Republicans in Congress don't know what Internet freedom means

[Commentary] The future of the Internet is at stake, and there's still a lot of ignorance about technology on both sides of the aisle in Congress. But right now there's only one party in Congress that's actively threatening to kill the founding principles that have made the Internet the booming success it is today.

People who understand the history of the internet and the value it now provides to everyone accept the obvious conclusion that the internet is a utility, just like water and electricity. Right now advocates are trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission to just say that obvious fact, and do what it should have done years ago but lacked the courage to accomplish: to declare that ISPs are common carriers, subject to restrictions on how they handle the speech that travels through their cables. But Internet providers don't want to be treated like common carriers, because it would, in short, stifle profits. So what's their response? To cast reclassification as "heavy handed" regulation from Big Government. And Republicans are buying it. There are two major themes to GOP objection: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," and "big government is bad."