It may be for the best over time - the innovation that comes from the decision is likely an increment over where we are now - and possibly have wider benefits that just enabling NN.
F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
211–220 of 1001 posts
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Would we better off focusing our efforts on increasing competition among ISPs? The answer is, of course, yes . But people like to think in terms of black and white, ingroup and outgroup, friend and enemy. The public is now thoroughly convinced not only that the reclassification had the intended effects (and it's not clear that's the case), but that reinstating the reclassification is the only way to address the iss…
Actually, the public has been convinced that regulation on ISPs is a good thing , and that repealing that regulation without replacing it with anything is a bad thing . And I think that's a pretty fair thing to think.
The way I look at it, the existing regulation only really held things back a bit from getting much worse. For things to get better, there needs to be an impetus.
I talk with a number of Americans (especially on Freenode and over mailinglists) whose only options are satellite (which explains partly why they're still on IRC) or installing their own point to point radio network. All the current rules mean is that their only available ISP has to tell them explicitly that they'll be sabotaging BitTorrent traffic. Leased highway conduit space or leased dark fiber, and a loosening of (other, more administratively significant) regulations would have an outsize impact on the cost of the last miles of radio and/or fiber backhaul, instead of just adding pages to the subscriber agreement.
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're free to do so; companies exist to make money. Cable internet carriers probably will attempt something like this. The next thing that will happen is, when Comcast goes too far, another provider (cable? wireless carrier? satellite broadband? something new from a startup?) disrupts the market by offering an alternative to Comcasts' egregious policies. Comcast loses subscribers and is monetarily forced to be more…
Except due to regulatory capture and lobbying of enough municipalities this has become harder Selling a plain service and doing it well for a fair price should have won most consumers but they will switch companies for minor discounts or the shiniest cellphone then complain they get shafter
Yes, you're right, regulations make it more difficult.
But if startups have taught us anything, it's that businesses find a way to disrupt existing economies even in the face of regulations.
Ironically, Net Neutrality (NN) is itself a regulation. One of the reasons we reject NN is because creating regulations often has unintended consequences. We believe it's better to not have the regulation and let the free market and open competition sort out the details.
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#214This has been asked a few times but never fully answered, can someone explain why this vote in particular is a problem? I understand net neutrality and I am all for it, but there was considerable public doubt before reclassification that this was the proper way to go about it. It also doesn't seem like the internet regulatory state of pre-2015 was a disaster. Would we better off focusing our efforts on increasing com…
It's not that the state of the internet pre-2015 was a disaster but, prior to the 2015 reclassification, we were already starting to see abuses of net neutrality. When ISP's and telecoms started to block VoIP traffic because it cut into their phone services, it was unprecedented because no one had really prioritized data based on the content up until that point. Once that started happening and more companies caught o…
Is blocking of VoIP traffic not covered by other anti competitive behaviour regulation?
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#215This is proof positive that the current FCC commission has ignored the will of the voters on this issue. Support for Net Neutrality was overwhelming and bi-partisan, yet Ajit Pai just plowed forward without consideration for what the citizens demanded. This is government at its worst.
It's funny, the FCC's mandate isn't to poll the public and do whatever most of them want. Strange how people seem to think it's a numbers game, at least when they feel the numbers are on their side
Just because it's not the FCC's "job", it doesn't mean that overwhelming support for Net Neutrality is wrong.
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#216Common response on HN for the past two months has been nothing short of hyperbolic. "The world will end if NN is repealed". Speaking as a conservative: When Obama was president, I got told the same thing about the ACA. The world will end, the sky is falling, America is finished. But eight years later, here I am, nothing's that much worse. I have no reason to believe this is "the beginning of the end" of anything. Lif…
I totally agree with you. I believe group polarization [0] causes forums on the internet such as this one to exaggerate how bad something is going to be and this is one of those times. My biggest concern is if something actually world-ending were to be about to happen it would be sort of hard to tell by reading Reddit and Hackernews. Because the users of those collectively dial the alarm severity up to "catastrophic" several times per year, and it is a case of crying wolf almost every time.
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's funny, the FCC's mandate isn't to poll the public and do whatever most of them want. Strange how people seem to think it's a numbers game, at least when they feel the numbers are on their side
Logician and Philosopher Raymond Smullyan had a story about this in one of his books. He had gone on a trip with a woman with a little girl. The adults wanted to eat at colorful local cafes, while the girl wanted to eat at McDonalds. He suggested that they vote, and the little girl replied, "That's no fair. I'd lose!" Our republic isn't designed just to do what the people want. It's intentionally designed so that goo…
It's intentionally designed so that good people can sometimes do something unpopular in the public interest.
Except in this case, it is not in public interest
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#218Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#219Why are meshnets not popular and why is no one talking about them?
Can we start some discussion about software like cjdns?
Re: F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
#220Comcast is committed to free and open Internet, nothing to worry for now https://imgur.com/gallery/RPgJf