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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

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21–30 of 67 posts

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#21
post #20
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, google jumped in way over their head with fiber. They didn't know what they were getting into. And their cloud-based TV service is a tire fire.

> Yeah, google jumped in way over their head with fiber. They didn't know what they were getting into. They should have known it's a very long term investment. Why were they surprised that it takes time to build up the network? I'm more upset about their reaction, than about the fact that they didn't plan it better. They can make it all successful, but it's long term. Looks like they are affected by short term invest…

That has been a problem for them for some time. How many projects have they killed they folks relied on? Some engineers inside create an app or service and then they must move on internally and the app or service suffers from neglect for years then they kill it. You can't count on them to finish anything.

They are bound to be replaced. They have nothing but ad revenue.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#22
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's definitely what those in favor of repealing the protections want you to think. Silencing dissenters by creating the illusion that their voice means nothing is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

What's your suggestion then?

As someone points out above, the dissenting opinions and comments will be extremely valuable in the legal actions that will follow.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#23
post #15
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pai and his ISP masters know that. That probably was their plan all along. Get sued, then ask the Congress to pass a "law" that would "put the debate to rest", while not actually preventing any anti-competitive abuse because of all the holes in that law. Given current situation in the Congress you should expect that. The same Congress just voted for Pai.

GOP needs a solid defeat in 2018 or the Internet will become a lot more "comcastic".

Internet neutrality is not a hot button issue for most of the voting demographic, nor should it arguably be. Definitely an upper middle class problem.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your suggestion then?

As someone points out above, the dissenting opinions and comments will be extremely valuable in the legal actions that will follow.

In that case, I feel good that I did submit a comment (two perhaps) to the FCC regarding this issue.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#25
post #18
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GOP needs a solid defeat in 2018 or the Internet will become a lot more "comcastic".

I think the only way to really prevent that is strong and disruptive competition that will spook all the current slumbering monopolists. Google Fiber pretended to aim at that, but now it slowed to a crawl (it did cause some good ripple effects). Will Starlink from SpaceX fix it? Who knows, but I have little expectation from the Congress to do anything of value about it. When was the last time they did something good…

I was going to write "the ISP market is a natural monopoly", but then I noticed that's missing the point in this case.

Because the fear of Non-Net-Neutrality goes far beyond the usual "there's only two ISPs where I life and they both offer the same deals".

It's something in completely its own category of nefariousness because they could be as anticompetitive as they want, and the market could not solve it. Even if SpaceX did its thing and broke the speed limit on light.

That's because the injured party isn't their customers, who could take their business elsewhere, or at least loudly complain on the internet (if they have any).

It's someone not part to the ISPcustomer contract, namely that unknown video startup in Nantucket, or the e2e-encrpyted messenger app your friend Lauren is working on. They're going to be forced into paying ISPs if they ever want to reach the ISPs' customers. And there's no risk to the ISP, because nobody is going to change ISPs for some startup they've never heard about.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#26
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's definitely what those in favor of repealing the protections want you to think. Silencing dissenters by creating the illusion that their voice means nothing is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

..maybe their voice doesn't actually mean anything?

[deleted]

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#27
post #20
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, google jumped in way over their head with fiber. They didn't know what they were getting into. And their cloud-based TV service is a tire fire.

> Yeah, google jumped in way over their head with fiber. They didn't know what they were getting into. They should have known it's a very long term investment. Why were they surprised that it takes time to build up the network? I'm more upset about their reaction, than about the fact that they didn't plan it better. They can make it all successful, but it's long term. Looks like they are affected by short term invest…

They tried is as a test balloon and, with the new data they got, saw that they can't get the numbers to where they would need to be to be profitable.

The alternative here isn't that they would run something of that size indefinitely, knowing that it will lose them money. It's Google behaving like every single other company currently in existence: deciding up front that it's too risky and not even trying.

At least it created some nice data showing how the legacy ISPs react to competition. Just in case anyone ever needs to prove that this market isn't working.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#28
post #18
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GOP needs a solid defeat in 2018 or the Internet will become a lot more "comcastic".

I think the only way to really prevent that is strong and disruptive competition that will spook all the current slumbering monopolists. Google Fiber pretended to aim at that, but now it slowed to a crawl (it did cause some good ripple effects). Will Starlink from SpaceX fix it? Who knows, but I have little expectation from the Congress to do anything of value about it. When was the last time they did something good…

What we really need is some hardcore trustbusting. The Media companies must be split off from advertisers, which must be split off from ISPs, which must be split off from the software companies, which must be split off from the hardware vendors.

Unless something changes, there is so much vertical integration and so many conflicts of interest at play that the Internet will soon become Cable TV 2.0. A walled garden, proprietary, pay to play network where the only innovation that takes place is in new ways to separate the subscribers from their money.

Investors won't like it, but they can eat shit. An economy which only serves large mega-corporations is an unhealthy one. If the masses get nothing out of it, they will eventually bring the whole thing to a screeching halt.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#29
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah, google jumped in way over their head with fiber. They didn't know what they were getting into. They should have known it's a very long term investment. Why were they surprised that it takes time to build up the network? I'm more upset about their reaction, than about the fact that they didn't plan it better. They can make it all successful, but it's long term. Looks like they are affected by short term invest…

They tried is as a test balloon and, with the new data they got, saw that they can't get the numbers to where they would need to be to be profitable. The alternative here isn't that they would run something of that size indefinitely, knowing that it will lose them money. It's Google behaving like every single other company currently in existence: deciding up front that it's too risky and not even trying. At least it…

Legacy ISPs managed it somehow? So I don't see why Google can't. Especially since technology has improved (microtrenching and etc.). If anyone, Google has enough money to pull it off and seriously compete with incumbents.

Re: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accused of cherry-picking data to repeal net neutrality

#30
This might be the worst thing he's done so far, but it's not even the stupidest thing he's done this week.

Five days ago he put out a statement congratulating himself for demanding that Tim Cook turn on an imaginary iPhone radio to help the people of Puerto Rico.

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