fcc-comments.txt

Recent situations such as Comcast throttling Netflix traffic during contract negotiations have made it very clear that better regulation is needed to prevent the internet from becoming a collection of private toll roads. In the past, startups have been able to access the same customers that Google, Amazon, and Facebook can. The startups had the same access to customers that large companies do and this efficient marketplace spurred innovation throughout the country.  

Now, we are at an inflection point. Entrenched ISPs are starting to realize the rent-seeking potential of practices like zero-rating and pay-to-play bandwidth pricing. In the short term, these practices promise to maximize profits for a small number of ISPs. But in the long term these practices will harm countless other industries that rely on the internet as much as they rely on public roads, electricity, and other utilities. Ultimately, these practices will stifle innovation in America and place us at a competitive disadvantage to other parts of the world where net neutrality is the norm.  

Recent behavior by ISPs has made it clear that the light regulation approach of the past is no longer the best choice for the American people. Because so much of our economy relies on the open and fair internet we have today, I firmly belive that internet access should continue to be classified as a common carrier service.  

Sincerely,
Kevan Ahlquist, Software Engineer