A Plea to Republicans about Net Neutrality

I read a blog from a Republican yesterday that made me feel like there are a lot of people out there grossly unaware of what is going on right now. I found this quote in the blog:

The typical nightmare scenario that gets trotted out goes something like this: Comcast, the giant ISP that controls NBC Universal, will push its own content on users by simply blocking sites that offer competing content. Or maybe it will degrade the video streams of Netflix and Amazon so no one will want to watch them. Or perhaps Comcast will just charge Netflix a lot of money to make sure its streams flow smoothly over that "last mile" that the ISP controls. Or perhaps Comcast will implement tighter and tighter data caps on the amount of usage a given subscriber can use per month, but exempt its own content from any such limitations.

It's worth noting—indeed, it's worth stressing—that essentially none of these scenarios has come to pass over the past 20 years, despite the lack of Net Neutrality legislation.

 My Republican friends, welcome to the nightmare. Every scenario this person laid out has come to pass and is currently happening today.

For years Comcast and other ISPs have been throttling Netflix and YouTube and other video streaming services. They were caught in this act and even confirmed it. Finally Comcast stopped denying it and said "Yeah, we're doing it and if you want us to stop then you'll have to pay us part of your profits... Deal with it!"

Netflix, being blackmailed out of their profits, eventually agreed to pay because what other choice did they have?

But it didn't end there. Now Verizon wants a cut too in order to stream Netflix at full resolution. So again, Netflix has to divy up it's profit to ISPs that do nothing. Where does it end? Are all ISPs going to adopt this extortion tactic? And what about other companies that cannot afford this blackmailing?

I have heard Republicans say this FCC ruling will stifle innovation but I cannot imagine anything stiffing innovation more than if this continues.

I understand that Obama asked the FCC to make this ruling and therefore Republicans are required to hate it, but put down the political walls for a second and see what is happening around us. Big business is clearly NOT capable of making good choices here.

If you think what the businesses are currently doing is okay, I want to tell you my Comcast tale. I love watching Netflix and so does my whole family, we watch it as much as we can. And even though Netflix pays Comcast to not throttle them, they throttle us 1 out of every 4 weeks.

That's right, even though Netflix pays a huge chunk of money to make sure their video gets to me, Comcast still will not let me watch it as much as I like. So even after they have been blackmailed and paid up, they are still holding broadband hostage because Netflix hurts their TV package sales.

This is not a nightmare scenario, this is the reality we are living in today and if you think it's going to get better on its own without government intervention you are fooling yourself as they have clearly demonstrated otherwise.

You can hate all the Democratic bills you like and continue cringing at everything Obama says, but PLEASE do not act or vote against these Net Neutrality actions. Despite the fact that it is supported by Obama, both parties and all of America will benefit from Net Neutrality.