I’m seeing more complaints about unfair treatment of conservatives by social media companies, but I think it would be easy to boycott and replace those companies with new ones. For example, it would be practically effortless for a tech company to create a replacement for Twitter, of all things!
I think what needs to be protected is Net Neutrality though. It seems strange that libertarians like Rand Paul have always been opposed to that. I think Paul’s stance would be the correct one if the actual legislation has issues, but I think at least in theory Net Neutrality is important.
It would be good to see a specific summary of the actual Net Neutrality legislation, I think there would be much more support for it if people knew exactly what it entailed.
Following is an open letter that Rand Paul Wrote in 2015 about the matter, complaining that Net Neutrality will declare the internet to be a “public utility.” Paul’s only concern in the letter is “protecting the free market” though, he doesn’t mention any specific issues with the legislation itself:
Dear Conservative,
Big government can’t seem to keep its hands off of anything.
The latest insult: President Obama and the Federal Communications Commission are going to take over the Internet on February 26th if we don’t do everything we can do to stop them right now.
A plan deceivingly referred to as “Net Neutrality,” involves declaring the Internet a “public utility” and gives the FCC the power to decide what Internet service providers can charge and how they operate. This is not only a direct attack on the free market, but it will also result in an increase in Internet access fees for millions of consumers in America. It’s a massive tax on the middle class, plain and simple.
The details are complicated but here’s the truth: If “Net Neutrality” is passed, for the first time ever, the Internet will be under the rule of an antiquated regulation designed for land line telephones. President Obama wants to take something that’s working just fine, and tie it up in red tape–sound familiar? We’ve seen this movie before–it’s called ObamaCare.
The FCC plans to vote on Feb. 26th on whether or not the government should take their usual heavy handed approach to controlling the Internet or do the right thing and leave it alone.
I need your help to tell President Obama and the FCC: “Don’t mess with the Internet!”
An unregulated Internet has been the single greatest catalyst in history for individual liberty and free markets on the planet. It has created the greatest revolution since Henry Ford invented the Model T.
Let’s get this straight–technology has progressed because it has been driven by a free and open Internet–not because of DC bureaucrats. This latest attempt to regulate the web threatens to interrupt that positive innovation, set the market back, and kill jobs.
A free, flourishing Internet is as important as anything man has ever created. But those freedoms are under assault.
Please, stand with me and help protect Internet freedom by signing this petition today.
These attempts to regulate the Internet are a direct attack on the freedom of information and an innovative market. The government needs to stay out of the way.
Free markets are worth protecting. Please tell your friends, your families, that there’s nothing neutral about net neutrality. We have to stop this aggressive, invasive, and harmful regulation and we need all the help we can get to do it.
Sincerely,
Senator Rand Paul