One-way Competition/Convergence?

Surprise. Surprise. Silicon Valley's hometown newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News, has self-servingly endorsed net neutrality in its editorial today, "Saving Internet Equality." The problem is that the underlying premise of their editorial simply isn't true. Net neutrality isn't about Internet equality; it is classic special interest legislation seeking special government favors for the tech industry over the communications industry. Why should e-commerce giants and website interests get the special treatment of regulated prices, terms and conditions for bandwidth, just for them, when everyone else -- consumers, businesses, government, and broadband providers -- all have to pay a competitive price for bandwidth?

What's equal about one-way competition and convergence where leading tech players are free to converge and compete with communications companies, but communications companies aren't allowed to converge and compete with them? Proposing one-way competition and convergence from Silicon Valley isn't equal; it's parochial and self-serving. The best way to guard a free and open Internet is free and open competition, not asking the government to rig the game by picking the hometown tech team as the market winner and communications as the loser.

• Saving Internet equality
  Mercury News Editorial