Digital Display

Maine's rejection of Net neutrality is a guide for America.

by Jason Wright

Abattle is underway for the success or failure of Maine's technological future. You could call it the "Maine Digital Primary," and it might prove just as important as that other primary next door in New Hampshire.

Maine's Digital Primary was launched in the state house without much national attention during the first week of June. That's when a legislative committee amended, to the point of paralysis, a bill that would have made Maine the first state in the union to slap regulatory restrictions on the Internet in the name of Net neutrality.

The well-organized Net neutrality lobby would have us believe that government should start imposing restrictions on the Internet to prevent broadband network operators from discriminating when providing access to content providers.

The problem with that approach is that there is no such discrimination problem. Even the Net neutrality promoters can't point to any aggrieved victims of denied network access. And if there were any such discrimination, there are already effective antitrust laws and FCC regulations in place.

Like any solution imposed to correct non-existent problems, Net neutrality regulations would create new, unforeseen problems that are all too real for Maine and the rest of America. It would reverse the country's successful policy of encouraging innovation by keeping the Internet free of unnecessary government regulation. That policy has created a vibrant, competitive market for broadband Internet services that is driving down costs for business and consumers.

Reversing this consensus policy of a free Internet by regulating in the name of Net neutrality would put a chill on the record investment now being made by phone and cable companies in bigger and better broadband networks. Same for wireless and broadband-over-powerline technologies. As some members of the Maine legislature realize, Net neutrality regulation would amount to a needless, self-inflicted wound on their economy.

The economy of this beautiful state can't sustain itself long term on exported lobsters and imported tourists. Maine needs the clean, high-tech companies that will provide good-paying jobs and badly needed tax revenue.

If Maine is going to attract and keep those companies, it needs a world-class broadband infrastructure. You won't get it by imposing regulations that scare off investment.

The bipartisan coalition that amended the Net neutrality regulation bill understood that. Clearly, state Senator Barry Hobbin understood it when he said that, "if enacted, the [Net neutrality] legislation would fundamentally change the workings of the Internet here in Maine and most certainly hinder the investment we so desperately need."

When it comes to the Internet, job No. 1 for the state or federal government should be to encourage expansion and upgrades of the broadband networks that make up the physical Internet. So it's to Maine's credit that the legislature has taken up a bill sponsored by Hobbin charging the Maine Public Advocate to review the FCC's analysis of Maine's broadband capacity and to review state polices with an eye towards encouraging broadband investment and deployment in the state.

The Hobbin study is a neat fit with the objectives of Gov. John Baldacci's "Connect Maine" program that calls for broadband access for 90 percent of Maine communities by 2010, and a technical infrastructure for Maine's schools that will lead the nation.

Even people "from away" like me know and admire the common sense of Mainers that's seasoned with a progressive tradition. So it's no surprise to me that the legislature didn't run recklessly toward the Net neutrality mirage that would have compromised the growth of broadband and the growth of Maine's economy.

As the Net Neutrality lobby continues its campaign to impose a regulatory regime in other states and in the U.S. Congress, I hope the Maine Digital Primary will be a national bellwether for rejecting Net neutrality and preserving Internet freedom. "As Maine goes, so goes the nation"? For the future of America, I certainly hope so.

Jason Wright is a co-founder of the Internet Freedom Coalition.