Net Neutrality Discussion

The FCC "net neutrality" document got released this week.  I sat down and read through 75-odd pages of the 400-page document.  FCC 15-24 is the document....it's free to browse and read off their server.  I'll make these five observations.

First, when people expected it to sound like 'rules'.....they were expecting too much.  I've written rules for the government (particularly DoD), and it just isn't that type of document.  I'm very familiar with white papers, point papers, situation awareness papers, etc.  This document doesn't read like them either.  Oddly, it reads like a thesis paper, written by some masters degree program.  It works itself to be type of argument for convincing the reader of some bluff (a word that I would use to describe intentions to convince someone of something but without any heavy weight).

Second, citation-wise....it's an amazing document.  Whoever wrote it.....has heavyweight experience at writing a thesis-like document.  Everything is absolutely cited.  In fact, I'd say that half the pages in the 400-odd page document are heavily cited....to the point that a quarter of the page is the cited references.  Odd?  When you write a rule document....it's rare that you reference anything.  I can say this because I've written at least forty regulations in my life.

Third, I kinda noticed one particular organization listed in the references a good bit....a George Soros-sponsored media group.  They got mentioned forty-six times.  The author?  They had a heavy hand to use significant references from the Soros group.  An agenda?  It would be curious to ask the three who voted for the document if they knew what the author was doing or if they've ever met any member of the George Soros-sponsored group....."Free Press".

Fourth, ID theft?  It's one of top five problems with the internet today.  In the 400-pages?  It's mentioned two times.  Yeah....two times total.  I did the word check at the conclusion of my reading.  Obviously.....the commission didn't really care to go after one of the biggest issues with the internet.  What does that say?  This is the one thing that they could have said was their top priority and we might have stood behind them for fixing ID theft.  Zero effort.

Fifth, who wrote the document?  Unknown.  No names attached to the beginning or conclusion.  I seriously doubt that the five members wrote this.  Some editor stood in the middle and constructed the document.  Who?  We will never know.

My conclusion or bottom line?  It's a neat thesis paper.  Whoever started this paper.....probably started it as a college project and it simply grew.  Someone read it....pushed it along....and eventually it was turned into the FCC net neutrality project.  It's value as a monumental regulation?  On a scale of one to ten....I'd say it's closer to two than anything else.  Rules and regulations from this document?  No....just positions....nothing else.  For a thesis paper?  I'd give it a "A".....written well and well cited.  Beyond that.....it doesn't say much except everyone ought to have the same speed.  Yeah....400-pages wasted on a position of speed for Americans.