Title II A Potentially "Dangerous" Turn, Says Dvorak

"There is a proposal afoot developed by Sen. John Kerry that could undermine free speech on the Internet," says technology analyst and commentator John Dvorak. The proposal is to regulate broadband access as a regulated common carrier service, like telephone service.

You can ask yourself whether you think such a change would lead to more, or less, innovation; more or less investment; more or less choice. You can ask whether a 1934 method of regulating a stodgy monopoly service is appropriate in the 21st century for Internet services.

You can ask yourself whether having more choices, rather than less, is the likely outcome of such a move. You may ask yourself whether application priorities routinely available on private networks used by businesses, or application acceleration, as practiced by hundreds to thousands of content providers already, is a good thing or a bad thing to be forbidden.

So here comes the great idea from John Kerry: reclassifying broadband services as "telecommunications services" rather than "information services."

"This is the worst possible outcome as the FCC will eventually regulate the Internet like it does all the entities under its jurisdiction," says Dvorak.

"Why would we want the FCC to regulate the Internet?" Dvorak asks. "It's a terrible idea."

By redefining information services to telecommunications services, the Internet as we know it will be neutered as the FCC begins to crack down on foul language, porn, and whatever else it sees fit to proscribe, he argues.

"No matter the net neutrality outcome, it has nothing to do with increasing broadband penetration and speeds," he says. "It's a total scam invented to censor the Internet once and for all.

"I'm surprised people, no matter how idealistic, cannot see through it," he says.

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