Internet Freedom Isn't Just Another Word

[Commentary] The usually sensible Steve Pearlstein at the Washington Post notes that, "net neutrality zealots" (also known as "ayatollahs of net neutrality") worked themselves into a "self-righteous lather" over the Verizon-Google compromise on Net Neutrality, caring more about "principles" than the "real world."

For Joe Nocera over at the New York Times, the Verizon-Google deal was a "well-meaning proposal," that is being set upon by "fierce, unyielding proponents" of an open Internet, a group that includes Public Knowledge as part of the "net neutrality purists."

These two columns by respected writers point to an unfortunate tendency among reporters who peer down from Olympian heights onto the world of mortals to bless a compromise as a way to settle a dispute, regardless whether the compromise is productive. There is the surface "pox on both their houses" approach, although it seems as if in practice the tendency further is distinguished by the pejorative descriptions of liberal or progressive parties, and rarely of conservative or business-oriented opinions or groups. There is no peril for a carrier now, or even a threat of one. Consumers don't have great choice in broadband carriers and the legal status is uncertain. This is not "much ado about very little." It's much ado about keeping the Internet as it is based on law, not on corporate good will. That's why the issue has to be decided in the public interest of everyone, not in the private interest of carriers.