Internet Giants vs. Broadband Titans in Net Neutrality Day of Action
You weren’t especially interested in yesterday’s update on the struggle for Internet dominance, Dear Reader. But I’ll add this coda anyway: one of the few real threats faced by Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other Internet superpowers is broadband providers’ control over data connections. Those firms are eager to end Net Neutrality rules that prevent them from favoring their own services or charging other companies a premium for high-speed access. With a new, anti-regulation majority at the Federal Communications Commission planning to end those rules, a coalition of Internet vendors have proclaimed today a “Day of Action” to support their retention. Comcast and Verizon vs Facebook and Google would be a fun cage match if everyone else weren’t getting trampled beneath their feet. Spoiler Alert: this is the same FCC majority that voted to let broadband companies resell customer data without permission, so we know how this episode ends.