House Dems Ask FCC to Reject Google-Verizon Deal
Open internet or net neutrality, whatever you want to call it, is a really hot topic since Google and Verizon announced their own neutrality deal. Since then, we’ve had internet denizens denounce the deal alongside tv and online pundits. Now we have House Democrats asking the FCC to intervene.
While I typically hate it when our legislature sticks their nose in things (see: Orrin Hatch vs. the BCS), this is a public policy issue that must be dealt with. Ever since the internet became a behemoth that large corporations could no longer ignore, they’ve sought to assert control over what we’re able to do. The music and movie industries want to control what we hear and see. News organizations want to control what we read. And now, those that own the pipes (Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc.) want to control the whole thing. Unless the government adds regulation, these companies will choke the innovation that has made the internet what it is today.
What’s really puzzling is Google might never have come to be if the terms of their agreement with Verizon had been around in their beginning. We need to be protected from these companies. While some may cry government meddling, I say this would be our leaders actually doing their job.