FCC flips off entire Web; wants to end Net Neutrality

[IglooDame]

Corporate entities are government created entities. Government has a complete right to set the terms.

Wait, hang on. So if an actual person bought the company in question (let's say Warren Buffett had a temporary lapse of sanity and Comcast's board sold out), it'd be different?

 

[JollyRoger]

So long as he ran it as a sole proprietorship.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Occupy Comcast, anyone? We can meet in Chicago or something.

 

[BvBPL]

I really don't have an easy solution or answer, other than maybe appoint some kind of committee with all kinds of countermeasures (term limits, either anonymity or very clear financial situation, no or little political background, must be incredibly sarcastic, etc). The committee would judge everything on a case-by-case basis. It'd be incredibly hard to implement, though, so it's probably just a pipe dream, but one-size-fits-all regulations are even worse.

Another libertarian calling for a government committee! When will the libertarians learn that big government oversight of otherwise unaccountable corporations is the answer?

 

[Double A]

Another libertarian calling for a government committee! When will the libertarians learn that big government oversight of otherwise unaccountable corporations is the answer?

I get where you're coming from, but wouldn't that open up options for equally bad, if not worse corruption? It doesn't even matter what system we use if no one has the spine to self-regulate it.

 

[JollyRoger]

Self regulation is an affront to liberty.

 

[IglooDame]

Another libertarian calling for a government committee! When will the libertarians learn that big government oversight of otherwise unaccountable corporations is the answer?

I get why everyone's getting a bit bent out of shape seeing libertarians in favor of Net Neutrality regulations, but I'm pretty comfortable with any ideological position having limits on the extreme side. Nearly everyone in the US supports First Amendment rights, but there's no gotcha when it turns out that they agree with slander/libel being an exception to free speech. Or, say, that assemblies of people on I-95 during rush hour should still be illegal. Or that taking PCP during religious ceremonies is not protected by free exercise of religion.

So there is actually a government regulation of a business that will prevent train-wrecking our economy down the line? Great, but that single fact does not cause libertarianism to crumble into a heap of ashes, the general principles are still valid, any more than exceptions to First Amendment rights cause the entire First Amendment to be invalidated.

 

[illram]

Net neutrality is great but ending it as a concept does not reach the extreme examples you gave. It would at most result in a worse internet. It will still be there, you will still have access to it, it just *might* be worse. Or more expensive.

So to me it still seems a little strange to adhere to a very anti regulatory, radically pro free market philosophy except when something comes along that might change access to the internet.

 

[civvver]

Just treat internet like the old telecoms and other utilities. I don't see why this is so hard. Don't those cables layers get huge subsidies for the cables?

 

[Antilogic]

Just treat internet like the old telecoms and other utilities. I don't see why this is so hard.

It's not, unless you are getting massive campaign donations from the new telecoms that don't want to be treated like the old telecoms.

 

[Double A]

Net neutrality is great but ending it as a concept does not reach the extreme examples you gave. It would at most result in a worse internet. It will still be there, you will still have access to it, it just *might* be worse. Or more expensive.

So to me it still seems a little strange to adhere to a very anti regulatory, radically pro free market philosophy except when something comes along that might change access to the internet.

The Internet is infrastructure, and I have no major problem with the government maintaining means of travel or regulating forms of communication (to an extent).

 

[JollyRoger]

I once asked where libertarian logic was manufactured and I got pointed to a Snyder's of Hanover factory.

 

[Samson]

From el Reg The FCC is seeking public comment on how best to protect and promote an open internet

Tom Wheeler, the watchdog's chairman, put forward a proposal "seeking public comment on how best to protect and promote an open internet". Two of his fellow Democrat FCC commissioners voted in favour of the motion on Thursday, in a 3-2 win that was split along party lines.

Americans will now have four months to voice their concerns over what net neutrality campaigners say is an attempt to create fast and slow lanes on the internet: they're against cable giants setting up tiers of connectivity, where moneybags websites pay to stream data faster than their rivals.

“I will not allow the national asset of an open internet to be compromised,” Wheeler said. His proposal will ask citizens "if paid prioritization should be banned outright", and "promises clear rules of the road and aggressive enforcement to prevent unfair treatment of consumers, edge providers and innovators".

 

[Kyriakos]

^"the national asset of the internet"?

The internet belongs to Mvrika?

 

[Double A]

^"the national asset of the internet"?

The internet belongs to Mvrika?

Well, it is part of the world.