The net neutrality norm generates wealth transfers from one type of internet content provider to another. In theory, these transfers might be socially desirable, and could be justified on the basis of informational externalities similar to those that have been identified to justify the fair use doctrine in copyright law. However, in practice, the conditions that justify fair use in the copyright context do not appear to hold in the settings in which the net neutrality principle operates. Moreover, the internal subsidization required by net neutrality generates a transfer from the relatively poor to the relatively rich. The potential welfare gains that might come from controlling anticompetitive abuse or government coercion through implementation of the policy can be achieved by alternative policies with less harmful consequences.
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Keith Hylton, a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Boston University and Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law, joined the BU Law faculty in 1995 after teaching for six years and receiving tenure at Northwestern University School of Law. He is a prolific scholar who is widely recognized for his work across a broad spectrum of topics in law and economics, including tort law, antitrust, labor law, intellectual property, civil procedure, and empirical legal analysis. He has published six books and more than 100 articles in numerous law and economics journals. He is a former President of the American Law and Economics Association (2017–2018 term). He is currently Editor in Chief of the Review of Law and Economics. He is a former chair of the Section on Torts and Compensation Systems of the American Association of Law Schools, a former chair of the Section on Antitrust and Economic Regulation of the American Association of Law Schools, a former director of the American Law and Economics Association, a former Secretary of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section, a former member of the editorial board of the Journal of Legal Education, former chair of the Law and Economics section of the American Association of Law Schools, and a current member of the American Law Institute.
