People would be wise to not look at this issue in partisan political terms.
So called, net neutrality is just one issue! Laws and regs are lagging technological development of the internet! The last time communications laws were really updated was when AT&T was broken up! Since that time there has not been a major overhaul... and the internet has happened! They have just put a few band-aids on it! Now the internet is now the major communication mechanism in the USA.
The internet is intertwined with our economy, finance, our currency (electronic transactions), and in many other areas of our lives. That is just too much power for a handful of companies to have without rules!
Plus... as we can all see, those companies are elimnating competition by merging! For example... AT&T seems to be reassembling its parts! We only have 4 phone companies, and they were angling to take that number down to 3 phone companies! Same goes for the cable companies!
The question is:
- Do you think a few large companies that stand to make a lot of money will keep promises to be good and self regulate in a manner that will end up being fair to all?
- Or do you think the gov can come up with a regulatory framework that is fair to all?
Obviously there will never be a perfect solution!
Companies by definition have a goal of maximizing profit and of course management wants to maximize bonuses (rationalized by profit gains).
Personally, I believe large businesses have too much of a conflict of interest to do a good job of self regulation!
IMO; Since there is little competition... there needs to be a counterblance!
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