DoJ puts the boot into net neutrality

The DoJ believes that a net neutrality law is unnecessary

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has dismissed the need for a net neutrality law, maintaining that it would represent unnecessary meddling in the affairs of telecoms companies.

The DoJ said in a filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that net neutrality would hamper the future development of the internet.

It added that existing competition laws would be enough to ensure that companies would not use differential pricing to drown out competition by buying faster access.

"Even assuming that a potential danger exists, the ambiguity of what conduct needs to be prohibited raises a real possibility that regulation would prohibit some conduct that is beneficial, while failing to stop other conduct that may be harmful," stated Thomas O Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the DoJ's Antitrust Division.

"The FCC should be highly sceptical of calls to substitute special economic regulation of the internet for free and open competition enforced by the antitrust laws.

"Marketplace restrictions proposed by some proponents of 'net neutrality' could in fact prevent, rather than promote, optimal investment and innovation in the internet, with significant negative effects for the economy and consumers."

Net neutrality, the principle that all websites should be equally easy to view, has long been opposed by telecoms providers which would like to charge different prices to site owners for different speeds of access.

Such plans have been slammed by web giants such as Google and eBay, as well as web founder Tim Berners-Lee, computer scientist Vint Cerf and pressure groups around the world.

Opponents believe that plans for differential pricing would allow those with the deepest pockets to stifle innovation and access by offering faster web access times.

"The DoJ ruling once again proves the point that powerful corporate and government gatekeepers are working together to dismantle internet freedoms and impose their will on the web," said a posting on the Savetheinternet.com blog.

"While [Attorney General Alberto R.] Gonzales's feckless reign at [the DoJ] is near an end, his legacy is becoming clear. The DoJ has established itself as a friend to the powerful, and an enemy to the basic freedoms that Americans once took for granted."