Broadband providers shaky about regulation.

• Position: Internet - Coalition of Broadband Users and Innovators seeks regulation of the Internet

For good reason, the Internet has a wild and wooly reputation; it has been a kinds of entrepreneurs, some wacky, some brilliant. This could change, however, if a band of large software companies called the Coalition of Broadband Users and Innovators convinces the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the Internet, according to Adam D. Thierer, director of Telecommunications Studies, Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., and author of "Net Neutrality: Digital Discrimination or Regulatory Gamesmanship in Cyberspace?"

Thierer explains that, in the name of "anti-discrimination" and "network neutrality," the Coalition--which is made up of billion-dollar software and entertainment giants--is pressing the FCC to enact rules ensuring that cable and telephone industry broadband operators "will not use their control of high-speed networks to disrupt consumer access to websites of competitors or other users."

However, the record does not show that broadband providers are guilty of these supposed crimes against the Internet, and the preemptive measures the Coalition wants regulators to take will retard innovation and competition. In any event, adds Thierer, it is unlikely that broadband customers would tolerate draconian restrictions on their "freedom to surf" on the Internet, and market forces would punish those companies that do implement unpopular policies.

The property rights of broadband service providers--who have legitimate interests in protecting the...