I find it amusing that those in favor of net neutrality consider themselves on the side of freedom.
What makes that amusing?
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We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
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Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#12Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#13I find it amusing that those in favor of net neutrality consider themselves on the side of freedom.
Most rights are a balancing act. In this case, the freedom of the ISP is contrary to the freedom of the subscriber, so whose freedom is supreme?
I could understand opposition to net neutrality if there were competition in the ISP market. However, I have no choice but to use Comcast, so the idea that they can decide what sites I visit and how fast they are is very scary.
Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#14This article is over a month old. I'm interested in the current status of NN. Could someone informed fill us in on the latest?
Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
What makes that amusing?
Seriously? Because they're demanding the freedom of the telcos be overridden in favor of our own personal interests.
The telcos make extensive use of common property like licensed portions of the RF spectrum and a great deal of land in order to do their business. The people have every right to enforce regulations on the use of their property.
Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#16I find it amusing that those in favor of net neutrality consider themselves on the side of freedom.
The sticking point for me is that the market is already regulated such that it makes it very difficult for a competitor to challenge companies who engage in exploitative practices (and for similar reasons, the incentive to collude is extremely high). In a free market, net neutrality wouldn't need to be regulated because companies who attempted to enact business plans like the AT&T plan described in the article would…
They may have been monopolies once, but they're not anymore. At least in the US. Most people already have two broadband subscriptions: home cable broadband and HSPA+ or LTE. The home cable broadband is in competition with ADSL throughout much of the nation, and the HSPA+/LTE providers are in fierce competition everywhere.
Furthermore, what makes you say this:
>In a free market, net neutrality wouldn't need to be regulated because companies who attempted to enact business plans like the AT&T plan described in the article would rapidly find themselves losing marketshare to competitors.
I certainly would not expect them to lose market share.
Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#17I find it amusing that those in favor of net neutrality consider themselves on the side of freedom.
Most rights are a balancing act. In this case, the freedom of the ISP is contrary to the freedom of the subscriber, so whose freedom is supreme? I could understand opposition to net neutrality if there were competition in the ISP market. However, I have no choice but to use Comcast, so the idea that they can decide what sites I visit and how fast they are is very scary.
>In this case, the freedom of the ISP is contrary to the freedom of the subscriber, so whose freedom is supreme?
No, there is no conflict. This is black and white. I know that HN doesn't want to hear it.
The subscribers freedom is to leave for another provider. The provider's freedom is to charge what it wants for whatever service it wants to provide.
Only one's freedom is being infringed upon here.
Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#18Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6669298
Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#19I find it amusing that those in favor of net neutrality consider themselves on the side of freedom.
The sticking point for me is that the market is already regulated such that it makes it very difficult for a competitor to challenge companies who engage in exploitative practices (and for similar reasons, the incentive to collude is extremely high). In a free market, net neutrality wouldn't need to be regulated because companies who attempted to enact business plans like the AT&T plan described in the article would…
The telcos are competing over very limited resources (easements necessary to build fiber, etc.). In the absence of a regulatory system you'd have cartels instead.
Re: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality
#20I consider everybody here very smart. In many cases smarter than myself. Therefore, could somebody please explain why we would give the government, which has shown itself to be terribly incompetent with technology issues, the ability to enforce net neutrality? Seriously, I can't get over the dissonance here. If it's such a shitty idea, let consumers decide. Google Fiber et al will just eat the major telecoms' lunch sooner or later anyway. It may just take a little longer, but we'll avoid the possibility of letting the government crush Internet innovation forever.