Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler kept insisting that people would be more open to his plan once they actually read it. However, now that it’s been unveiled and made available to everyone, no one likes it any better. The Wall Street Journal notes that Amazon and Netflix have both released official statements reiterating their opposition to letting ISPs create “fast lanes” that would let them charge content providers more to ensure their data gets delivered more quickly.
Netflix, for its part, said it was “concerned that the proposed approach could legalize discrimination” while “harming innovation and punishing U.S. consumers.” Amazon chimed in and said that “consumers should not be denied highest quality access to the content of their choice because of discriminatory deals cut by their broadband Internet access provider.”
And if the big tech companies still hate the FCC’s proposal, you can only imagine how the little ones feel. The CEO of indie video game developer InXile Entertainment, for instance, told the Journal that the FCC’s proposal “has the ability to stifle opportunity for smaller companies,” while the CEO of health data startup Mozart Medical told the Journal that under the new plan “I’m going to be competing with entrenched players who may offer something similar but have the bucks to pay a toll.”
So basically, everyone has now had a chance to digest Wheeler’s big plan for the Internet and everyone still hates it. Perhaps it’s time to go back to the drawing board?
