Rand Paul has spent a great deal of time and energy attempting to court the elite tech bros who would presumably make up his donor base, but even the infamous douches of Silicon Valley may have a problem with Rand’s position on net neutrality.
When asked by The Huffington Post on Tuesday morning whether he has concerns about a plan backed by President Barack Obama, which would reclassify the Internet as a utility and ban companies from charging for better Internet access, Paul said, “Yeah, I don’t want to see regulation of the Internet. I think it’s the wrong way to go about it.“
Net Neutrality isn’t about regulating the internet in the sense that Rand Paul uses the term; it’s about ensuring that everyone has equal access to what is essentially a public utility in spirit.
If that is the wrong way to go, what does Rand Paul see as the right way?
Because we’re talking about Rand son of Ron, I think it’s safe to assume that he believes we should let the Market decide just how open the internet should be. The problem is we’ve already seen how the Market would treat the internet if it were free to do as it pleases. Major telecommunication companies have begun charging streaming services, such as Netflix, for access to their pipes.
There is no Market solution in this case because the Market believes the game should be rigged because the Market stands to make a lot of money by rigging it.
How would the tech bros of San Francisco feel if their start-up company was charged extra to avoid being throttled? Do they stand with Rand?