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Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T Want Congress To Make a Net Neutrality Law Because They Will Write It (theverge.com)
From a report on The Verge: Companies and organizations that rely on an open internet rallied on Wednesday for a "day of action" on net neutrality, and America's biggest internet service providers have responded with arrogance and contempt for their customers. Comcast's David Cohen called arguments in favor of FCC regulation "scare tactics" and "hysteria." Beyond the dismissive rhetoric, ISPs are coincidentally united today in calling for Congress to act -- and that's because they've paid handsomely to control what Congress does. There's one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on, and that's taking money from ISPs. The telecommunications industry was the most powerful lobbying force of the 20th century, and that power endures. It's no secret that lobbyists in Washington write many of the laws, and the telecom industry spends a lot of money to make sure lawmakers use them. We've already seen net neutrality legislation written by the ISPs, and it's filled with loopholes. It's not just in Congress -- companies like AT&T have deep influence over local and state broadband laws, and write those policies, too. Some pro-net neutrality advocates are also arguing today that Congress should act, and there are some good reasons for that. Laws can be stickier than the judgements of regulatory agencies, and if you want to make net neutrality the law of the land that's a job for Congress. But there's a reason the ISPs are all saying the same thing, and it's because they're very confident they will defeat the interests of consumers and constituents. They've already done it this year under the Republican-controlled government. Further reading: 10M+ web users saw yesterday's net neutrality protest -- but rules are still getting scrapped.
The last time there was an actual free market on Internet Service was when you could connect to it with a 56k modem over your telephone line.
Want to have a free market again? Pass a federal law that overturns all state laws banning municipal broadband projects and creates an unfunded mandate requiring each state to run government-owned fiber to every home and business, freely leasing fiber access to any ISP that wants it. Provide an optional exemption for areas that already have commercial fiber if the existing commercial fiber providers agree to lease access to anyone who asks for no more than 10% above the actual average maintenance cost of the fiber.
Expecting a free market when the barrier to entry is so high (20–30 years to recoup your investment in fiber even if there are only two companies in a market) is naïve. There can only be one wire provider, realistically, unless you're in a major city with high population density. If that provider is not the government, there will almost never be competition.
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Why don't we fix the real problem here: massive corporations. All the bad shite comes down from these massive corporations. If we limited the size of a corporation and the number of entities one corporation can "own" most of these problems would go away.