Mr. Carr, Mr. O’Rielly, and Mr. Pai:

I write to you regarding the FCC’s current proposal to do away with the Title II common carrier classification for Internet Service Providers.

I am a student of computer science, studied networking extensively in school, and currently work at an Internet-based startup. (My beliefs do not reflect those of my employer, etc etc.) It is my firm belief that the return to classifying ISPs as information providers rather than communication providers would severely impact our nation’s ability to do business via the Internet and to compete globally with those countries that have elected to preserve Net Neutrality.

Time and again, it has been shown that, given the opportunity, American ISPs are absolutely willing and able to obstruct Internet traffic that they deem to be less than desirable. Whether that be AT&T blocking access to Apple’s FaceTime video chat service in 2012 or Verizon throttling Netflix traffic in 2014, without oversight these ISPs will stop at nothing to extract every penny possible from both internet content consumers and creators. We can already see how ISPs in Portugal, a country without strong Net Neutrality protections, are already splitting their internet packages into tiers that segregate traffic and exploit consumers

While I unconditionally agree with the prevailing sentiment among technologists that “the Internet was built to be free and open,” I do not find this to be a convincing argument for why Net Neutrality must be preserved. Instead, I think it is clear that by dropping American Net Neutrality protections, you will stop American Internet progress, and render us unable to participate on the global free and open Internet.

I urge you all to reconsider your support for repealing the Title II classification of Internet Service Providers. Thank you for your time,

Matt Goldman

Ed: This letter was also emailed to Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov, Mike.ORielly@fcc.gov, and Brendan.Carr@fcc.gov