Net neutrality and "tech mandate" are not the same thing
Sen. Sununu's announcement a couple of days ago that he was drafting legislation calculated to keep the FCC from creating audio or video flags was welcome. Sen. Sununu has been deeply suspicious of the broadcast flag for some time. Here's an EFF report from a year ago:
Sununu, an MIT grad, interrupted to ask the question so far unconsidered by his colleagues: Do we need this mandate at all?
He pointed out that “we have a whole history of similar technological innovation that has shown us that the market can respond with its own protection to the needs of the artists.” And he concluded with one of the most damning depictions of the ahistorical nature of the flag (clip from Congressional RealVideo) you'll hear on the Hill:
“The suggestion is that if we don't do this, it will stifle creativity. Well…we have now an unprecedented wave of creativity and product and content development…new business models, and new methodologies for distributing this content. The history of government mandates is that it always restricts innovation…why would we think that this one special time, we're going to impose a statutory government mandate on technology, and it will actually encourage innovation?”
Something like this argument shows up in an article I wrote a few years ago now called The Biology of the Broadcast Flag. Where there is ample competition for new ways of dealing with bits (including many forms of private DRM), it makes no sense to impose a tech mandate – all that will happen is that the evolution of those new ways of doing things will be stifled.
The reason the net neutrality battle is going on in this county is that there isn't that kind of competition. We have a system of regional duopolies that are tightly controlling access and have every incentive to reinstantiate their old, clearly-defined services online. So in this case government intervention is appropriate. There's no reason why the single sidewalk available should be allowed to monetize the interesting conversations taking place above it.
Nice to see Sununu taking such a brave step — now we need to find a Senator who has a similar understanding of the internet access issues.