Live data from Hacker News

FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

bloomberg.com

111–120 of 302 posts

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ISPs are offering 'Netflix-included' or discounted Disney+ plans. I don't know how they account for downloads from these services but the bundling is definitely happening.

When a zero-rating agreement is successfully negotiated between ISPs and website operators, they share a list of IP ranges with the ISP, and any traffic towards these IPs are excluded from the consumer’s data cap.

ISPs have already gotten around anti-data cap laws by locating content servers within their network and only charging caps for data that travels outside their network.

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#112
post #106

A lot of people in these comments are making the case that removing net neutrality didn’t do much harm, so why bother bringing it back. Let me make the counterclaim. The argument against net neutrality is that it might stifle innovation. Well, we had net neutrality for many years and innovation didn’t seem all that stifled. Hence, what’s the harm in bringing it back?

I am going to repeat this in every chain: net neutrality is the law in California.

Vitally, net neutrality is an actual law in California. It can't be overturned arbitrarily by some bureaucrats.

Since Congress won't do anything at the national level, this is going to be re-hashed out by the FCC every time the president's tie changes color.

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#113
post #19

It really seems unnecessary at this point. Now that we have satellite based internet and 4G/5G are legit competitors to regular wire based ISPs it just seems that the market has solved this by itself. Sure, Comcast _could_ still start doing prioritization. But honestly I’d be a lot more worried about how Google/Meta/Microsoft are using your data for GenAI.

It's your responsibility as a citizen to be able to multi-task, because there's always going to be a more important issue to worry about.

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#115
Semi-unrelated, on bundling: about 20-25 years ago, there were a bunch of these tiny hyper-local ISPs in Russia that would wire up several adjacent flat blocks with a LAN, get an internet uplink and start signing customers within those flat blocks (your only other option at that time was dial-up). The uplink was probably expensive and so they charged per Gb (or had a very low cap) but... "a free local share with terabytes of warez, mp3s, movies and porn is included in your base fee!". I think it might have even been in the official ads, in a slightly less blatant form.

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#116
post #100

A lot of people in these comments are making the case that removing net neutrality didn’t do much harm, so why bother bringing it back. Let me make the counterclaim. The argument against net neutrality is that it might stifle innovation. Well, we had net neutrality for many years and innovation didn’t seem all that stifled. Hence, what’s the harm in bringing it back?

The harm is that it takes away resources from other important issues that require our focus right now.

I know you're kidding, but it surprises me how often I hear the idea that an organization the size of the FCC can't multitask.

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#117
post #19

It really seems unnecessary at this point. Now that we have satellite based internet and 4G/5G are legit competitors to regular wire based ISPs it just seems that the market has solved this by itself. Sure, Comcast _could_ still start doing prioritization. But honestly I’d be a lot more worried about how Google/Meta/Microsoft are using your data for GenAI.

It seems unnecessary thanks to states that passed net neutrality laws.

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sky was supposed to fall if net neutrality were abrogated, and IME, that hasn't happened. ISPs aren't run by complete idiots. They knew this current switch back was a likely possibility. If they had rushed to implement service tiers, it would have given even more ammunition to the net neutrality debate. Now they can say "See we had a chance for a few years to do it and didn't, so we need to pass laws to make sure…

And how long do you expect your timeline to playout on? It's been more than 6 years now, and we're talking about corporations that regularly have difficulty seeing beyond next quarter, and have absolutely no qualms pissing off the entire world if it means another buck. Why wouldn't they have rushed to enact the new laws immediately under an FCC political establishment that would have been favorable to such? It seems…

This is just not true. There is no competition. Cities have Comcast or Spectrum; they don't have both. #3 and #4 in Wireless just merged. It is literally T-mobile, Verizon, or AT&T. Where would the consumers go to? They all do the exact same thing. And once one competitor makes the switch, they all will, since they all make more money. This literally happened when T-mobile sold streaming as an addon package [0] or when AT&T zero rated DirecTV on their wireless plans.

The only reason the internet hasn't gotten significantly worse is because we DID have net neutrality for a while, and they knew it would come back once Democrats had a majority on the FCC.

[0] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/01/eff-confirms-t-mobiles...

Re: FCC aims to reinstate net neutrality after us Democrats gain control of panel

#120
post #38

If you believed the scare tactics at the time, losing net neutrality literally threatened the end of the internet as we know it. But my internet has worked the same before, during, and after net neutrality. I really don't get what all the fuss is about. However, if you really do believe this is a civilization defining piece of regulation, Why leave it to the FCC? It seems like people on both sides are happy to leave…

The argument is not that the internet would suddenly die, it’s that it would get chopped up and rebundled a-La cable tv. And we’re seeing isps give preferential treatment to services that pay them, just not instantly and only that because it’s been only 2 years (edit: comment below points out it’s been 5), business sales cycles are long and they aren’t stupid enough to immediately turn the heat up to 11 while the fro…

> The argument is not that the internet would suddenly die

From honest/informed actors, you're correct but the FUD campaign during the repeal was incredibly dramatic and exaggerated.

Post reply on HN