Aux-In

It might sound controversial, but I believe the Internet is absolutely a public utility now, and should be set up the same way as a utility company (legal monopoly). The Internet system needs to be built up the same way the roads system was. This would help modernize commerce as well. Perhaps a little more tricky to do as technology changes so rapidly, so it wouldn't be like patching pot holes whenever there's a need for an upgrade. I think at the very least the government could sponsor satellite Internet, since that is easier to upgrade (although not as fast and all that), but I guess that would be a political football that you'd have to get past the land-line lobbyists up at Pennsylvania Avenue, if you're living in the United States. And I don't mean giving away free Internet, I mean setting up the Internet providers as utilities. But that's just about access.

As far as control and regulation, I am not a doom-and-gloomer, since I've always been curious why the government gave Internet technology to the public to begin with. They didn't have to. For the most part, they have let it go unregulated (outside of illegal activity and all the copyright infringement stuff).

I come across this topic from time to time in net neutrality discussions. It's a really complicated topic, but I think you might find this video relevant or interesting. It was a discussion about open Internet as far as service providers creating tiered pricing based on speeds, but they also touch on some of the topics you mention about the FCC and government control:



If you really think about it, governments controlled books here and there throughout history, but did they really? Nah. Books still got published and I think the future of the Internet will be the same: pockets of control here, pockets of control there, but largely, it will remain open.

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