It is true that many people fear government regulation of anything and net neutrality legislation is no different. In this case, however, the presence of the telecom oligopolies have proven that the market will only hurt consumers if there is no government intervention.
By allowing the telcos to tier the internet, consumers will be forced to pay multiple times for the same service. On top of that, tiering could result in telcos becoming an internet “gatekeeper” that could greatly influence what stays and goes on the internet.
Even still, the cases against net neutrality and for tiering are weak at best. Their arguments that content providers are receiving a “free lunch” are unsubstantiated and, in fact, the telcos are paid twice already. There should be no need for them to be paid a third time. Worse of all is their misleading view that the free market will even out any inequities of their plans when they should clearly know that their industry is anything but a free market.
If the internet is tiered, the greatest losses will be to the consumers.
Telecommunication companies already control the pipes that carry the Internet into your home. Now they want control which sites you visit and how you experience them. They would provide privileged access for themselves and their preferred partners while charging other businesses for varying levels of service."
