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I have already written at length about the Net Neutrality debate in two prior articles

1. What is the Net Neutrality Debate Really All About

and

2. The Future of Net Neutrality

This one will be a bit less technical in nature and simply calls upon the reader to use some very basic knowledge of business history over the last few decades.

This is quite simple really, both sides of the debate will say the other is a group of rich and greedy corporations that is trying to control the Internet. In this debate let’s just look at the three biggest companies on each side of the debate.

Three of the biggest companies that are opposed to Net Neutrality are

1. Verizon
2. Comcast
3. AT&T

On the other side the three of the biggest companies for Net Neutrality are

1. Yahoo
2. eBay
3. Google

Ok well let’s just take an honest look at all six and see how each has approached competition, worked with each other and fostered success for small entrepreneurs.

The Group Opposed to Net Neutrality

Verizon - In most areas served by Verizon they are you only option for phone service and if you are buying from a CLEC (competitive local carrier) they are probably reselling Verizon service so they are still making money off of your bill. The company itself was created when the Government had to step in to break up a monopoly. They have fought competition at every level and have purchased quite a few of their fellow Baby Bell counterparts and now are the primary or only choice for a third of the US for land line phone service. They are also doing everything that they can possibly do to be permitted to sell video services while at the same time doing all they can to prevent the cable companies from being allowed into the phone service market. In the broadband Internet market they are often the only choice other then the incumbent Cable Providers offering. They even fought tooth and nail with AT&T to be allowed into the long distance market back in the 90’s while, you guessed it doing all they could to prevent AT&T from being allowed to enter the local phone service market.

AT&T - See Verizon (that is no joke, the above is also a perfect description of AT&T so I won’t restate it here)

Comcast - They are the largest cable TV company in the United States and anywhere they have service they are your only choice for cable television unless you go to a Dish based service like Direct TV or Dish Networks. They have fought hard to keep it that way and bought up many smaller cable companies. In many areas not served by DSL due to distance they are the only broadband internet provider you can get. Just like the phone giants, but in reverse, they are doing everything that they can possibly do to be permitted to sell phone services while at the same time doing all they can to prevent the phone companies from being allowed into the video market.

Google - Google has never attempted to prevent any competitor from entering the search marketing world, in fact thousands of small companies today exist because of the way Google changed the internet. Google has given rise to more successful small businesses in the last 10 years then any company in history over the same period of time. Google’s adSense program alone allows thousands of independent bloggers, publishers and web masters to share in Google’s revenue. Add to this that Google both sells ads space to and buys ad space from their competitors.

Yahoo - You can almost say “see Google” for this one! Yahoo has fostered small business from the beginning with things like Yahoo Stores that allow even the most technophobic person to create an online store. They made PPC advertising easy to understand and have allowed countless small businesses to grow buy using it. Just like Google did with adSense, Yahoo has allowed countless bloggers, site owner and small business people the opportunity to share revenue with them via their Yahoo Publisher Program. They have both sold advertising space to and bought it from Google and Microsoft’s MSN Search. In fact at one time they displayed Google results on their search engine and until just about a year ago provided advertising revenue and “sponsored results” to MSN Search. Yahoo has never once attempted to prevent anyone from getting into the search industry or any other industry for that matter.

eBay - eBay has enabled more competition then any company ever to have existed and just as Yahoo and Google have done they have helped tens of thousands of people to start and build businesses. It is almost impossible to point to a better example of free market and open competition then eBay. eBay is actually 100% dependent upon free and open competition for success. eBay to this day is one of the biggest customers for both Yahoo and Google and has worked with them in many areas. Just like Google and Yahoo, eBay also have a revenue sharing program for affiliates.

So I will put it to you this way,

Which of these companies do you really think is most concerned with helping the consumer, small business person and has a track record of being open to fair competition?

Do you really think that the huge phone and cable companies really want to keep your costs down? Do you really think they have no interest in blocking competition? Do they have a history worthy of trust in regard to not blocking competition if left to their own choice?

Should we really trust any company to not block competition when they have the means to do so and doing so would be of advantage to them?

Which group has a history of working directly with their competition and helping each other to succeed?

Which group has done everything possible to block each other at every step?

In short who most deserves the trust of the average Joe or Jane?

Google, eBay and Yahoo?

or

Verizon, AT&T and Comcast?

You tell me which group you think can be trusted to help out the little guy and not block competition. To me just looking at the companies in this debate is all you need to do to understand what side of the debate really is of benefit to the average person.

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