Why can’t the Internet be more like the electric company?

[Commentary] Changing the regulatory status of broadband networks from deregulated information services to public utilities raises concerns about regulatory compliance burdens, service limitations, taxes, fees, and price controls. Despite scoring a major victory, it’s clear that the grass-roots activists and their masters aren’t done yet.

One clue toward the next step in their agenda can be found in the publications that served as major amplifiers of the net neutrality movement. This group is easily identified by their refusal to report broadband’s new status as public utility. Condé Nast is particularly desperate to create the semblance of competition for residential Internet services by re-imposing the local loop unbundling (“line-sharing”) requirement that was part of the original implementation of Title II in the 1990s. Never mind that line-sharing in its pure form had to be abandoned for Vectored DSL and has never been possible for cable and most fiber networks; it feels like a way to turn back from today’s limited-choice broadband market to the rough-and-tumble Internet service provider competition we had in the dial-up days.