Democrats Get Played on Internet Competition

By trying to appear "tough on crime" Democrats are undermining the open Internet.

A Democrat, Diana DeGette of Colorado, is behind a move to mandate a full year of ISP data retention, thus raising a high wall against the creation of competitive ISPs. She is doing this in the name of "fighting child pornography." Republicans are joining her in the name of fighting "terrorism."

These are excuses. They are based on a basic misunderstanding of what the Internet is.

DeGette, and others, are buying into the idea that the Internet is a network, like the phone network, that it's centralized. It's not. It's a protocol, run from the edges. By trying to treat the Internet as a centralized network, however, legislators could turn it into one.

The plague of child porn on the Internet is actually a boon for law enforcement. It brings pedophiles into public view, where they can be caught and jailed. The number of child porn investigations has risen three-fold in the Internet age, much faster than the number of pedophiles has risen. And Internet-fed images, found on pedophiles' PCs, are often the proof that puts them away.

The problem is not a lack of evidence. The problem is a lack of enforcement. But by demanding a full year caching -- so that law enforcement has time to investigate your Internet use for violations of any criminal law -- you do two things that are harmful to your cause:

1. You require concentration of ISP service into fewer hands, by raising a barrier to entry.
2. You push real criminals into greater use of encryption, which makes enforcement nearly impossible.

DeGette is acting in an ignorant manner in order to win cheap political points. And she is benefitting only companies like Qwest and AT&T that want to treat the Internet as their private property, hoarding bits and driving the U.S. further onto the wrong side of the digital divide.

If Democrats want the voting loyalty of people who care about the Internet, they need to educate or drive out those within their party who are doing the work of monopolists. No matter what their excuse.