Reject the Latest Push for Net Neutrality
September 27, 2007

Irvine, CA--U.S. senator Byron Dorgan, a leading advocate of "Net Neutrality" legislation--which is supported by Microsoft, Google, and many other software companies--promised last week at the Future of Music Policy Summit that the push for this legislation would continue. Americans, he said, to a standing ovation, must "fight back and say this is something that's important for our country's interests." But, said Alex Epstein, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute, "Any law enforcing 'Net Neutrality' would be a terrible blow to Internet freedom."

"'Net neutrality' is the idea that ISPs should not be able to favor some types of data over others; they must be 'neutral' toward all the data they carry. But just as cable companies have a right to apportion their bandwidth between Internet and television data, so Internet providers have a right to apportion their bandwidth between standard and premium Internet data."

"'Net Neutrality' laws would forcibly prevent network owners from selling innovative services to their customers," said Epstein. "Shame on Microsoft and Google for trying to deny their competitors the freedom that has made the Internet great--and shame on the politicians and activists who support this corrupt idea."

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Alex Epstein was a writer and a fellow on staff at ARI between 2004 and 2011.