Conservative ideologues have long taken it as a given, an incontrovertible fact, that regulation necessarily kills innovation. Regarding net neutrality, both Sen. Portman and Rep. Tiberi told me that internet advancements and innovation have occurred thanks to limited government regulation. OK, but part of the "limited regulation" of the last two decades was the FCC's enforcement of net neutrality principles. That was the environment in which "innovation" took place.
Then the Big Cable/Telecom ISP's sued to be rid of that enforcement and put a stop to net neutrality. The FCC foresees problems with that, and will issue new rules to reinstate limited regulations and to continue enforcement of net neutrality. But in the convoluted Republican brain, this return to where we were just a short time ago, the same rules of that golden era of innovation, would now somehow do the opposite and crush opportunities with oppressive Big Government Regulation!
Nice try, but total horseshit. Here's Lawrence Lessig, law professor and director of the Center For Ethics at Harvard University, making the point with an easy-to-understand example:
"Imagine that when you plugged something into an electrical outlet, the outlet queried the device and demanded identification. Was it a Sony TV or a Panasonic? Was it a Dell or an Apple? And then based on that identification, different levels of quality or reliability of electricity were served at different prices. No doubt such a regime would benefit utility companies. I've not met anyone who thinks it would benefit innovation. Thus, it would be something possibly good for network providers, but plainly bad the majority generally."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig/fcc-net-neutrality_b_6714212.html
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