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Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#41

Post by lifeisstillgood »

pyrocat wrote: post #35
w1ntermute wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best thing for tech companies to do is to start destroying some political careers. This could be pretty interesting. For example, maybe Google could mine the web (or Twitter their tweet data) for public information on politicians and start airing their dirty laundry. For example, if someone Googles a certain politician, it could show that information at the top of the search if the politician doesn't do what th…

Wow, that's an absolutely terrible idea. I don't think Google would ever do that, if simply because the risk of it getting out is too great, it would absolutely destroy the trust of the brand.

But, interestingly, there is nothing stopping us doing it ... I think it is still possible to game google results such that the top results for any politicians name includes "sex scandal of senator X" simply by a lot of people linking to it.

It's democratic (if you are happy for Russian links to count in your senators feeds)

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#42

Post by [deleted] »

alexqgb wrote: post #17
harrystone wrote: post #10

I appreciate what Alexis is trying to do here but I hope he isn't assuming that the FCC just doesn't understand the problem. That's how this reads to me. Maybe the idea is to be diplomatic. I don't think the FCC cares. The FCC understands what is going on and it wants to do whatever is best for the FCC. The best thing for tech companies to do is to start destroying some political careers. That's the only thing the ma…

That's the essence of contemporary lobbying. Most legislators can be persuaded with campaign contributions (the carrot) but those that can't get threatened with the stick, which comes in the form of a previously unheard of but suddenly flush primary opponent. Add gerrymandering to the mix, and this tactic becomes even harder to resist, since the effective sidelining of an opposing party means that no matter what else…

[deleted]

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#43

Post by lifeisstillgood »

What about other forms of "neutrality"?

The BBC is required to maintain "balance" over political issues.

Should Google return the same results to all queries (ie no search bubble allowed?)

Should Facebook (indeed any advertiser) be required to serve the same advert no matter what the profile of the incoming request? I mean Billboards are public broadcasts not private to me, why should online advertising be different? I know it is but that's not the point.

I support net neutrality as it is commonly defined, but I think there are many other "neutrality" issues that we gloss over happily. I doubt very much Google will be happy removing the search bubble, and I would be interested in how much it affects the quality of results.

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#44

Post by TomGullen »

One thing that seems to get me is most of this sort of action is defensive, they propose a new bill and the population has to respond on mass to have it rejected and put us back to square one.

They then go away, rephrase, and we're on the defensive again. Eventually, people who only defend will capitulate. You can't win if all you do is defend.

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#45

Post by 3rd3 »

harrystone wrote: post #10

I appreciate what Alexis is trying to do here but I hope he isn't assuming that the FCC just doesn't understand the problem. That's how this reads to me. Maybe the idea is to be diplomatic. I don't think the FCC cares. The FCC understands what is going on and it wants to do whatever is best for the FCC. The best thing for tech companies to do is to start destroying some political careers. That's the only thing the ma…

How would one go about destroying someone’s political career?

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#46

Post by DINKDINK »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #43

What about other forms of "neutrality"? The BBC is required to maintain "balance" over political issues. Should Google return the same results to all queries (ie no search bubble allowed?) Should Facebook (indeed any advertiser) be required to serve the same advert no matter what the profile of the incoming request? I mean Billboards are public broadcasts not private to me, why should online advertising be different?…

Parametric advertising doesn't create a class-based system of access to information or business opportunities.

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#47

Post by schwabacher »

dbpokorny wrote: post #21

Why don't we just shut down the FCC? (Serious question) http://transition.fcc.gov/Plan-for-Orderly-Shutdown-Septembe...

To answer your question:

Proponents of net neutrality are asking the FCC for new regulation on the internet in order to prevent ISPs from prioritizing certain traffic over others. If we were to shut down the FCC, ISPs would be unrestrained.

In other words - the problem with the FCC is not that it is actively doing bad things, the problem is that it is not doing the job we would like it to.

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#48

Post by larrys »

alexis wrote: post #9
sundance0 wrote: post #6

> Y Combinator is Silicon Valley’s premiere early stage investor. Shouldn't it be 'premier'? I know, not a big deal, but a mistake on the first line doesn't scream 'Best in the Business' if you ask me.

Fixed. Thanks. I can't tell you how many times I and others read over that and somehow missed it. So it goes with typos.

"I can't tell you how many times I and others read over that"

From years of being in the graphics business I noted that people tended to miss words that weren't particularly difficult but at the same time (and same people) usually caught difficult words.

My reasoning was that people "chunk" the easy frequent words but slow down and think about every letter in the difficult words.

Some of the most common errors were actually with the city names and street addresses (and numbers) for example.

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#49

Post by graylights »

dragonwriter wrote: post #40
mbesto wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just had a read over the letter and the first 2-3 paragraphs talked about nothing other than what's in it for YC (and similar companies) that are worth "billions of dollars". I'll be honest - I cringed when the focal statement of the letter started " We need the FCC" - as opposed to perhaps what could have been expressed as "In order for the FCC to meet its objectives of XYZ, we are asking that they consider ABC".…

> One thing I've learned about trying to motivate someone else to do something - a la Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people" and Pink's "To Sell is Human" - is to shut up about yourself and focus on the other person/party. The FCC -- as is common in regulatory agencies releasing proposals with a call for comments -- specifically wants impacted parties to detail how they are impacted (including financial…

It makes sense. If I say this proposal hurts companies like ACME Tech. Then they should just be looking for ACME Tech's comments.

But I wonder how it balances individual impacts versus business impacts. Is a thousand people complaining "This ruins my ability to watch netflix" as significant as netflix same comments in terms of its business losses.

Re: Y Combinator has filed an official comment with the FCC

#50

Post by CapitalistCartr »

3rd3 wrote: post #45
harrystone wrote: post #10

I appreciate what Alexis is trying to do here but I hope he isn't assuming that the FCC just doesn't understand the problem. That's how this reads to me. Maybe the idea is to be diplomatic. I don't think the FCC cares. The FCC understands what is going on and it wants to do whatever is best for the FCC. The best thing for tech companies to do is to start destroying some political careers. That's the only thing the ma…

How would one go about destroying someone’s political career?

1) Support their opponent in the primary with enough to unseat them.

2) Send private dectectives to follow them.

3) Dig up dirt from their past.

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