The Internet as the Post Office?

Why force the private Internet to be as inefficient as the old public post office? For the first time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to regulate how private companies can deliver the quadrillions of broadband Internet packets that are sent over the Internet every day.

Americans know from experience that private companies competing for customers deliver better service than Government. Who thinks the Government can do a better job than private companies in designing, building, and managing broadband Internet networks? Who thinks the Government can run the Internet better, faster, cheaper, and more innovatively than private networks do now?

The pretext for this new government micromanagement is — that without new Federal regulation — private companies might not treat all broadband Internet packet deliveries equally and might even discriminate against certain Internet packets by delivering them slightly slower than others or not even deliver them at all. The proposed FCC regulations would force all different types of Internet packets to be delivered the same, would empower the FCC to monitor all Internet packet delivery for “neutrality,” and put the Federal Government in charge of how private companies design and manage their broadband Internet networks.

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