Author: Barney Bishop
Publisher: Tallahassee Democrat
Date: August 25, 2014
While policymakers in our nation’s capital may debate all manner of public policies they believe will spur economic growth, small businesses — the real engine of our economy — know that those hard-earned gains are made day-by-day in their local communities. Those efforts are being bolstered by a proliferation of high-speed Internet networks, new devices and new services that are helping improve Florida’s economy.
These advancements have been invaluable to the local economy when we consider how they have allowed many small businesses to expand their reach to new consumers. Florida has one of the highest percentages of information technology job growth in the country this year. However, policymakers in Washington are considering regulations that could unravel all this progress under the auspices of what some call “net neutrality.”
In an effort to preserve the “openness” of the Internet, the Federal Communications Commission is evaluating proposals that could have profound consequences on the technologies we now use every day. While some proposals under consideration strike the right balance, others call for more drastic actions that would increase the government’s control over broadband Internet networks by subjecting them to decades-old public utility regulations — an alarming possibility.Read more here.
