Why Would Antitrust Law Need A Specific Net Neutrality Clause?

from the if-it's-antitrust,-doesn't-that-law-already-exist? dept

We've made it clear from the beginning that the whole debate over net neutrality is really a red herring. It's really an issue about the lack of competition in the broadband space, which can mostly be chalked up to bad regulatory policy that severely limited competition in most markets. If there were serious competition in the market, there would be no worries about net neutrality, as competition would make sure that there were "neutral" options available. Regulating one way or the other on net neutrality is treating the symptom, not the disease. However, Rep. John Conyers is preparing to introduce legislation that would apparently make breaking neutrality an antitrust violation. This isn't a new idea. Conyers has pushed similar legislation in the past.

However, why would there need to be special antitrust legislation on net neutrality? If getting rid of net neutrality breaks antitrust laws, then shouldn't it break them as is? Why would you need to add a special section just to cover net neutrality? In fact, in the past, Google has threatened to use existing antitrust legislation against telcos that break neutrality. No matter what, though, any attempt to legislate neutrality runs a serious risk of how it defines neutrality. It seems like time might be better spent taking a step back and looking at fixing the real problem: the lack of competition and watching the whole question of net neutrality fade away as a result.

Filed Under: antitrust, congress, net neutrality