President Bush (#41) Opposes Net Neutrality
SAN JOSE, CA - And maybe President Reagan too. How do I know this? Well, I may be using the transitive property a little bit…but, in today’s National Journal Tech Daily (PM Edition), long-time telecom reporter David Hatch reports that William Barr, President Bush’s (#41) former Attorney General and advisor to President Reagan warned that “network neutrality regulations would discourage construction of high-speed Internet lines that telephone and cable giants are spending tens of billions of dollars to deploy.” In other words, passing net neutrality legislation (i.e. pro-regulation of the internet) would HINDER the build-out of our nation’s broadband infrastructure. Now, if you’ve been paying attention, the US is falling wayyyyyyy behind in broadband buildout, as well as our speed of broadband. Passing Net Neutrality could very well be another nail in the U.S. broadband coffin.
Hatch quotes Barr as saying: “These very regulations (Net Neutrality) deter the building of new networks by severely constraining” the ability of broadband providers to innovate, differentiate content “and earn an adequate return.” TechDaily is by subscription only, but you can find more about it here.
Barr is currently executive vice president and general counsel at Verizon.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:59PM PST
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