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| Government Shouldn't Drive Internet's Future
Legislated Limitations Won't Yield Neutrality; Unrestricted Competition the Answer
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February 7, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Competition is the best barometer of a healthy Internet market and the government should continue to stand clear of intervention the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) said following a Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee hearing today on the matter of ‘Net neutrality.
"Lawmakers should encourage a competitive Internet that attracts investment and new network and applications providers, all aimed at better serving and satisfying consumers and small businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of SBE Council.
"The best thing legislators can do is to avoid making a power grab and giving some competitors advantage over others," Kerrigan said. "There's no doubt that regulatory intervention on the Internet market will have unintended negative consequences.
"Imposing limitations on Internet service providers will not make the Internet a so-called neutral place," Kerrigan said. "This is misguided. Such government intervention will serve only to slow innovation, investment and destroy customer choice," she added.
SBE Council noted that the Internet has delivered many advantages for small businesses: It has made the smallest shops national suppliers; streamlined communication between consumers and vendors; and created global venues for entrepreneurs, liberating them from the confines of traditional brick and mortar storefronts. Furthermore, thousands of entrepreneurial companies are the power behind the Internet, providing software, hardware, security systems, and more.
Raymond J. Keating, SBE Council's chief economist, said, "The government and special interest advocates do not serve as the best guides for how markets develop. Competitors and consumers best make the final decisions on who wins and who loses.
"Internet providers have every incentive to continue to be responsive to consumer demands," he observed. "Government interference will only slow the pace of innovation, result in additional costs and cause artificial barriers in a market currently well served by competition," concluded Keating.
For more information, please call SBE Council at (202) 785-0238, or visit http://www.sebcouncil.org/. For nearly 12 years, the SBE Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit small business advocacy group, has been working to protect small business and promote entrepreneurship.
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