The Internet, the FCC and you

Last week's landmark decision by the Federal Communications Commission - a clearly difficult 3-2 splitting of the hairs - to impose strict rules on broadband service affects every American. In our view, this "net neutrality" ultimately affects them in a good way.

"Net neutrality is the idea that websites or videos load at relatively the same speed regardless of content," the Associated Press reports. "That means you won't be more inclined to watch a particular show on Amazon Prime instead of Netflix because Amazon has struck a deal with your service provider to load its data faster.

"For years, providers mostly agreed not to pick winners and losers among Web traffic because they didn't want to encourage regulators to step in and because they said consumers demanded it. But that started to change around 2005, when YouTube came online and Netflix became increasingly popular. On-demand video began hogging bandwidth, and evidence surfaced that some providers were manipulating traffic without telling consumers."

So who would oppose net neutrality? Critics of the decision tend to fall into the following camps:

* Big cable providers and phone companies who would like to control the speed of Internet delivery depending upon how much they could get the customer to pay for it.

* Those who oppose government regulation in what they perceive as the realm of private enterprise.

* Those who oppose President Barack Obama as a matter of principle, no matter the issue. The president ardently supports the FCC's decision for net neutrality.

While we shudder at overbearing, business-stifling governmental regulation in too many areas, like mining and manufacturing, we see the Internet as a vital utility that the entire world depends upon increasingly. If you disagree, consider what would happen if you, your family, your business and your community lost access to the Internet. Think, too, about what experts increasingly agree is the greatest threat to U.S. security: Internet attacks or shutdowns.

Some critics were moderately appeased by the FCC's decision not to include price controls. That allows the free market to continue to function freely.

With the admittedly sour taste of increased regulation in our mouths, we see the FCC's decision as the most prudent, secure course for our nation and a victory for all the little guys over the few big ones. Now, if we can all go back to entertaining ourselves a little less with computers and more with human conversation and book reading, we might actually be getting somewhere.