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I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

latimes.com

251–260 of 423 posts

Re: I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

#251
post #247

NN is an excellent example of framing by naming. Imagine if it was called the the "More Internet Regulation Act". Prima facie it's a more accurate name. Since this is going to happen (reverting to the way it was for ~25 years), I'll point out that an echo chamber forms by default because most of us who might spend time arguing about it don't see a good reason to. Aside... the largest cable provider decided it would b…

> ... I called and canceled my decade old ~$90/mo acct on the spot So... what do you do for internet access now? Oh, you have more than one legitimate option in your area? Lucky you. Many people don't.

Tethered my ATT acct for now. Prob go with my local microwave provider here in Tucson. Why arg for 'NN' when the real beef when you get down to it is the lack of competition?

Re: I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

#254

I was kind of confused why many big tech companies are for net neutrality. As someone who doesn't trust big tech companies, it made me doubtful. But I guess it makes sense; big tech companies have a lot of power right now because of net neutrality and they don't want it to fall into the hands of ISPs... Big internet companies that currently have direct guaranteed access to users don't want to be forced to make deals…

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Re: I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

#255
post #233

Bottom line: This gov. is looking for more control. Comcast, Verizon, AT&T... are looking for more profit.

It's not like NN would make them have more competition, either. Which, if they are greedy bastards that make anything for a profit, would make instead of charging to access some websites, get that same money from raising prices to everyone, easy as pie.

Re: I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

#256

I used to support net neutrality. Then I did my homework on the issue and realized so many of the arguments in favor of net neutrality rely on fear-mongering and a false history of the internet.

Sorry, which arguments are fear-mongering?

Re: I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

#258
post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that many people actually do hold this belief. That's why someone had to make a bot to create the illusion.

A bunch of the GOP seems to hold this belief. If there wasn't such a strong movement for net neutrality, I bet a bunch of Democrats would like this as well. I understand there are a lot of lobbyists, but there are many people who sincerely believe the "less regulation and more competition will solve the issues" mantra. I place a lot of the blame on outlets like the Wall Street Journal giving credence to arguments tha…

It's tiring how the dialogue is still so ideological. Every single person agrees that there should be 1 or more regulation. We are just determining their precise character. I wish public discussion would become more nuanced and specific to the issue at hand.

Re: I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

#259
I dont necessarily agree with the following but its a devils advocate argument I rarely see shared, and it has a lot of merit. Like everything, this issue is shades of grey.

Bandwidth is a limited amd expensive resource. When government mandated price controls are in effect ("Net neutrality" is a marketing meme) this expense is effectively socialised across the entire country. It is illegal for a telco to go to a hospital and offer a dedicated nine 9s reliable robot surgery link (technically its just illegal to charge a fair economic price for it but same/same). So the cost gets divided up, averaged out, and smalltime users end up paying a big chunk of the cost while people above the magic median point get massive benefits. YOU subsidise the cost of the BigCorp. video conference call between Sydney and Tokyo every day. You subsidise the cost of your neighbour streaming The Bachelor every night, and make it illegal for me to pay a higher price for the quality of service I need to work. Its a total mismanagement of resources. If the consumer was forced to bear the true economic cost of their internet usage then of course heavy users (like Netflix subscribers...) would end up paying more. Not directly to Netflix but the true cost of their product still goes up. This is obviously bad for Netflix/Youtube/the top 1%, who are the ones extracting wealth from this thing we call the internet. These whales love having their infrastructure costs socialised. You dont even have to be a Google customer for you to be giving them money, no wonder they're so rich!

Blocking freedom of people to publish on the web doesn't have much to do with net neutrality. This is big company lobbying and public propaganda from the tech industry. Tech companies are the new oil barons, in 80 years when the bio lobby is pushing for access to proprietary databases and end "Data detention" (you heard it here first) we'll look at tech giants the way we look at oil companies lobbying for clean coal now.

Re: I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

#260
post #259

I dont necessarily agree with the following but its a devils advocate argument I rarely see shared, and it has a lot of merit. Like everything, this issue is shades of grey. Bandwidth is a limited amd expensive resource. When government mandated price controls are in effect ("Net neutrality" is a marketing meme) this expense is effectively socialised across the entire country. It is illegal for a telco to go to a hos…

net neutrality != government mandated price controls, so the argument goes nowhere. Companies can charge whatever they want.

The other problems you describe could be solved by making false advertising illegal. Don't offer unlimited bandwidth, unlimited transfers or any of this mumbo-jumbo if you can't technically fulfill the promise. It's not your neighbors fault if he uses the Internet for whatever he wants to use it, whether that includes high or low bandwidth use, and if that interferes with your streaming, it's your ISPs problem to fix the issue or sell plans with proper bandwidth limits.

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