That uncertainty is, quite often, courtesy of “insight” on the matter from the likes of Ted Cruz, who has frequently tried to insist that killing the traditional consumer protections somehow “restores freedom”.
But in a yet different example of net neutrality’s wide support out here in the real world, the EFF this week compiled a list of 40 or so ISPs, VPN and VoIP providers that would pretty much like it if the laws remained intact. Noting whereby the last FCC’s decision to reclassify ISPs as public carriers under the Communications Act actually helps them compete with their larger equivalents, the companies perceive that net neutrality hasn’t hurt theirs ability to develop and extend their networks in the slightest:
“We have met no new additional barriers to investment or deployment as a consequence of the 2015 decision to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications assistance and have long advocated network neutrality as a core policy for the deployment of networks for the American public to access the Internet.”
Among these organizations California ISP Sonic, an example of the few independent ISPs from the early aughts that endured to survive the incumbent ISP gauntlet, and the slow but uniform attack on competition that began under former FCC boss set-top cable lobbyist Michael Powell. Sonic and the remainder of the companies proceed to perceive that eliminating the rules doesn’t “restore freedom” for them; in fact, utmost of them worry that the elimination of the rules will have a dramatically adverse impact on competition in the market:
“Without a legal support to address the anticompetitive exercises of the largest players in the business, the FCC’s current plan threatens the viability of aggressive entry and competitive viability. As direct opponents to the biggest cable and telephone companies, we have limitations about any plan at the FCC that attempts to enhance their market power without any meaningful restraints on their ability to monopolize huge swaths of the Internet.”
The organizations also show concern about Congress’ recent judgment to kill broadband privacy protections at the direction of giant ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T — most of which are not coincidentally conducting massive pivots into media and advertising.
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