The Internet We Didn’t Expect

The New York Times recently published a series of articles under the title, “So the Internet Didn’t Turn Out as We Hoped. Where Do We Go from Here?” I read the series with interest, as the Times turned a critical eye toward the internet as it currently is and its likely future. The series covered a lot of ground, but notably, nowhere does the series discuss internet service provider (ISP)-based open internet misconduct or concerns, and for good reason.  As intervening events in the last few years have dramatically exposed how the internet is being used, misused and manipulated by a variety of internet players, ISP-centric arguments have quickly become yesterday’s policy story. Yet for the past decade plus, the internet policy debate has been focused almost solely on ISPs, to the exclusion of other online actors.  That regulatory myopia has in turn produced the internet we didn’t expect.  The true costs and challenges of an interconnected world, which are now only starting to be more fully understood, are the issues that today demand our time, energy and best ideas.  As we look back on the debate, I hope that the signs and signals we missed previously will illuminate our path forward.  And perhaps give us all a bit more humility about the positions we take, and the predictions we make today.  Perhaps this time the policies that emerge will be based not on outdated or inaccurate guesses we all found ourselves making too many years ago, but instead on a totally fresh look at the actual threats to the open internet of today.

[Jim Cicconi is AT&T Senior Executive Vice President of External & Legislative Affairs]