Re:Americans from Both Political Parties Overwhelmingly Supp...
by snowwrestler on Wednesday June 07, 2017 @03:35PM
(#14509253)
It's also worth pointing out that ISPs rely on the "dumb pipe" theory of their service to avoid liability for carrying problematic data like IP infringement, child porn, drug deals, etc.
I'd be less worried about net neutrality if ISPs acquired liability for content once they started being selective about what they carry. That would be a pretty strong incentive to stay neutral.
Further, the telecoms embrace their common carrier status when it does things like allow them to use the eminent domain powers of the government to construct infrastructure across private land or on public lands--which is fantastic as long as they reciprocate by providing common access to their infrastructure. Amazon didn't need use eminent domain powers to build their warehouses on a promise of a universal public service.