Robert Reich explains how dismantling net neutrality harms democracy

Robert Reich, economy professor, Clinton Administration Labor Secretary and all-around cool dude, breaks down why allowing the FCC’s Ajit Pai to dismantle net neutrality rules would not only destroy the open Web and drive up prices, it would also harm democracy itself by allowing big Internet companies to hinder the free exchange of ideas and stifle any speech they don’t like:

Abolishing Net Neutrality would drive up prices, stifle innovation, and jeopardize democracy. Here's why we must stop this corporate takeover of the internet. pic.twitter.com/oPvY6L2JHI

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) December 10, 2017

People in other countries (including here in Canada, which strictly enforces net neutrality) shouldn’t feel too superior, either; given the massive chunk of the Internet that’s based in or runs through the US, a major upheaval there will affect everyone’s online experience.

The sad irony is that net neutrality rules are only the least bad solution to the current problem, a band-aid slapped onto a severed aorta. They’re only necessary because of the near-total lack of competition and innovation in the US Internet marketplace. Giants like Verizon and AT&T have so much power and have swallowed up so many smaller companies (when they don’t block them from launching in the first place) they’re often the only ISPs Americans have access to. And when you have singular gatekeepers, there’s nothing to stop them from hiking up prices, keeping speeds low and generally doing whatever the hell they want, especially with their lobbying arms that are so obscenely powerful they literally write their own legislation designed to make it impossible for states and communities to give themselves more options.

The FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules were a stopgap solution to a much larger problem, but they were a step in the right direction. Now Trump’s puppet is doing all he can do rip the band-aid off and let ISPs get even richer from the hemorrhaging.

(via @Alyssa_Milano; RT: @donttrythis)