Professor Christopher S. Yoo's new study, "Promoting Broadband Through Network Diversity" (PDF) opposes network neutrality safeguards. In his view, the key question is whether "imposing network neutrality would forestall the realization of important economic benefits." His answer is in the affirmative, not surprisingly. Prof. Yoo embraces a too-narrow intellectual perspective--one that ultimately equates how the U.S. promotes broadband diversity to a simple measurement of the financial impact on broadband network operators, such as the cable industry.
But given that the sponsor who paid Professor Yoo for this latest lobbyist handout is the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, it's understandable. His study is a love letter to the monopolists of the cable industry who wish to impose a business model for the Net that fundamentally distort its democratic and competitive potential.
Prof. Yoo, who teaches law at Vanderbilt University, shows a lack of understanding of media history, especially that of his patron. With a better grasp of that history, Yoo would recognize that just as the cable monopoly undermined the potential diversity of multi-channel television, it is also engaged in a similar effort online, where cable seeks to extend its gatekeeper business model to the Internet. Yoo's paper should be re-titled "Promoting Broadband Monopoly Through Cable and Telco Network Control."