Tech industry must fight for net neutrality

President Trump’s choice to head the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, is a former Verizon attorney. So it comes as no surprise that he wants to do away with net neutrality, the basic principle that all internet data should be treated equally by broadband providers.

So much for Trump’s populist promise during his inaugural to return power to the American people.

The dismantling of net neutrality would be a devastating blow for both consumers and the thousands of entrepreneurs working day and night to come up with the next wave of tech innovation.

The tech industry must launch an all-out effort to block the new FCC chairman’s efforts at every turn.

Nearly two years ago to the day, President Obama’s FCC chair, Tom Wheeler, scored a huge victory for the freedom of the internet when he announced “the strongest internet protections” in tech history. Wheeler backed the basic concepts of net neutrality, requiring service providers to treat all internet traffic equally. That prevents broadband providers such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from charging content providers higher rates in exchange for the fastest internet speeds — costs that consumers would ultimately absorb.

Industry giants such as Google and Apple, Facebook and Netflix can afford to pay the higher charges if broadband providers get their way. But tech industry insiders understand it is really the constant growth of innovative small businesses and startups that make the industry flourish. Those small firms don’t have the financial capacity to purchase the high speeds allowing them to compete with the big boys on the internet, discouraging innovation and competition.

The FCC and the Trump administration shouldn’t play games with an innovation economy that helped pull the nation out of the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

It’s understandable that broadband providers would prefer not to be regulated as a public utility, a basic net neutrality provision. But ending net neutrality allows Verizon, AT&T and Comcast to pick who will be the winners and losers in the online marketplace. Given that nearly one-third of Americans have no choice of broadband providers, and the vast majority have only very limited choices, the federal government has an obligation to ensure that all content providers have equal access to the internet.

It’s a little known fact that the United States trails other nations in having high-speed internet at reasonable cost. Nor are there likely to be a series of new providers popping up on the horizon to offer competition and potentially lower prices for consumers.

Internet startups have enough challenges before them without having to factor in higher costs to ensure their content gets before the viewing public. The best way to keep the power of the internet in the hands of the people is to retain net neutrality.