America's net neutrality rage hits academia

Corporate shill allegations spark furious response

And so: where are we?

In short, the new paper tears off the lid to what everyone knows is going on behind the scenes: careful cable funding of third parties to push a position and then careful pointing of others to that position as a way of taking control of the debate.

That Winseck and Pooley decided to do so aggressively has sparked an equally aggressively response. And those sat in the middle are uncomfortable at efforts to push or pull them into one of two camps. Does it matter? Sadly, just like the split in the wider United States, yes it does.

"The stakes could not be higher," the paper argues, "as Pai sprints to reverse the most prominent accomplishments of the Obama-era FCC."

It continues: "The IJoC paper, and its predecessors, are a touchstone for op-eds across think tanks and their blogs as well as the business and popular press. Pai has positioned the papers as a cornerstone of his rush to roll back FCC regulations. The authors’ appeal to the authority of economics, as we document in some detail, cloaks a full-throated political project designed to remake communications markets along the lines that incumbent telecommunications, broadband Internet, and media industries have desired all along."

And that, sadly, looks like an entirely true statement. ®