La Salle Professor: 'Net Neutrality Is An Outcome, It's What Everybody Would Like To See Happen'
By Rich Zeoli
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Rich Zeoli and Mary Walter talked to Dr. William Weaver, Associate Professor of Integrated Science, Business, and Technology at La Salle University, on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about President Obama's request that the Federal Communications Commission treat the internet like a utility to protect net neutrality.
Weaver explained the benefits to net neutrality and why it is such a hot political issue.
"Net neutrality is an outcome. It's what everybody would like to see happen. The outcome of net neutrality is that everybody who wishes to broadcast their information gets a level playing field, gets the right to do so. Folks can go ahead purchase their service online and listen to their streaming or read their blogs without having anybody in between actually charge money for the people who want to receive the information or charge money to post it."
He said the President contradicted himself by suggesting a government agency could intervene and ensure to process remains free and open.
"He said that consumers get to decide and then he made the logical leap immediately, after saying consumers get to decide, that the FCC should go ahead and control everything. I don't see how he logically makes the connection between consumers having the ability to decide how people should play and who should be punished and who should be rewarded and then, all of the sudden, the way that you enable that is you have the government take over the internet."
Ultimately, Weaver disagrees that the FCC classifying the internet as a utility is the best possible solution to the debate of how to ensure net neutrality.
"As a professional scientist, I like to have my laboratory be free of all constraints. I don't want anybody to get hurt obviously and I don't want to hurt anybody else. I would like to have the freedom to experiment inside my laboratory. If we consider the United States a laboratory of freedom or if we consider the internet laboratory, as soon as the FCC comes along and says here's what you may do and here's what you may not do, all we've done is just cast everything in stone and the internet stays put where it's at in 2014 and innovation, sort of, stops on a dime."
