Don't Slow Down Broadband Adoption Just for Spite

Now that the midterm elections are over I've been reading all the reactions from voters and have noticed a trend. A lot of people have openly admitted that they voted for a candidate that opposes President Obama's policies just to send a message; also admitting that candidate was less qualified and that they essentially did it for spite. Once that really started to sink in, I thought about how damaging that kind of mentality is to everyone.

I started to think about my world of technology and broadband and started to wonder if spite was the motivation of certain people pushing Net Neutrality regulations. They say that they are trying to "Save the Internet," but whenever they are asked what danger the Internet is in, they jump to talk about how the telecoms make too much profit and how they need to be regulated, all while not being able to point to one single issue that shows their claims are credible. None of their reasons sound like they are trying to "save" the Internet at all. Instead of giving the consumer real information and data by which to make informed decisions, they feed on their emotions and fears with phrases like "it's a civil rights issue" and "don't let them control your internet."

What is truly spiteful is when you hear the FCC say "We need to partner with the corporate world to deliver on the National Broadband Plan in order to get high speed Internet access to everyone." And then you purposely conduct activates to take attention away from working towards that goal. Who are you hurting? The Government? The Telcos? No! You are hurting the very people who you say you're trying to "save" the Internet for, misleading them to believe that your plan will work out better in the end. Good plan. And when a large group of us get left behind in this broadband revolution you won't be there to help them because you will have achieved your goal. If that is not spiteful, I don't know what is.