Hmmm. TPM Reader ML

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Hmmm. TPM Reader ML asked me whether I knew where Ned Lamont stood on the issue of Net Neutrality. I said I didn’t know. And he pointed me to this passage in an interview Lamont did last month with Jonathan Singer at MyDD …

Singer: Let’s talk a little bit more about telecommunications. Again, your background is in that area. Specifically, you’ve worked in the cable industry. I was wondering if you had some thoughts on so-called “network neutrality.” I know a number of cable companies, the cable industry in general, is pushing for an opportunity to make more of a profit off of data that is sent over their wires, over their cables, over their fiber optics. Yet there is a concern that by allowing them to tier the internet, it will decrease Americans’ access to certain information, perhaps on political reasons or perhaps just because companies don’t have the money to pay the big Comcast and AT&T, etc. Where do you come down on the net neutrality debate?

Lamont: As you point out, I started up a company some years ago and we compete with the largest cable companies out there. You mention Comcast and AT&T. We primarily provide service to college campuses. We build systems at probably a couple hundred campuses around the country.

It’s very important that you don’t allow the ISPs and the large operators out there to determine who gets access to what content. When it comes down to net neutrality, this is a pipe and we’re providing equal access to all of the content providers out there. And the last thing you want is large conglomerates picking and choosing who gets access to what.

I can understand where if there’s some services that use up a lot more bandwidth than others, there’s a tier or cost that’s associated with that. But when it comes to content, when it comes to what people can see, everybody has equal access to that, and again you can’t have, again, conglomerates picking and choosing and making those choices on behalf of consumers. That would be wrong, like de facto censorship.

That’s not as clear cut an answer as I might have thought. The issue of tiers for high-bandwidth content is a pretty central issue to the debate. Here Lamont says he’s for Net Neutrality.

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