Posted by Andrew Edwards on January 6th, 2011 at 3:46 pm

As the great cogs of government begin to creak under the burden of a new House Ruler, they also begin to process on our behalf the question of whether the Internet should fundamentally change into Something Else.

I am referring to a cause that has been kicking around since Marconi was contributing his best to communications technology: and that is the question of whether the communication backbones of the nation are free from capricious blocking (or profit-seeking blocking), or whether they will be a place where content and availability are separated strictly (as in church and state).

In our world, this is called "Net Neutrality". And some folks think so-called Net Neutrality is a bad idea.

In a recent article at the Huffinton Post, Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge says the Tea Party is amongst that number. And apparently the logic is that if the FCC continues to declare, as it does now, that providers cannot decide whose content is available to whom, and at what speed, then this is a "government takeover" of the Internet.

He goes on to say:

"The alternative, stripped of its "government takeover" rhetoric," is to say that the telephone, cable and particularly wireless companies should have complete freedom to do what they want online to pick favorites, control consumers' online experience and turn the Internet into their own private network by destroying the open, innovative Internet."

This is not the forum for me to spend much time on the twisted logic deployed by the Tea Party in formulating their argument to keep government off the backs of large communications enterprises (or as they would have it, "us"). But I am comfortable saying that marketers everywhere should throw their support behind Net Neutrality on behalf of their own customers--who really are "us".

As a marketer, how badly do you want to live in a world where you face the possibility that your content, perhaps unfavored by the communications providers, would become, without your knowing it, either less available or not at all available to your entire customer base? How much do you think your organization will be willing to pay (and perhaps comply with) in order to get onto the fast-track of availability, and stay there? And even if you were to get your boss to open up yet another line item for on line business, how badly do you want to have to manage yet another facet of change in an environment already changing at white-knuckle speed?

Communications providers claim they cannot recoup enough profit nor provide bandwidth where it counts under the current paradigm--where everyone gets to access all they want whenever they want, thereby clogging the precious pipes with videos of old Spongebob episodes while, presumably, Important Information is being prevented from arriving at its destined desktop at less than its fastest possible speed.

Apparently the gusher of information and its associated cash is so great that the great communications giants are not sure they are able to mop up every dollar unless they are able to stanch the flow somehow. Better, they seem to say, to reduce the flow of information, and capture all of the fewer dollars resulting; than to assume that more is more and that if more fiber is needed then by golly lay more of it (and, as the ancient advice columnist Ann Landers would have told them "kwitcherbellyachin").

If not clear already, my goal here is to advise the talented on line marketer to support Net Neutrality. The only sin you'll be committing is that where you will be trying to keep the basic principles of Internet access just the way they are now, rather than leaving its very availability subject to the profiteering and caprices of a welter of "providers" none of whom seem to be filing for bankruptcy as things stand today.

Finally, its a matter of simplicity. Marketing on line is a difficult proposition already. Marketing on line with further complications imposed by companies that have no compunction to deal fairly with you or your content seems like no fun at all.

Who cares about Net Neutrality? Every on line marketer should want to keep it. Write your congressperson.