...did you notice? On Thursday of this week (26 Feb.) the FCC will vote to allow government regulation of the Internet. Since the panel consists of two republicans and three democrats the outcome is a foregone conclusion. A "shadow" panel has been working since the election to craft something called "Net Neutrality" or as some are calling it "Obamanet". Understand this, we don't know what is going to be in the regulations because the leadership (democrats) won't release them. There is a cry coming up from Congress to see the regs but so far the cries fall on deaf ears. What we do know is coming from discussions and conversations that are being reported by the republican members of the committee.
We are talking equalization of the Internet between those who have broadband and those who don't. Companies like Google will be expected to pay for installing new high speed fiber Internet to tiny little towns off the beaten path because want permission to install the high speed Internet to downtown KCMO. They will be required to be fair despite the financial hardship which means two things; they will be reluctant to install a lot of hardware and the cost will be passed on to the customer.
A new layer of federal bureacracy will increase the cost for start ups which will result in fewer successful startups
Customers will be required to pay higher prices for less service in order to provide service to that single household in Bumfuck, Texas out in the panhandle.
And this is just the initial foot in the door. Speculation by industry professionals points to licensing of all websites (that includes ECCIE), more regulation on content, and even a litmus test on political content. You can loose your license if you have too much conservative content (they would never worry about liberal content).
Congress needs a swift kick in the ass (or cojones if you prefer) to stiffen their spine to do something about this usurption of our freedom.