View From the Phlipside - Net Neutrality

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, Radio, the Movies and more.  I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View From the Phlipside.

The last big news story of the year for the world wide web will no doubt be the first big news story of next year as well so let's get ourselves ready for it.  That means dipping our commentary toe into the subject of net neutrality once again.

Net neutrality is the idea that the world wide web should be a level playing ground for everyone.  You should be able to get the same access as General Motors and Google and the New York Times.  In other words the situation has it has been for the last decade.  All of that changed on December 21 when the FCC handed down their latest rules on the subject.

I've noted before that I have serious doubts about the FCC's ability to deal with 21st century media.  Based on a court ruling this past April the courts seem to agree with me.  The Commission was created as part of a sweeping attempt to control the airwaves back in the early 1930's.   The FCC was set up to watch over what was deemed to be the "public airwaves" but today they are dealing with a network of privately and corporately owned computer networks that make up the actual web.  It creates a whole new set of challenges.

Their latest answer to this is to pass their first ever internet access rules.  There is a huge debate over the rules that will probably end up in court sometime in 2011.  In simplest terms the FCC has left open the door that service providers can create a "fast lane" on the web.  That means a higher speed service for people who can pay more.  It also leaves open the ability for the service providers to censor what goes out over the web.

Now my first reaction to the fast lane concept was somewhat ambivalent.  I mean isn't it the American way, if you can pay more you can get more?  Not everyone in the world gets to drive a Bugatti Veyron, the fastest production car in the world.  Upon further reflection I realized its not the same thing.  The concern is that the loopholes will allow large corporations to suppress the ability of small start ups to develop new services because they'll be stuck in the "slow lane".  And as selling "fast lane" access becomes more profitable how much less money and development will spent on the part of the web where the regular user resides?

Net neutrality may seem like some arcane bit of regulation that has nothing to do with you and your web surfing experience.  In the best of all possible worlds with the best of all possible FCCs that might be true.  But then we know better than that, don't we?

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010