Via Breitbart:
Net Neutrality reform has begun, which means that half of the internet is rejoicing that the web will no longer be tyrannized by big government, while the other half despairs that it will now be tyrannized by big corporations. Who’s right?
First, a note to the latter: the web is already subject to the tyranny of big corporations. Their names are Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Apple, and Amazon. Together, they have monopolized the public square of the web and destroyed the idea that anyone, no matter how controversial their opinions, can have a voice and build a following.
If you write an app, Apple and Google will be your gatekeepers. If you write a book, Amazon will be your gatekeeper. If you make a video, YouTube will be your gatekeeper. If you wish to share your content, Twitter and Facebook will be your gatekeepers. Their speech codes, already more akin to Angela Merkel’s Germany than First Amendment America, grow more stringent by the day.
Furthermore, there is no oversight, no checks and balances, and only threadbare legal recourse to stop these companies from abusing their colossal concentrations of power. Nothing can stop Twitter from suddenly silencing a popular voice, and it has already done so on countless occasions. Nothing can stop Google and Apple from denying an app creator access to the only relevant marketplaces for their products, and they have already done so.
If left-wing Net Neutrality activists are serious about their demands for “content neutrality” and a “free and open web”, then where have they been for the past few years, as control of the web slowly fell into the hands of a few unaccountable companies?
HT: Dark Quark