It is through the miracle of private sector innovation that technology that was just a plaything for the ultra-rich a generation ago is now available and affordable to nearly all Americans. Yes, that’s the magic of the free enterprise system.
In 2000, only half of Americans had access to the Internet. Now it’s 92%. Currently, nearly 19 out of 20 adult girlfriends access the Internet on their smartphones. Does this sound like a market that needs government support?
If you answered yes, you probably believe that Al Gore invented the Internet.
The government’s main role was simply to get out of the way. As former Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.), who authored the first bipartisan Internet access law in the 1990s, explains: “We achieved this rapid development by keeping internet regulation and litigation free.” Then-President Bill Clinton also deserves credit for cutting off the government’s hands on the internet.
But now the Biden administration is overseeing the internet on behalf of the Federal Communications Commission, which has never seen an industry it doesn’t want regulated or controlled. They are doing this in the name of “preventing digital discrimination.”
President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill includes $65 billion to help expand access to high-speed internet, even though nearly everyone already has it. To make matters worse, he’s running for office, with a new law giving the FCC the power to effectively establish “equal access” to the internet. So FCC lawyers chose a standard known as “disparate influence.” This means that if you can always find a minority area that doesn’t have the same internet access as high-income areas, you can sue the carriers. You can almost hear the trial lawyers drooling.
Plaintiffs do not even have to prove intent to discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity. The threat of these lawsuits is meant to block internet access, not spread it.
If a communications provider offers a new service but not enough members of a protected group sign up, the FCC could impose millions of dollars in fines and require the companies to correct the disparities. there is. This is a backdoor method of creating racial quotas for Internet access.
Here’s the problem. In a 235-page filing released in November, the FCC openly acknowledged that it found “little to no evidence” of “intentional discrimination by industry participants.” And it found no evidence that discrimination “contributes to disparities in access to broadband Internet services across the United States.”
This is like suing an electronics store or a music store for not selling enough televisions or albums to blacks or Hispanics.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Biden’s FCC would have the power to second-guess all aspects of internet service provider operations, from network maintenance and installation to day-to-day operations such as pricing and marketing. It warns you that it is given to you.
In other words, Carr believes the Democratic strategy is to turn the internet into a regulated utility that oversees “access, content, and pricing.” This works similarly to aviation regulations in the 1970s and his medical regulations in the 2000s. These regulations only made these services more expensive and limited access.
Even if some of the carriers that have played a key role in bringing the Internet into our homes and offices decide it’s not worth the threat of litigation and choose to withdraw their Internet services. Don’t be surprised. If this happens, the poor and minorities will truly be subject to “disparate effects.”
