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FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

washingtonpost.com

61–70 of 674 posts

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#61
post #58
post #22

I don't know, the Internet got on fine without those rules for a lot longer than we've had those rules, I feel like the gloom-and-doom over this is highly overstated.

the times were extremely different, and the rules can't hurt

The times were three years ago.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#62
post #32

Maybe I'm lone dissenter, but I don't understand the push back on this. People who read hacker news should be among the elite technologist, do we really all believe that every packet should be treated the same? Should an E911 call or tele-surgery packets really be treated the same as Netflix? Net neutrality forces the ISP to do that and that seems like madness to me.

No post body was provided.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#63
post #34

Tweet in article: >On December 14, the FCC will vote on Chairman Pai's plan to repeal President Obama's heavy-handed Internet regulations and restore Internet freedom. I love how these laws are veiled with patriotic sentiments, e.g. "Internet Freedom". Just like the "Patriot Act", it is reasonable to assume anything with these sort of labels will likely be an encroachment on your freedoms. Also >"The job of the FCC i…

People are dropping cable due to the heavy-handed control and lack of choice. Why would ISPs want emulate that failing model? If Comcast is going to try to charge me more to be able to access Netflix, I'm gone.

> People are dropping cable due to the heavy-handed control and lack of choice. Why would ISPs want emulate that failing model?

Because the cable companies are the ISPs, and without ISPs acting differently, there's less impetus for people to ditch their cable companies as cable companies.

Especially when the phone/cable/ISP firms can block or tax into submission services that compete with their phone and video offerings by virtue of their control of internet access.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To just equal Comcast's estimated lobbying budget of $20 million, it would require somewhere north of 300,000 people all contributing $5 a month. Given you'd also be fighting against Verizon, Google, Netflix, and any number of other companies, you'd probably need a member count close to a million to make anything resembling headway. A million members making reoccurring contributions is beyond what is realistic, IMO.

Google and Netflix are both pro-neutrality, not anti-; you'd be lobbying with rather than against them on this issue.

They are, until it benefits them not to be.

It'll never benefit the consumer to go this way. Google and Netflix are allies of convenience at best.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#65

"Net neutrality" is one of the most Orwellian terms in modern usage. It's a corporate welfare play by large tech companies to "solve" a "problem" that nobody can identify. It's pre-emptive, busy-body regulation at its worst. Who was being harmed in the first 20 years of the internet without these regulations? Whose lives have been made better? Compared to what? Net neutrality advocates are utterly unable to give conv…

Net neutrality means that ISPs are required to be neutral to Internet-based services. You might disagree with if this regulation is required, but the term itself is not "Orwellian."

People who will be harmed is anyone who doesn't want their media coming from sources controlled by large corporations such as TimeWarner, Facebook, News Corp., etc. Such conglomerates will get special deals that make it harder for more "alternate" media sources to compete.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#67
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "If you like your cable company, you'll love what this does for the Internet" HAHAHHAHAA, wow they're not even trying

That quote was from Tom Wheeler, ex-chairman of the FCC who opposes ending net neutrality. He was being sarcastic.

I'd like to have a quick shout out to Tom Wheeler. I was very worried when he was first appointed, but it was great to see someone who used their experience lobbying to stand up for consumers instead of continuing to act in corporate interests.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#68
post #34

Tweet in article: >On December 14, the FCC will vote on Chairman Pai's plan to repeal President Obama's heavy-handed Internet regulations and restore Internet freedom. I love how these laws are veiled with patriotic sentiments, e.g. "Internet Freedom". Just like the "Patriot Act", it is reasonable to assume anything with these sort of labels will likely be an encroachment on your freedoms. Also >"The job of the FCC i…

People are dropping cable due to the heavy-handed control and lack of choice. Why would ISPs want emulate that failing model? If Comcast is going to try to charge me more to be able to access Netflix, I'm gone.

you won't see it. they will force netflix to pay them more. And the charge will be passed on to all subscribers.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#69
It's unlikely popular and profitable services will be hindered by the lack of net neutrality.

But any new services that threaten existing ones will be hard-pressed to compete.

Imagine I start a new streaming service. In order for my service to reach people, ISP's will charge me a higher price than Netflix, probably a _significantly_ higher rate. This will make it extremely difficult for my new service to reach enough people to make it an ongoing concern.

This is just another nail in the oligarchy coffin we are actively sealing ourselves in.

It will also allow ISP's to control and block content if someone pays them to do so. There are still anti-competitive laws on the books, but are any of them even being enforced anymore. We allowed the banks to become monopolies, we've allowed the AT&T fox back in the hen house.

If we don't fight back, we're going to become slaves to the digital age.

Re: FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see

#70
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To where? Or are you one of those lucky few who have a choice of ISP?

It's not there yet, but mobile broadband is becoming increasingly viable. It's far from ideal, but 4 (soon 3) competitors are better than the 1 choice I have for wired broadband.

Sure, with tiny data caps and even more artificial restrictions on speeds and content.
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