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If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.?

news.ycombinator.com

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If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.?

#1

Post by mxuribe »

Sorry if the headline sounds like clickbait...but honestly, if (or when) net neutrality dies, does that create some sort of incentive for small businesses (which are based on cheap-ish net availability/access) and start ups to begin looking for a better environment outside the U.S.? If i were to create a start-up from scratch, would I have better luck, say, creating it in Canada or Berlin for example? And, if the killing off of net neutrality does in fact create this sort of negative effect - small businesses leaving the nation in droves - what's the point of start ups if incumbent giants have too strong a hold?? Or, am i just over-reacting?

Curious to hear thoughts - even if to only settle my pessimism.

Re: If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.?

#5

Post by GFischer »

It won't. First of all, I think most are overestimating the effect - as mentioned, many other countries don't have similar legislation.

It might make broadband more expensive, and it might make some Netflix-style bandwidth-heavy startups more difficult to start.

But, the U.S. has almost a monopoly on Venture Capital, a huge concentration of skilled labor in Silicon Valley, a huge internal market, relatively more lenient regulation and many other advantages.

For most startups, those advantages will outweigh any inconveniences or dangers the new playing field brings. I think it's akin to the danger from IP or whatever... if you're fearing that a big telco will try to shake you down, it means the startup is probably doing well (similar to when a startup is threatened with IP litigation).

Re: If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.?

#6

Post by sova »

Internet globe is very connected, you can move your money anywhere you want, net neutrality will just make it more costly to make business in the US, but if we want US-based good-latency-servers then we will still have to pay for local boxen no matter what the laws. I am not in support of artificial bandwidth throttling and consider the internet to be a utility -- the information stream. Regulate, yes, but create a VIP lane ... why on earth. Once regulations get too privatized in the USA it won't make sense to base your telecom out of the USA any longer.

Re: If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.?

#7

Post by polkovnikov-ph »

Well, we don't know. It might go wrong in many ways, and it's only up to ISPs to figure out how much pressure they can put on users and business. As a rule of thumb I'd expect business to suffer less, because they're more likely to go in court and win, and thus more dangerous.

Re: If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.?

#8

Post by cannonedhamster »

Net Neutrality repeal will have a long tail effect. It will cause the economy to slow as people have less disposable income, it will cause the cost of starting new sites to skyrocket as people choose plans that limit their access. It will make paying municipal bills more expensive. Repealing Net Neutrality is in effect a tax increase on American consumers and businesses, no more no less. The only real question is how far it will move the needle and realistically that depends on how expensive Comcast decides to make it. They have a monopoly and they fully intend to exploit it as far as they can, regardless of the detriment to the internet or consumers. Personally I hope they go full evil right off the bat. Were the American consumer in any way shape or form intelligent or in possession of a spine they wouldn't put up with this, but as it is, we're feeling what it was like when Rome started to decline.

Edit: typo

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