Title II incoming, maybe

It appears that Tom Wheeler will indeed attempt to re-classify Internet service as a utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.

This is a world-changing event, however as some of you stated in your comment to my previous post on this, Title II may not be the best way of going about this. Utilities are regulated, but they are the only choice out there. Opponents of Title II classification make arguments that are much more compelling than those who outright oppose government intervention of any sort.

Bear in mind that one of my big hopes – the death of data caps – is not part of the proposal, nor is local loop unbundling, in which multiple providers could use the same physical line. Both of these concern me greatly: In my opinion, regulation with data caps will serve no purpose and would punish cord-cutters such as myself, who watch local news and other content via streaming, and I would burn through a data allotment in a single day. Without local-loop unbundling, where would the actual competition be? In fact, unbundling the last mile might be the only solution that’s really necessary, as a commenter in the linked article states.

Strange days, we’ll have to see how it all plays out. Either way, if this goes through in any form, it is likely to be world-changing, at least for us.