I urge the committee to revise its rules for "Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet" to eliminate the ability of broadband providers to sell access to "fast lanes" of content delivery over their networks.
I am deeply concerned, as a citizen who uses the Internet at work and at leisure, that giving the small number of last-mile providers the right to sell access to content delivery will change the Internet profoundly, transforming it from a market in which millions of content producers, some very small, are able to compete on a fairly level playing field for the attention of consumers into one resembling today's cable television market, in which a few companies -- in many places only two, or one company -- pick content and set prices. The Internet is an actual free market, but it takes oversight and regulation to keep a market free.
Sacrificing this market to help giant companies become more profitable would not only be depressing, but it would cost the United States its leadership position in the new e