re: Obama's plan to save the internet draws bold reactions

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Describe what you see as regulation done correctly.

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In this case, it means ensuring that the owner of the lines doesn't discriminate. This is essentially the root of the whole debate.

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Also, is there a way we disallow fast lanes and throttling but not regulate broadband as a public utility? Is there a compromise solution here?

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Yeah, we could, but as I mentioned, this would do nothing to address competition. And it's the lack of competition that is kicking all this off. Seems it would be only a matter of time before a different type of anti-consumer move is attempted given a non-competitive environment.

Personally, I would love if regulation weren't necessary, and that more local governments would start rolling out fiber. Unfortunately, there are laws in many states preventing this (paid for by big ISPs), and in states where it is legal ISPs oppose municipal fiber every step of the way, crying foul over every little thing. There are lots of great reasons for cities to operate their own networks. Smart networked electric grids reduce outages, smart traffic control, etc. Being able to sell excess capacity to citizens and increase revenue is an added bonus. It's win-win-win all around, except for the ISPs who would prefer to spend their money lobbying and buying politicians rather than upgrade and compete. Is it unfair for a for-profit company to have to compete with partially taxpayer-funded services? Perhaps, but all across the country we have private companies doing contract work for government. It's likely that ISPs don't want to be bound by the stipulations of a government contract, though. They would prefer to fight to make their own rules. And why not? That strategy seems to be working.