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In the Matter of Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet

Before the Federal Communications Commission
Washington, DC 20554

GN Docket No.14-28

Comments by Jon Duncan Neasham, a private citizen of the United States residing in Arlington,
VA

Dear Commissioners:

As public servants each of you knows that we enjoy the right to petition our government and I
appreciate this opportunity to express my views as you solicit comments to craft policies for an
open Internet.

In the 1990s the Internet was a clunky, esoteric mystery for most Americans who didn't
understand and couldn't conceptualize the role it would play in their lives. Today it is a vital
part of our everyday lives. Its little wonder a regulatory process which is often common and
unnoticed has sparked such a deep and emotional interest across our country.

From the beginning, the internet and its users have flourished with Net Neutrality. Internet
providers couldn't accelerate content for a price or slow or stop content that didn't pay. Unlike
television or radio, users of the system could decide for themselves what they wanted to see
and do on the Internet.

That has since evolved, but the general tenant and fundamental principles have remained.
Your task is a difficult but critical one. In order for this to continue -- for the Internet to grow
and evolve -- you have to develop a new generation of open Internet policies that ensure the
Internet remains a dynamic platform without barriers for new technologies, innovation,
expression, and opportunity.

I would urge you to consider these items as you craft your policies:

Protect the consumer: everyone who accesses the Internet should enjoy the same
protections and abilities to access this vibrant online ecosystem. I urge you to continue
to ensure an online environment that does not erect artificial barriers and to provide
oversight to safeguard against commercial arrangements between online service
providers and broadband Internet access providers that may adversely impact or harm
competition or choice online.

Ensure there is a strong no-blocking principle: users should be able to access the
information, services, and applications they wish to access -- in short, users of the
system can and should decide for themselves what they want to see and do on the
Internet.
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Increase transparency for consumers to ensure an open Internet: increasing
transparency on how the network operates and is managed, the costs associated, the
performance and network management of broadband access services, and what traffic
is filtered and prioritized is key to ensuring consumer protection and choice on an open
Internet. There is a key difference between providing a faster speed for service and
restricting the general equality that has existed on the Internet for expression,
innovation and commerce. Transparency can give us the tools to guard against that
happening.

Continue the evolution in Internet access: we need to get beyond fast lanes and slow
lanes, highways and dirt roads. If we have to use analogies, let's build more lanes and
more capacity. In my lifetime I have seen dial-up as a student in the 1990s give way to
cable dsl, broadband and now previously unimaginable 4G wireless connections from
mobile devices that place the Internet in the palm of your hand. This was all made
possible because people used the Internet and it became integral into their lives.

Let's continue that, and let's continue to encourage the investment in new technologies
and avenues to increase speed and transmission that we have seen develop over more
than the past two decades. The market has up until now--and will continue--to demand
it, and if you can put policies in place that protect the consumer and provide
transparency, you can strike the appropriate balance.

Don't put the brakes on innovation: protecting the consumer, increasing transparency,
and promoting the investment in improved Internet Access can all help the Internet
continue to be an engine for innovation, expression, and economic growth. Since the
FCC announced its intention to develop new rules for an open Internet, a schism has
developed between two sides that say we must have paid prioritization or a
reclassification of broadband Internet access service to continue Net Neutrality.

I suspect both arguments miss the mark and are hyperbolic since we currently do have
paid prioritization and an open Internet. As I have studied the two camps, an articles
from experts in the field of Internet access and network management, I have grown
more concerned about the either or approach.

Further, I am concerned that reclassification could actually ignore the market forces that
promote competition, innovation, and the dynamic nature of an open Internet. Would
it put the brakes on new technologies and services that have allowed us to connect and
share? Would it encourage foreign governments and totalitarian regimes who seek to
break up or control the Internet to follow suit with heavy-handed regulations that could
balkanize the Internet? These are serious questions and concerns I urge you to explore
further as you develop policies for an open Internet.

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I'd like to close again by thanking you for the diligence and thought you are putting into this
undertaking, and the opportunity for ordinary citizens such as myself to offer input which you
will consider. I hope you strike the right balance and succeed because there is a good deal at
stake.

For myself, the Internet has meant many positive things. I found and connected with the love
of my life on it more than a decade ago. And for both of us, before that and since, the open
Internet allowed us to connect with the LGBT community without shame or fear as it does for
many LGBTs.

Professionally I have used it to pursue every job I have ever accepted, and it has helped the
work I performed excel to a higher level than would have been previously possible. It has been
an invaluable tool for me educate myself, to discover, and to reach others. And to connect with
the world and with the people I love and care deeply about.

I can only optimistically imagine what the future holds, and I wish you the best of luck in
crafting the policies needed to achieve that optimistic future as you move forward,

Sincerely,

/s/Duncan Neasham

Jon Duncan Neasham
5500 Columbia Pike #515
Arlington, VA 22204