I put together a little primer at work on the FCC’s new net neutrality rules. As I was fact checking myself, a thought struck me…
Might the new wireless rules be a politically brilliant policy disaster?
Hear me out.
After ISP lobbying, what is the biggest obstacle that net neutrality faces? Public opinion. Not that public opinion is against net neutrality per se , but that net neutrality is too confusing and drowned out in the midst of unemployment, the Tea Party, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Wikileaks and all around apathy and ambivalence.
In other words, the American public takes it for granted, if they have been bothered to understand what it’s about at all. And what’s the best way we learn about something we take for granted?
That’s right, we take it away.
By altering the rules for wireless, the FCC is providing an testbed to show the public what it would be like if net neutrality went away while still protecting the old, wired internet. The changes to wireless are already in motion and I am just waiting for AT&T to inform me that my (already comically expensive) plan is changing.
One has to think there will be an outcry when people starting getting hit in the wallet just for watching a YouTube video. Will it be enough to sway against the massive lobby effort? The experience with the TSA body scanners says no, but it’s hard to tell where tipping points are, especially in mass psychology.
One can hope, and after the news cycle of the last quarter of 2010, I am trying to look on the potential bright side of things.