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The Net Neutrality Hysteria

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Re: The Net Neutrality Hysteria

#11

Post by dangerlibrary »

grimtrigger wrote: post #10
dangerlibrary wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a new set of laws. It's the same set of rules that have been imposed on telephone companies and other utility providers for decades. It's a set of rules that the FCC already has the legal authority to impose. The google-able term is "common carrier".

Is that really an apt comparison? I assume the infrastructure for telephone companies in entirely different than the infrastructure for ISPs. Namely: that the variation in data that goes through phone companies is entirely different than the type that goes through ISPs.

You might not know it, but in asking me this question, you are asking me if I think that ISPs are telecommunications services.

Yes, I think that ISPs are telecommunications services. Ask AT&T what kind of spiky demand for phone bandwidth they see during and immediately after a hurricane, or on Mother's Day.

Re: The Net Neutrality Hysteria

#12

Post by jinushaun »

massysett wrote: post #8
DoctorMemory wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is a terrible piece. The argument of, "if these ISPs are evil why do business with them?" makes me think he is not a respected name in the tech industry but a trollish hack. As for the comment of ”the free market is the only true way to handle this" it completely ignore the monopolistic aspect of most US internet provider markets where the "choice" is a single large company and if you are really lucky a smal…

I live in a US city and have six choices for high speed internet access. This is a thriving free market. People are very quick to employ the coercive machinery of government to fix ills that do not exist.

For the past decade, I've only lived in cities with one choice for high speed internet access. There is no free market where I live.

Re: The Net Neutrality Hysteria

#13

Post by DoctorMemory »

grimtrigger wrote: post #9
DoctorMemory wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is a terrible piece. The argument of, "if these ISPs are evil why do business with them?" makes me think he is not a respected name in the tech industry but a trollish hack. As for the comment of ”the free market is the only true way to handle this" it completely ignore the monopolistic aspect of most US internet provider markets where the "choice" is a single large company and if you are really lucky a smal…

Ugh, what an ugly comment. Please don't do this on HN.

You are right I apologize for the language I used. I am not apologizing for saying it is a terrible article. All of the points he make assume that consumers have a wide range of choice. Some people do, a large amount don't. @massyset you are very privileged to live in a city with 6 large ISPs. Many places I have lived have one cable and one DSL provider. The most has been 2 big name cable providers but they didn't cross each other's territory.

Re: The Net Neutrality Hysteria

#16

Post by shard972 »

altcognito wrote: post #7

Dvorak is pretty awful and this article is no exception. This always seems to be the question: Why hasn't Comcast screwed over it's customers yet? The answer: They are. They're choking their bandwidth, they're forcing their customers to pay twice to have their content delivered. They are more interested in squeezing every single cent out of every single person that wants to transfer a packet across their municipality…

> Is the FCC the best option? No. But we've gone past the critical point. No longer can you purchase a connection and expect to get full bandwidth at peak times.

I don't see why you should be able to expect this unless your paying extra.

Re: The Net Neutrality Hysteria

#17

Post by shard972 »

dangerlibrary wrote: post #5
ryandvm wrote: post #3

I've never understood the clamor for government regulated Internet. Internet commerce (particularly in the United States) has flourished beyond anyone's wildest dreams over the last few decades without the federal government's intervention. Why exactly do we need a whole new set of laws to save us from a problem we don't have? Corporations have a very long history of manipulating the very agencies that are supposed t…

It's not a new set of laws. It's the same set of rules that have been imposed on telephone companies and other utility providers for decades. It's a set of rules that the FCC already has the legal authority to impose. The google-able term is "common carrier".

What about the danger of re-classifying internet services such as google as a common-carrier?

Re: The Net Neutrality Hysteria

#18

Post by alttab »

DoctorMemory wrote: post #13
grimtrigger wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh, what an ugly comment. Please don't do this on HN.

You are right I apologize for the language I used. I am not apologizing for saying it is a terrible article. All of the points he make assume that consumers have a wide range of choice. Some people do, a large amount don't. @massyset you are very privileged to live in a city with 6 large ISPs. Many places I have lived have one cable and one DSL provider. The most has been 2 big name cable providers but they didn't cr…

I never said consumers have access to a free market. I'm saying access to a free market would help solve the issue.
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