Is the FCC’s Open Internet order making Luddites of us all?

[Commentary] In the Open Internet Order, the Federal Communications Commission defended its choice to plunge the Internet into 1930s-style public utility regulation as a necessity for protecting the “status quo.” Is the FCC afraid of real innovation? Sure, the FCC says it wants innovation – of a certain preapproved kind. But real innovation is not that tame. It is unpredictable, tumultuous, unscripted. Change in technology is led by the amazing ingenuity of engineers, the visionary tenacity of business investors and the optimistic enthusiasm of first adopters. Real innovation is a roller coaster to be enjoyed – first seat, hands up – but the FCC, like the overprotective grandfather of another age, would force us all to stay forever placid on the merry-go-round. As the FCC itself acknowledges, net neutrality is not about change, it is about protecting the status quo. We are, for now, all net neutraLuddites – but things are sure to change.

[Boliek is an associate professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law]