Live data from Hacker News

Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

thehill.com

131–140 of 165 posts

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#131
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Montana has an interesting history. There were stories that said that Montana statehood was delayed by 25 years due to support of the south during the civil war. Jeanette Rankin, the first female member of congress, was elected twice, in time to be the sole vote against entering WWI and WWII. She was a pacifist and a Progressive Republican. So while small in population, there might be more diversity of opinion than y…

Yes! And the history of far left labor movements like the IWW (“Wobblies”) in MT is interesting too. Butte, for example, has historically been very blue collar, socially conservative / Irish Catholic, and left wing in a “you can’t scare me, I’m sticking to the union” kind of way. Something like 13% of Missoula County voted Green Party in 2000. Way I see it, MT has a mix of hippy-left, labor left, and truly moderate r…

Sticking to the union is right! While working away from home on a job in Anaconda we were politely reminded that it wasn't that long ago that they hung a guy with a logging chain for crossing the picket line. We were non-union from a few hours away. That was plenty of motivation to finish up and leave town.

3rd generation Montanan, raising the 4th.

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bootstrappy conservative state rolls up sleeves and delivers municipal/coop Internet after being forsaken by for-profit corporation. The news story almost writes itself. I’m unable to find any financial issues with Montana’s budget, and their bond ratings appear to be adequate to receive a great interest rate in order to borrow for a build out.

The reason Montana is in the position they’re in is precisely because they don’t do stuff like that. Take a look at California, a state that implements just about every idea under the sun without a care in the world for the tax payers’ money (latest example is Hyperloop). Not coincidentally, California is also a state that is broke, crime riddled, filled with toxic waste and pollution, just about burned to the ground…

I must have spaced out. When did the state agree to build the hyperloop?

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#134

Not to be against state's rights here, but isn't Net Neutrality anti-business? If a state goes it alone, does it risk pro-business components who might leave the state? Curiosity vs. equality slant, so not looking to pick a bone here. Real question ..

As Luigi Zingales says, being pro-market is not the same as being pro-business.

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#135
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't fit into neat left/right political boxes.

Sadly the US only has two political parties so none of that even remotely matters. Amusing how a country with a thousand different religious denominations only has two political opponents isn't it?

It may be amusing, but it's a natural result of how voting is done in the US https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=EC7679C7ACE93A5638&v=s7tW...

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#136

The headline is a little misleading. The state is not implementing rules or regulations for net neutrality. It is simply requiring, as a condition of contracting with the state, that ISPs abide by the principles of net neutrality. If an ISP does not have any state contracts, it is free to do whatever it wants under the federal law. Many jurisdictions attach such conditions to entering into a contract with the jurisdi…

Has there ever been a successful telecom that did not have government contracts?

Would you consider small (local) WISPs that are profitable succesful?

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#137

The headline is a little misleading. The state is not implementing rules or regulations for net neutrality. It is simply requiring, as a condition of contracting with the state, that ISPs abide by the principles of net neutrality. If an ISP does not have any state contracts, it is free to do whatever it wants under the federal law. Many jurisdictions attach such conditions to entering into a contract with the jurisdi…

Has there ever been a successful telecom that did not have government contracts?

I may be wrong, but what about Google Fiber?

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live here and have some familiarity with the ISP landscape. I'm going to bet that all* ISPs operating in the state are going to have contracts with the state. *Well, all ISPs of any consequence.

Sure but if push came to shove, if a non-net-neutral approach became a profit center for an ISP, they could afford to jettison those contracts. You would think the state of Montana would/could also put conditions on contracts for using municipal telephone poles in the state (since states have imposed the condition that, say, municipalities can't operate their own ISPs). You'd think but you think incorrectly given the…

"they could afford to jettison those contracts"

Don't they have to have a contract with the state to have access to the cables? IE: any ISP would have a state contract. If it ceased those contracts, it wouldn't be able to function as an ISP.

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#139
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live here and have some familiarity with the ISP landscape. I'm going to bet that all* ISPs operating in the state are going to have contracts with the state. *Well, all ISPs of any consequence.

Hey Now! ...but that's fair, the little ISP's were already for Net Neutrality. * * ISP Owner in MT

>* ISP Owner in MT

Same, until last year. We never had state customers and of course we ran traffic shaping that didn't look at source address.

Re: Montana becomes first state to implement net neutrality after FCC repeal

#140

If it's at all effective congress will preempt it.

I think that'd be an uphill battle. E.g., I, for one, oppose federal interference with the technical decisions of ISPs via so-called net neutrality. I've written my representatives on multiple occasions saying so. If I lived in Montana, I'd be similarly opposed to the state government's meddling. As a citizen of Minnesota, I'd actually oppose an overreaching federal government if they tried to overturn Montana's law.…

> I think that'd be an uphill battle.

Yeah, nothing in this arena's going to come easily to either side, there's far too much at stake. The Supreme Court didn't help planning or certainty when it disturbed fairly well-settled federal preclusion doctrine with a number of split holdings over the past 20 years so one way or the other we're in for a show.

Post reply on HN