The Internet is the free press of the 21st century, giving us news from around the world at the speed of light. Knowledge is freely available on virtually any subject. Those of us who grew up without it can especially appreciate the quantum leap that the Internet provides.
However, there are still a few things that you can’t find on the Internet—like the Federal Communications Commission’s 332 page regulatory plan for it. The FCC claims its “net neutrality” plan will “protect the open Internet,” but when the plan is kept secret, one is naturally suspicious.
If these new regulations are so great, why not shout them from the rooftops? It’s human nature to boast about our proudest moments, while carefully hiding what won’t be well-received. If these regulations are so beneficial to us, why aren’t we, the people, allowed to see them? Knowledge is power, and the FCC clearly wants to keep power over us by hiding what it’s actually doing. Why would it do that unless it fears our reaction?
Maybe the FCC knows it’s interfering where it has no business doing so. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit told the FCC that it didn’t have authority over broadband—and why should it? The Internet isn’t a utility, it’s a network of hundreds of thousands of individuals. It’s the “people’s press” and regulators should leave well enough alone.
