Resolve to stop hurting the poor

[Commentary] How are the ideals of network neutrality holding back those who are the most economically vulnerable? There are probably many, but we will focus here on three policies that carry with them an illusion of preventing ISPs from harming their customers, but in reality hold back poor users and fledgling tech companies. These are: Prohibitions on pricing plans that help the poor pay for what they can afford; Injunctions on free content delivery; and Denial of network features.

Net neutrality hurts the poor when it denies them usage-based prices. Net neutrality also hurts the poor by imposing injunctions on free content delivery, more commonly known as zero-rating. Net neutrality proponents see zero-rating as an exercise of market power. Finally, net neutrality hinders fledgling tech businesses by limiting their access to possible network features. One example is the prohibition against fast lanes, i.e., the opportunity for a content provider to have its service delivered faster than average for the network. Net neutrality has become an illusion in that its rhetoric leads to the appearance of giving customers greater opportunity and controlling market power. The reality is that it is keeping the poorest and most economically vulnerable among us from getting the services the rest of us take for granted. Let’s resolve to stop this.

[Mark Jamison is director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida]