51–60 of 142 posts
Now here in Germany we'll wait for decades for this to happen. For some reason Merz gave up on Germany.
Seems nice but is actually a terrible move. It's another step towards the presumption that everyone should have a smartphone.
That's like saying that using tax dollars to pay for roads assumes that everyone has a car. MOST people do use things like government/taxpayer funded roads, public transportation, water, healthcare, etc that are considered as basic necessities. As far as everyone needing a smartphone, or e-mail address, that ship has already sailed. Here in the US, try using "Parkmobile" without a mobile phone.
Well once the government subsidizes roads they proliferate it and becomes more difficult to exist without a car. Your example supports my argument.
>try using "Parkmobile" without a mobile phone.
I would never, ever try using "parkmobile"
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That's like saying that using tax dollars to pay for roads assumes that everyone has a car. MOST people do use things like government/taxpayer funded roads, public transportation, water, healthcare, etc that are considered as basic necessities. As far as everyone needing a smartphone, or e-mail address, that ship has already sailed. Here in the US, try using "Parkmobile" without a mobile phone.
> That's like saying that using tax dollars to pay for roads assumes that everyone has a car. Well once the government subsidizes roads they proliferate it and becomes more difficult to exist without a car. Your example supports my argument. >try using "Parkmobile" without a mobile phone. I would never, ever try using "parkmobile"
If you're saying that you don't drive, then congrats, and I hope to catch up to you soon.
> the scheme will provide over seven million subscribers with unlimited downloads at just 400 kbps after their data allowances expire. Does this mean it’s not a universal entitlement as such, because you presumably first have to pay for a plan with an allowance? (Not to mention having to pay for a device).
The USA has affordable broadband schemes (I think current setup the gov pays $9.25/mo towards your connection) and IIRC pretty much every broadband provider has a plan at exactly this cost to provide the minimum legal definition of "broadband".
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The USA has affordable broadband schemes (I think current setup the gov pays $9.25/mo towards your connection) and IIRC pretty much every broadband provider has a plan at exactly this cost to provide the minimum legal definition of "broadband".
You mean the USA had affordable broadband: "The Affordable Connectivity Program stopped accepting new consumer applications and enrollments on February 7, 2024....On January 11, 2024, due to a lack of additional funding from Congress" [1] I think SK did the right thing. Access to information is important even at 400kbps which is pretty darn fast considering some people grew up running 56kbps and never complained. 1.…
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You mean the USA had affordable broadband: "The Affordable Connectivity Program stopped accepting new consumer applications and enrollments on February 7, 2024....On January 11, 2024, due to a lack of additional funding from Congress" [1] I think SK did the right thing. Access to information is important even at 400kbps which is pretty darn fast considering some people grew up running 56kbps and never complained. 1.…
That was before websites were 40MB or more of garbage though so keep that in perspective. Also broadband here is supposedly 100mbps and giving more people access should drive cheaper Internet but also being America we have ISP monopoly by choice per city so I'm not sure any of the economics pans out.
Video is really where you feel sub-megabit connections limiting (youtube and social media). Sites not so much. But yes, it's a problem.
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At the height of the pandemic, the UK mandated zero-rating data for mobile connection to .gov.uk and .NHS.uk domains, along with several other charitable sites. (I was part of the team working on that proposal.)
meanwhile Czechia literally BANNED free Wi-Fi in restaurants and other establishments during COVID, so people will spend there less time, I understood the rationale if people already didn't have mobile data in phones anyway other things Czech gov banned during COVID-19 was singing in public places, no kidding! And I'm not even going to complain they banned sale of the toys, colored pencils and other items so people w…
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The provided rights are called positive rights, and the not infringe rights are called negative rights. Freedom of speech is a negative right and a right to legal counsel is a positive right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_and_positive_rights
Thanks, yes I didn't really think about that distinction. I would say that "positive rights" is a fairly modern concept, for example the right to legal counsel was not originally a positive right, that was something that was determined by a series of court decisions in the mid-20th century. Most rights are still in the "negative" sense, i.e. things that cannot be prohibited or limited, or only narrowly so. But in thi…
Not really. “To no one will we sell, deny, or delay right or justice” in the Magna Carta has long been interpreted as much a positive right requiring the Crown to actually provide for justice rather than just a negative law to refrain from abusing it. There's also several clauses requiing royal justices to hold assizes in the counties and set procedures for hearing disputes which is a duty to maintain legal machinery. Heirs, widows, and wards were promised specific legal treatment, such as a widow’s immediate right to her marriage portion and inheritance, and limits on abuse by (non-state) guardians which are affirmative entitlements within feudal law.
Even Rome had the grain dole (the bread of “bread and circuses”).
brazil was .25/24h of internet at top (4g) speeds then. which is like $7/mo max. until the gov elected with a steven banon campaign dropped the mandatory plan.
the plan was a punishment for companies not maintaining payphones after getting the spectrum monopoly, which was a requirement on the auction.