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With the current downturn in the economy- we need to encourage investment and job creation whenever we can. If the FCC adopts net neutrality rules it will burden an industry that is investing and creating new jobs. Net neutrality is the wrong idea at the wrong time.

This just boils down to the governement favoring one corporate entity over another. ISP's want to be able to manage the networks they have poured billions of dollars of investments into, and Internet companies like Google want to be able to profit of those companie's investments without paying for it. Google gets to drive on the highways for free without having to pay for the construction. Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't... more »

I think net neutrality has led to the immoral internet that currently is. The bandwidth should be sold to the highest bidder, so that responsible companies like Fox news and Wal-Mart can control the content. This is what a "free" market is all about. The only exemption should be for Christian churches.

Pass laws that extend network neutrality to devices using the internet. For example, recently blackberry users were forced to use Microsoft's Bing and could no longer specify a preferred search service. For more details please see

 

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/verizons-new-motto-why-not-be-evil/

Net Neutrality is about inhibiting network providers from controlling bandwidth hogs such as Google and other companies that wish to put huge amounts of data of the network that affect quality of service of all network customers. It penalizes network companies who work to prevent network outages and provide better service. I prevents you from using the Internet unemcumbered by bandwidth hogs. The network companies and... more »

Advocates of “net neutrality” argue against the right of the owners of the pipes (Internet Service Providers) to discriminate between different messages or to charge recipients of messages. So for example, an ISP would not be able to favor telephone calls sent over the net over movie downloads, or charge Google extra for the traffic sent their way, or to block a business if it competes with their own services, or to block... more »

Would anyone agree that the current root threat to neutrality on the Internet is caused by the lack of funding for the infrastructure needed to support the services used on the Internet today, specifically the last mile infrastructure?

In addition to the important aspects of this issue already stated via others (free speech, the importance of having "well-connected citizenry" in terms of maintaining a democracy, etc.) ...

Due to media consolidation, without The Internets my career as an film director / artist would not exist. Small-medium business artists would further suffer and be stamped out, not to mention be censored, without an open Net.

We've... more »

First off, we must learn from our mistakes the last 8 years under the Bush Administration where deregulations allowed for the duo-opolization of the broadband Internet access market. As we abandoned regulatory commitments that benefited consumers and led to increased competition and innovation other countries kept their commitments and we fell behind other nations in broadband Internet penetration (will go into this... more »

I really hope the FCC does the right thing and stands up for net neutrality. It is crucial to the health and vitality of business as well as a healthy discourse in America.

I see a lot of anti-neutrality posts on here which is quite counter to the general all-around support I find for Net Neutrality. I know that the few companies that monopolize the industry are spending a fortune on fighting this including hired bloggers.... more »

Government supervision over ICANN http://www.icann.org/

The fact that the government is even thinking about making rules to regulate and manage an open internet doesn’t make since and completely negates the idea of an open internet. Wake up People and don’t let the FCC pull the wool over our eyes with their double talk. The internet is not broken and needs absolutely NO help from the Government.

The "net neutrality" rules as reported will jeopardize the very goals supported by the Obama administration that every American have access to high-speed Internet services no matter where they live or their economic circumstance. That goal can't be met with rules that halt private investment in broadband infrastructure. And the jobs associated with that investment will be lost at a time when the country can least afford... more »

One large fact that I see many people overlooking in this discussion is the fundamental state of our internet infrastructure today, and the reason why there is relatively little competition within geographical areas to provide broadband access. The vast majority of modern broadband is transmitted by wire, either through adaptation of existing lines (DSL and power modulation), or through digital transmission cable.

The... more »

To quote wired (http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/fcc-net-neutrality/) “Broadband providers must not block users from sending legal content on the net.” This is not the issue—we all agree that business shall not block competitor’s websites. AT&T should not prevent Sprint.com from loading. This topic has confused the issue. Some people are proponents of net neutrality solely for this reason. There can be ISP regulation... more »