Net neutrality proposal a huge victory for consumers, Silicon Valley

[Commentary] The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission scored the biggest victory for the freedom of the Internet since Columbia law professor Tim Wu coined the phrase "net neutrality" in 2003.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal for the "strongest open Internet protections" in tech history represents a huge victory for consumers and Silicon Valley's ecostructure, which requires an Internet with a level playing field for the thousands of entrepreneurs who are the valley's most important asset. The massive presence of companies such as Google and Apple, with their billions in resources, makes it easy to forget that it's really the thousands of tech startups and small businesses that make the valley go. The region can't expect its most creative minds to launch the next wave of tech innovation if we fail to nurture their basic needs. The full, five-member FCC is scheduled to vote on Wheeler's proposal Feb. 26, and it's likely to be approved along party lines, since there are two other Democrats on the commission. But it should not be politically divisive. A free, open, egalitarian Internet is in the interest not just of consumers but of the national economy.