Net Neutrality Vs. Free Speech

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[Commentary] Time Warner Cable and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association are trying to drag Internet "edge" providers -- including the websites of local broadcasters airing ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox -- down with them into the regulatory abyss.

The Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to turn the Internet into what amounts to a federally regulated public utility has produced tortured logic among cable interests: If Internet service providers are going to be regulated, then websites that their subscribers watch -- especially broadcasters' sites -- should be regulated too. They say broadcasters should not be allowed to take down or withhold the content they produce and own from online distribution even if subscribers have not paid for it -- as a matter of federal law. In other words, edge providers should be forced to stream their online content no matter what. Such an overreach, of course, would lay waste to the economics of the Internet. It would also violate the First Amendment's prohibition against state-mandated, or forced, speech -- the flip side of censorship.

[McDowell is a former FCC commissioner and a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute]


Net Neutrality Vs. Free Speech