The American Consumer Institute says net neutrality regulations aren’t only unnecessary but could restrict growth and innovation within the broadband business.
The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has issued a 59-page record on its findings around the FCC’s proposed net neutrality rules. The group argues there is no evidence that net neutrality regulation would market innovation in the internet ecosystem.
“We discover that innovation is thriving at both the core and the edge from the network in the present policy surroundings, which has fundamentally allowed the internet to evolve with small government involvement,” stated Larry Darby and Joseph Fuhr within the institute’s report. “Further, we find no evidence that greater FCC involvement in markets for broadband services would protect or market innovation in the internet ecosystem. Indeed, we believe that such intervention is a lot more likely to discourage innovation than to stimulate it.”
At the heart of the American Consumer Institute’s argument against net neutrality regulations may be the belief that unnecessary laws will stall innovation within the vital internet sector. The institute cites the proliferation of new wireless technologies standards, smartphones and applications as evidence supporting its argument.
The team wants the FCC to take an additional appear at innovations generated by the broadband internet ecosystem prior to it goes ahead with new regulations.
“Concerning the need for new regulations, the public interest will probably be well served if the Commission heeds the wisdom of Hippocrates: ‘First, do no harm!’,” Darby and Fuhr said in their report. “By any reasonable assessment of the record of innovation in networks, the current regulatory regime is working.”
The American Customer Institute is really a 501 C3-registered nonprofit and isn’t tied to any organization or political affiliation. A spokesman for the group stated its funding comes mainly from direct mail contributions.