Silly and serious about Net Neutrality

Yesterday, the FCC voted to classify internet service providers as utilities, a big victory for net neutrality.  Meg Turney of The Know gave her refreshingly silly take on the news in Net Neutrality WIN.

Break out the poppers - we're headed in the right direction!

That's the silly.  Follow over the jump for the serious from Vox.

First, the good news: The FCC’s new net neutrality rules, explained in 172 seconds

The Federal Communications Commission has approved its strongest network neutrality rules yet. What is net neutrality, and how did we get here? Ezra Klein explains.

That's the good news.  Vox also has the bad news, which is Conservatives lost on net neutrality. But they're winning the broadband debate.

When the Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday for stronger network neutrality regulations, liberals cheered. Conservatives, on the other hand, blasted the new regulations as a dangerous government overreach, and GOP lawmakers vowed to pass legislation to partially reverse the agency's actions.

But while this week's vote was a setback for conservatives, the right is winning the broader debate over internet regulation. Even after the vote, the government will take a more hands-off approach than it did during the Clinton years. Indeed, the approach Clinton's FCC pursued has become politically toxic. And FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has emphasized that he has no intention of exercising the full authority granted to him by a Republican Congress in 1996.

While conservatives might be out of power, their philosophy continues to shape how we regulate the internet. The dangers of excessive government regulation are accepted across the political spectrum, while concerns about big telecom companies abusing their monopoly power have become less and less salient.

In this struggle, what passes for The Left in the U.S. won a battle, but is losing the war.  Sigh.

On a meta note, I'm surprised to note that this is the first time I've written about net neutrality on this blog.  The closest I've come are blackout posts to protest SOPA and CISPA.  It's about time I've corrected that omission.