Net neutrality off target - again

I’m grateful to Chris Marsden once more for some of the links he provides in his blog.  As someone who sees net neutrality in policy, rather than political terms, I don’t pay too much attention to the factional rhetoric of politicians on either side of the debate.  However, in connection with tomorrow’s FCC vote on new Net Neutrality rules, Chris has introduced me to the views of Senator Al Franken of Minnesota.  Apparently, Senator Franken has written to FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, urging him to make sweeping changes to the Commission’s draft Order on net neutrality – ‘If this Order is adopted as drafted, it would be the first time in the Commission's history that it effectively legitimated blatantly discriminatory conduct on the Internet - against lawful applications, content, and devices.’

Now, I happen to disagree with the Senator about the FCC’s proposals – as I made clear a couple of weeks back – but there’s obviously room for debate here, and he’s entitled to his view.  What I do find objectionable are the Senator’s attempts to conflate net neutrality arguments with matters of antitrust law and industry structure.  For example, incensed by Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBC, the Senator said in an August speech:

‘I believe that preventing media consolidation is a big part of the fight for a free and open Internet…. I urge you to oppose any and all efforts to undermine net neutrality or impede the free flow of information. This means opposing the Comcast/NBC merger-because it will hurt competition and the marketplace of ideas that has made the Internet what it is today.’

I’m sure even Senator Franken would concede that vertical integration is a rational tendency in many industries, one that can increase efficiency and promote consumer welfare, and the economic literature has shown this tendency to be particularly strong in industries facing ‘asset specificity’ – industries like telecoms.  Of course, vertical integration may also confer market power, and it’s not impossible that this power might later come to be abused.  But tackling such abuse is entirely what the competition authorities were created for: please, please don’t pretend that we need net neutrality rules in order to prevent anti-competitive behaviour.