Changing Minds Towards Net Neutrality Regulations ⇥ techdirt.com

Mike Masnick of Techdirt responds to the anti-Title II article that Ben Thompson wrote, and which Ajit Pai just can’t stop tweeting:

The larger point here, though is that while there certainly were a number of reasons to be hesitant about supporting Title II or even explicit rules from the FCC a decade ago, enough things have happened that if you support net neutrality, supporting Title II is the only current way to get it. Ajit Pai’s plan gets rid of net neutrality. The courts have made it clear. The (non) competitive market has made it clear. The statements of the large broadband providers have made it clear. The concerns of the small broadband providers have made it clear. If Ben does support net neutrality, as he claims, then he should not support Pai’s plan. It does not and will not lead to the results he claims he wants. It is deliberately designed to do the opposite.

So, yes. For a long time — like Ben does now — I worried about an FCC presenting rules. But the courts made it clear that this was the only way to actually keep neutrality — short of an enlightened Congress. And the deteriorating market, combined with continued efforts and statements from the big broadband companies, made it clear that it was necessary. You can argue that the whole concept of net neutrality is bad — but, if you support the concept of net neutrality, and actually understand the history, then it’s difficult to see how you can support Pai’s plan. I hope that Ben will reconsider his position — especially since Pai himself has been retweeting Ben’s posts and tweets on this subject.

If I didn’t convince you to disagree with Thompson’s misleading piece, maybe Masnick will. If you live in the United States, it’s vital that the FCC — particularly Ajit Pai, Michael O’Rielly, and Brendan Carr — and your representatives hear your concerns.

Update: Another great piece from Erica Portnoy and Jeremy Gillula of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “The FCC Still Doesn’t Know How the Internet Works”:

There are at least two possible explanations for all of these misunderstandings and technical errors. One is that, as we’ve suggested, the FCC doesn’t understand how the Internet works. The second is that it doesn’t care, because its real goal is simply to cobble together some technical justification for its plan to kill net neutrality. A linchpin of that plan is to reclassify broadband as an “information service,” (rather than a “telecommunications service,” or common carrier) and the FCC needs to offer some basis for it. So, we fear, it’s making one up, and hoping no one will notice.

Regardless of whether the FCC commissioners are being malicious or they truly don’t understand how the internet works, it disqualifies them from running the Commission.