On Monday, the Federal Communication Commission’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order went into effect reversing Obama-era net neutrality rules. For months, pundits and politicians on the left have tried to whip the public into a frenzy over this highly technical matter, portraying the reversal as hailing a new Wild West era for the World Wide Web. This could not be any further from the truth.
[Also read: ‘Net neutrality’ is dead; long live the Internet]
The FCC’s action is a return to the light-touch regulatory approach that the government has respected for most of the Internet’s existence. For the sake of solving the 21st century challenges that technology presents, it’s time for the media limelight to move on to other policies that can spur innovation.
While net neutrality proponents fancy the policy as a cutting-edge solution for the digital age, the irony is that the regulatory means the government has used to enforce it come from the Great Depression. In February 2015, the FCC, under Chairman Tom Wheeler, classified Internet service providers as “common carriers” under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, thereby granting the government the same regulatory authority it has over telephone companies.
Up until this point, there had been no major cases of ISPs censoring content or throttling competitors. Nevertheless, the tech-left called for Uncle Sam to enact a solution looking for a problem — because who better to facilitate innovation than the high-tech bureaucrats of the U.S. federal government?
Fast forward to the election of Donald Trump to the presidency and the appointment of Ajit Pai to the FCC chairmanship, net neutrality will hopefully be relegated to the dustbin of history — as it should be, because we have other problems to solve.
State and local governments are being captured by special interests to prevent innovative companies in the sharing economy like Uber and Airbnb from fairly competing. Drones, driverless cars, and artificial intelligence promise to revolutionize how we live, but society must prepare for the economic adjustments they will inevitably bring. 3D printing and advancements in pharmaceuticals can drastically reduce the price of medicine, but slow FDA approval processes coupled with high barriers to enter the market bog lifesaving technology down.
These are real challenges in tech policy that need to be solved soon for the sake of bringing forth the safer and more prosperous future that we all expect. However, they won’t be solved if thought leaders in the tech space continue the fruitless net neutrality debate of yesterday instead of embracing the opportunities of tomorrow.
Casey Given (@CaseyJGiven) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the executive director of Young Voices.
