refers to a set of regulations that the FCC has proposed for the internet. Up until now the internet has been regulation-free, governed only by its users ~ the free market. A hearing introducing and voting on those regulations is being held in Washington, DC today.
Reason Magazine is all over this. For their definition of net neutrality, the effect of imposing price controls and what imposing seemingly 'fair' regulations now may lead to in the future, watch this:
Wikipedia offers an overview of what net neutrality means, and the arguments for and against it.
I believe it boils down to a choice between regulation by consumers (the market) or regulation by politicians. Up until now, the internet has been regulated by the market to great success with very little downside. Putting the power to regulate anything into the hands of bureaucrats is like asking a pedophile to care take for your child. He, like the bureaucrats, will have a difficult time drawing lines for himself.
As Robert McDowell writes in The Wall Street Journal,
To date, the FCC hasn't ruled out increasing its power further by using the phone monopoly laws, directly or indirectly regulating rates someday, or expanding its reach deeper into mobile broadband services. The most expansive regulatory regimes frequently started out modest and innocuous before incrementally growing into heavy-handed behemoths.
The Cato Institute has written extensively on net neutrality here, here and, for a full policy paper, here. Cato's Julian Sanchez argues against the ACLU's support for regulation of the internet by the government.
Back to Reason TV for the three main reasons against political regulation of the internet:
In a related news story in today's Washington Post, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is supporting extending the current "Social Responsibility Law," which places certain bans on broadcast media, to the internet in order to protect Venezuelans against online crimes. And those crimes are?
'messages that "disrespect public authorities...or are aimed at creating "anxiety" in the population.'
Just saying.
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