Shining a Spotlight on Title II

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For the last several months, advocates who want the government to have significant control over the Internet have been waging a very public campaign to convince policymakers that the Internet is in shambles and will utterly fail unless we regulate it like a public utility. This campaign has been waged with lots of incendiary rhetoric suggesting that future of the Internet is at stake as well as the bare assertion that a public utility prescription is a simple cure that will somehow make the Internet grow faster, be more dynamic and inject more innovation into the marketplace.

"We think it’s time to issue a reality check about Title II."

Much has already been written refuting the claims that America is somehow a broadband backwater by pointing out the simple facts that consumers today enjoy both increasingly faster and a growing number of high-speed Internet platforms. But far less attention has been spent critiquing the critics purported remedy and truly understanding what the impact would be if regulators wrongly sought to impose rules written in the 1930’s on the most innovative and important technology of today, and our future.

Quite simply, if the Internet were reclassified as a common carrier under Title II, it would be a disaster. We think it’s time to issue a reality check about Title II, which is why you may see some of our ads touting the extreme risks of imposing public utility regulation on the Internet. The ads are another part of our continued effort to show how laws that were originally written for telephone lines in 1934 are totally ill equipped to handle modern broadband networks in 2014.

Title II rules, written over 50 years before a website had even been invented, would dramatically hinder network improvements that now happen routinely. They would deeply discourage future infrastructure investments. And they would turn the Internet from an open, growth driven network into a slogging, permission-based government utility. The vocal minority calling for reclassification is doing so because they feel it’s the only path towards an open and fair Internet.

We too want a neutral Internet, but we also know Title II isn’t the best path there. In fact, Title II reclassification would allow for the very things Title II advocates are most afraid of. Print and digital banner ads like the one above are directing readers to our Title II page where we outline the harms of common carrier regulation. Title II would be a burden on the future of the Internet – its companies, its networks, and its users. All of us want the Internet to remain the wild, open, accessible place it’s always been. That’s why these ads all drive home the same critical message - Don’t Overregulate the Internet.