dramatically more resources that they can afford to use in this way.
Instead of being one of 30 million Comcast customers, I’m one of maybe 130 million voters. It’s really worse than that, because Comcast has an incentive to keep my business, even if most people are staying with Comcast. Comcast’s bottom line shrinks, even if just a little, when I leave. A politician’s bottom line shrinks only when he loses the majority.
I don’t want those politicians in the middle of my negotiations. Yes, I know I’m running the risk of big corporations doing things I don’t want.
I think we consumers can take care of ourselves, and we’re better off if we do.