Don't erect tollbooths on information superhighway

[Commentary] Last week, when Google and Verizon proposed a so-called network neutrality plan for the Internet, their idea was about as popular as a service outage. Consumer groups blasted it as an effort by powerful companies to become the Internet's gatekeepers, to the detriment of everyone but themselves. The lone member of the Federal Communications Commission to comment panned it as well.

The Internet has been one of the biggest growth engines in modern history, allowing companies such as Google and Facebook to become multibillion dollar concerns virtually overnight. This plan could put an end to that kind of explosive innovation, at least in wireless, where much of the Internet's growth is expected to come from in the next few years. Anyone with a great idea for a new Web application might have to develop it under the wings of one of the incumbent powers molding and controlling the wireless Internet. Although the Verizon-Google proposal looks all but dead for now, it's the latest example of how the Internet is under assault by those who would erect tollbooths on what is now a freeway. It is also clear evidence of how the FCC needs to set up clear rules to prevent Internet service providers and device makers from controlling what content people can access. If those controls were to happen, the Internet wouldn't really be the Internet anymore. And that would be a loss for everyone.