Net Neutrality has been talked about for quite a while, but seems to be getting some attention again at the FCC.  And its opponents are speaking up too; see this article at Daily Finance regarding Sen. McCain introducing a bill against it, and loony Glenn Beck claiming it is a “Marxist plot” by the Obama administration.  Beck thinks Net Neutrality will allow the government to control the content you see online.  As pointed out in the article, he’s got it backward.  Net Neutrality is to guarantee openness of the Internet to prevent providers from limiting the content you get.  Without it, Internet service could become like tiered cable, where you pay more for certain channels.  I don’t want to have to pay more for Google, or iTunes music downloads, or watching NBC shows online (and I don’t want Google, Apple, and NBC to have to pay my ISP for their content to be available either).  I don’t want my ISP to throttle down download speeds for watching my favorite podcasts because the podcast company hasn’t inked a special deal with them.

The Marxist plot argument and the “Net Neutrality will force all sites (blogs, news, etc.) to give equal coverage” arguments are just silly and misleading.  I do understand the free market argument that says, well, if you don’t like the tiered service of your ISP, pick another and the market will work itself out.  However, the problem is most people only have one or two Internet service providers to choose from, so there really isn’t competition to benefit the customer.  For the most part, these service providers are monopolies, and lobby against Net Neutrality because they want to start using their monopoly power.  (McCain received “$894,379 in contributions from AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other broadband interests” according to the article.)

I’m starting to agree with those that say broadband Internet is becoming a utility. Would you be okay with your electric company charging you more if you plugged in a TV than a toaster?  Or if they cut off power to certain refrigerator models in the evenings?  No, there is a non-preference of use, and I think the same should hold true for the Internet.