An impassioned post from Bill Moyers and Scott Fogdall about net neutrality comes on the heels of Moyers’ “The Net at Risk” documentary on PBS this week. While we disagree with Moyers on the need for net neutrality legislation and regulation, we can certainly get behind much of his message—namely, that the Internet is the “most democratic of media” and is rapidly evolving.

The phenomenal growth of the Internet certainly continues. This creates some serious challenges for network owners, complicated further by bandwidth-intensive multimedia, file sharing and other applications requiring huge amounts of bandwidth. ISPs are rightfully concerned that some proponents of network neutrality are casting such a wide net that the ability of ISPs to effectively manage the traffic on their networks could be impeded. For example, as the amount of traffic from VoIP telephone, gaming, digital video recorders and steaming video increases, ISPs must prioritize those demands in a way that best serves their customers. ISPs therefore need to maintain the right to manage their networks for the good of their customers.

From the Moyers/Fogdall post: "So the Internet is reaching a crucial crossroads in its astonishing evolution. Will we shape it to enlarge democracy in the digital era? Will we assure that commerce is not its only contribution to the American Experience?"
Our answer to both questions is an emphatic “Yes.” And we feel strongly that can and should happen without government-mandated net neutrality restrictions that would likely stifle competition by prohibiting network diversity and ultimately harm Internet users. That's something we can all support.