Indeed. I am writing up my own blog post on the subject. It is a complicated question, made more complicated by the fact that people don't understand the law of common carriage and how it is different from either public utility law. I'm hoping to elucidate this.
The bottom line is that I believe that Internet access is a public utility, and therefore should not be terminated without suitable due process. In addition, to protect free speech, and to ensure fair access, one aspect of this is common carriage. Common carriage is not limited to public utilities, which means the common carriage requirement -- the requirement to serve all members of the public indifferently -- should extend to the necessary services to make speech on the Internet feasible, even if these businesses are not essential public utilities in the same way that basic access is a public utility.
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Date: 2017-08-18 10:45 am (UTC)The bottom line is that I believe that Internet access is a public utility, and therefore should not be terminated without suitable due process. In addition, to protect free speech, and to ensure fair access, one aspect of this is common carriage. Common carriage is not limited to public utilities, which means the common carriage requirement -- the requirement to serve all members of the public indifferently -- should extend to the necessary services to make speech on the Internet feasible, even if these businesses are not essential public utilities in the same way that basic access is a public utility.