L. Gordon Crovitz: From Internet to Obamanet – WSJ.
What you have to keep in mind here is that he mentions both critical impact areas of what he calls “Obamanet” (I like that phrase…) The most important thing to take away is that these are regulations being passed to fix a problem that does not exist.
Everyone keeps focusing on the economics. Yes, problems have threatened, but market pressures have prevented them from coming about. Market forces have kept the internet working smoothly and more responsively than government could ever possibly do. Yet this is not the real danger of the impending federal regulations.
The real danger of these regulations is
in the control of content. Right now, the internet is a bastion of free political, philosophical, religious and ideological discourse; at least in the U.S. This is anathema to Progressivism where political correctness must reign supreme. Remember the old Soviet Politruks (political officer)? The net neutrality regulations – what little we know – will make this kind of control a reality in the United States. Congressional Democrats have already talked about controlling content. Expect to see equal time rules, fairness doctrines, government speech codes, regulations of Facebook and Twitter timelines, takedown notices for “hate speech” and worse.
Some would argue that this already happens in the private internet. Yes, it certainly does. I make no secret that speech here occurs at my pleasure. Facebook has tried to silence Christian and/or conservative voices. In the former case, anyone can create their own soapbox to counter what I say. In the latter case, not only can you go somewhere else, but when these companies do take such unpopular and heavy handed approaches, the public backlash has resulted in a quick reversal of such policies.
Under federal regulation, that censorship is determined by the government. It is broadly mandated across the whole of the internet rather than narrowly and specifically as it is now. Most important is that you will have nowhere else to go. You obey. Or you go away. Or you are prosecuted.
Now, one could well argue that this violates the First Amendment. That it will have no more chance of surviving as did the old Fairness Doctrine. That is probably true, though in court you have no guarantees. The problem is, before the court can make that ruling,
- The law has to be in place.
- Someone has to be demonstrably harmed by that law.
- The challenge has to go through the full legal system, presumably ending in the Supreme Court.
This is a process that will take years at best and possibly more than a decade. That is a decade of active political and religious persecution for speaking your opinion. By the time the courts can throw this out, a free internet may very well be dead. Progressives do not need to win this battle to win the war. They merely need to have the fight. The time that the battle takes will give them their victory.
Now is the time for public pressure to be applied. You can share stories like this. Though it may be a bit late, you can still write the FCC and voice your opinion. You can and should write your congressmen. This is an issue that crosses party lines. This latter is particularly important. I rather expect the FCC to pass their regulations regardless of public pressure so the only quick way of reining them in is through Congressional action.