If the FCC had regulated the Internet from the beginning ⦠POSTED AT 8:59 AM ON DECEMBER 28, 2010 BY ED MORRISSEY If the FCC had been given the authority to regulate the Internet from its commercial inception along the same lines demanded by its current commissioners, what would it look like today? Jack Shafer at Slate gives us a Potterville version of Itâs A Wonderful Internet, with Cass Sunstein as a digital-age Potter, demanding that the denizens of his town kowtow to his will. How would the Internet, which has been an engine of economic expansion for almost two decades, have developed under the kind of top-down âfairnessâ rules demanded by Net Neutrality advocates today? For those who donât recall, or who have blocked the memory, âBobâ was an unmitigated failure by Microsoft for an operating system (really just an overlay for Windows) that gave novice users a supposedly friendly, safe interface. It did that by restricting how the computer could be used, while giving owners a treacly âsmiley-faceâ character and other animated characters to shepherd users through a virtual house that opened applications such as a word processor and calender. Shortcuts to the program appeared in picture frames on the walls. The only thing missing was padding on the walls and a straitjacket for the user. Jack has two things right about why the FCC would love Bob. It put you in your place, and it treated you like a child. Be sure to read all of Shaferâs dark, dystopian vision. The moral of the story: someone will lead innovation and expansion on the Internet. Either we can maintain our leadership by maintaining the private property rights of those who build networks and create the applications and content that make it interesting and worthwhile to consumers, or we can watch as others take the leadership and build for the new online economy. The Internet in 20 years will bear as much relation to today as the 1993 version does for us now, and top-down regulation simply cannot plan well enough to allow us to realize its full potential in any circumstance, and certainly not if the government is focused on imposing a certain top-down, academic ideal of fairness as its primary purpose. Barronâs takes a different direction, using a restaurant metaphor in its editorial blast against the FCC: The restaurant police may well be coming â in fact, to a certain extent theyâre already here â but the point is well taken.
were the leaks so embarrassing or were they meant to undercut both our enemies and our friends and to set the stage for control of internet. there is legislation in committee in congress that gives the gov't the power to close the internet.