Net neutrality is essentially the idea of making a neutral playing field for competition between websites on the Internet. The issue has been brought to international concern as companies such as Google and Facebook have been able to charge high prices for Internet usage in poorer places around the world.
Providing Internet access to areas allows mammoths like Google and Facebook to squash their local competition before it’s even created. While this is a problem internationally, in America, these web companies have free market competition like Yahoo, Twitter, Skype and Bing. This competition ensures that one company will not dominate the market, but net neutrality would eliminate that.
Net neutrality induces the possible stifling of innovation on the Internet. I fear this could happen if there is no competition between entities to create the best product.
It’s a simple principle: You get what you pay for. The additional revenue that comes from a competitive market can be used to develop. Future innovations in the Internet industry are borne from today’s profits.
Moreover, why would a company look to improve Internet access for their consumers if they know that there has to be a cap on how much they can improve their product? National-level net neutrality could hinder free market innovation, something that has been the backbone of the American economy since its inception.
Opponents of net neutrality legislation point to concerns of privacy rights that could come about as a result and how those infringements of privacy can be exploited.
There is the concern that Internet Service Providers (ISP) may have profit motives to analyze what their subscribers are viewing and be able to use such information to their financial advantage. David Clark, a senior research scientist at MIT, has this same fear.
“With the implementation of net neutrality, ISPs may be able to essentially replicate the targeting that has already been employed by companies,” Clark said. “The real question is, who has the right to observe everything you do?”
There is no question, however, that net neutrality should only be used as a safeguard to monopolization in areas with little to no internet access looking for a beginning.
