Why the battle to preserve "net neutrality" has nothing to do with fighting censorship

The sacred world wide web is positively aflame with screeds denouncing the imminent collapse of a “free internet.”

Hey, don’t get me wrong; I too am 100% aboard for a “free internet.” I’d be 200% aboard if the Farm Manager wasn’t paying the equivalent of three cases of beer to access this “free” service every month. That ain’t “free” where I come from.

But what’s interesting is how much of this outpouring of concern conflates “net neutrality” with censorship. Check out this article at Salon, or check out the previous post about Sarah Kendzior.

The purveyors of this misconception want you to believe that the fate of the First Amendment hinges on a FCC vote that will be held on December 14.

It doesn’t.

Big Tech are already censoring what you see by tweaking their search algorithms in such a way that you are far less likely to have your patriotic eyeballs alight on offensive and subversive anti-American propaganda.

It’s entirely possible to preserve the “net neutrality” at stake in the FCC decision while expunging every trace of critical anti-Empire opinion from that neutral net.

We are being bamboozled yet again.