You Don't Want ISPs to Innovate

[Commentary] You don't want your Internet service provider to innovate. At least not in the way, they want to "innovate."

The net has seen an explosion of cool services in the last decade — Google created a search engine that works, Facebook created a social network that helps people stay more connected, webmail became a viable replacement for desktop software, you can collaborate online through wikis and online word processors, and everyone in the world can now have their own online printing press, thanks to blogging software. YouTube became the world's online video repository, while Netflix and Hulu are demonstrating the future of online video rentals, and sites like Wikipedia, Yelp and IMDB put encyclopedias of knowledge at the disposal of anyone with a net connection and a bit of curiosity.

Where are the major players in the U.S. broadband industry in all of this innovation? Basically, nowhere. The U.S. is 26th in the world in terms of online access. The industry's investment in deployment of fiber optics — the transport medium of the future — is laughable. Instead, they are jealous of online services that make money from ads. ISPs would love to find a way to be paid for both sides of their networks -- from their users and from online services. And they want to get paid from the packets flowing inside their networks, too.

It's time to put the FCC sideshow aside and put the focus where it ought to be -- on why the nation's telecoms are putting Wall Street ahead of American citizens and a truly modern infrastructure.