Expect Fewer Great Startups if the FCC Kills Net Neutrality

[Commentary] I was lucky enough to see up close the excitement of fired-up startup founders building things that never existed before. I got inspired enough to leave behind a great job with healthcare and put my savings into building my dream. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s short-sighted plan will crush that dream for future would-be founders.

Congressional Republicans say they love entrepreneurship, free speech, free markets, and innovation. Yet they are standing by in silent assent as Pai’s vote draws close, ignoring the pleas of the citizens and entrepreneurs they claim to care about. They are the only ones that can still stop Pai, and they ought to be loudly denouncing Pai’s plan and defending startups and small businesses.

[Ryan Singel is a media and strategy fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and the CEO/cofounder of Contextly]