What if Verizon succeeds in killing the Internet?

[Commentary] Verizon is making a big push to begin actively blocking content and competition from its network. But what happens if Verizon wins? What happens if Verizon establishes a precedent for censorship?

Many in the free-market camp will say that customers unhappy with Verizon's service can simply take their computers and go to another provider. Ah, if it were only that simple. If there were any kind of actual competition in broadband service in the United States, we wouldn't be in this position to begin with. The market would take care of these kinds of transgressions naturally. However, this is not the case, and the vast number of markets that have no real competition will be faced with a choice between a neutered Internet and no Internet at all. "But you can go wireless!" they say. Sure, for vastly overcharged subscriptions and minuscule data plans. Oh, and Verizon is in that market, too. If Verizon wins, the citizens lose, no matter who they are bound to for Internet access. In any case, my hope is that we will begin to see clear and unconstrained Internet access as a public service, a constitutional right, a given -- that we will someday be able to enjoy the pricing, speed, and availability of Internet access enjoyed by Romania or South Korea. It's obvious that we cannot count on the big ISPs to bring us there without placing strong controls on their behavior.