The U.S. Justice Department cited the rapid growth of online advertising among reasons not to adopt so-called “net neutrality” rules for the Internet, in comments
to the Federal Communications Commission last month.
“Net neutrality” proponents are seeking regulations that would prevent ISPs from charging Web companies
like Google and other customers for different levels of service. But the Justice Department argued that such regulation “could in fact prevent, rather than promote, optimal investment and
innovation in the Internet, with significant negative effects for the economy and consumers.”
As evidence that the Internet is flourishing without net neutrality,
the department noted that Internet advertising grew 35 percent to $16.9 billion last year and that e-commerce during the first quarter of 2007 had increased 18 percent to $31 billion. Further, it
pointed out that “in June 2006 alone 2.5 billion videos were watched on YouTube.”
The Justice Department offered up the U.S. Post Office as an
example of a distribution system that provides differentiated services at different prices. “Whether or not the same type of differentiated products and services will develop on the Internet
should be determined by market forces, not regulatory intervention.”
Would anyone else suggest the U.S. Post Office as a model for the Internet?