The issue that most "thinking" conservatives (i.e. not those who simply parrot whatever various talk shows put out) have with the network neutrality concept is not the ideal of keeping an ISP from blocking or throttling competing traffic, but rather the potential side effects from granting authority to the FCC to do that. Currently the FCC has no regulatory authority over the internet and allowing them to simply assume such authority unchecked is rather dangerous. Liberals would not want a conservatively controlled FCC regulating the internet just as conservatives do not want a liberally (modern ideological definition) controlled FCC regulating the internet. A previous poster noted the damage that a Republican controlled FCC with regulatory power over the internet could cause if they blocked all Democrat websites and vice versa. Enforcing internet neutrality between ISPs by introducing total control by an agency of the American government appears to be a bad idea. A well thought out congressional bill to limit ISP interference with traffic is a better idea (although not perfect).
Yes, there is a tiny group of liberals who want to use “network neutrality” to control speech on the internet. There is also a tiny group of conservatives who want to do the same thing. I think the majority on both sides agree on this more than they disagree, but as usual that gets lost in the rhetoric.
The summary is pretty bad though. How do you encourage an informed, thoughtful debate this way?
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The issue that most "thinking" conservatives (i.e. not those who simply parrot whatever various talk shows put out) have with the network neutrality concept is not the ideal of keeping an ISP from blocking or throttling competing traffic, but rather the potential side effects from granting authority to the FCC to do that. Currently the FCC has no regulatory authority over the internet and allowing them to simply assume such authority unchecked is rather dangerous. Liberals would not want a conservatively controlled FCC regulating the internet just as conservatives do not want a liberally (modern ideological definition) controlled FCC regulating the internet. A previous poster noted the damage that a Republican controlled FCC with regulatory power over the internet could cause if they blocked all Democrat websites and vice versa. Enforcing internet neutrality between ISPs by introducing total control by an agency of the American government appears to be a bad idea. A well thought out congressional bill to limit ISP interference with traffic is a better idea (although not perfect). Yes, there is a tiny group of liberals who want to use “network neutrality” to control speech on the internet. There is also a tiny group of conservatives who want to do the same thing. I think the majority on both sides agree on this more than they disagree, but as usual that gets lost in the rhetoric. The summary is pretty bad though. How do you encourage an informed, thoughtful debate this way?