Net Neutrality is Wrong

published

2014-05-10

EDIT 5-15-14: If you believe that I'm using the wrong definition of "net neutrality", see this comment.

Net neutrality is factually, practically, and ethically wrong.

I've never disagreed with the ACLU before, but if there is one thing that I've learned it's that every organization has some kind of unfair bias to help unify it.

Net neutrality is factually wrong because it doesn't exist. Every ISP I've ever used has offered multiple pricing tiers with different upload and download speeds. That means some users will have more bandwidth than others, violating the idea of net neutrality (see the Wikipedia definition).

Net neutrality is practically wrong because enforcing it makes the internet slower and less efficient than it would be otherwise. If ISPs can charge more for high-bandwidth connections, they will have the financial resources and incentives to upgrade their infrastructure to support them.

Net neutrality is ethically wrong because it means that low-bandwidth sites have to pay more to subsidize the costs of high-bandwidth sites. And it means that some people's naive opinions on how ISPs should operate their businesses are imposed on ISPs by force instead of by free market pressures.

Ironically, the phrase "free and open internet" has been used frequently in support of net neutrality regulations, but imposing a law is the opposite of freedom. The correct way to "vote" for what you want is to vote with your money and only pay for services that you support. There is no need to fear the loss of net neutrality because the free market, consisting of all of our money-votes, will enforce the right level of net non-neutrality.