Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by newsat13 on Sunday May 14, 2017 @09:15PM
(#14338447)
It's obvious to the tech community that net neutrality is a good thing. Let me pose a counter view in any case: what if verizon/comcast said they will give consumers a 75% discount should they be implement the anti-net neutrality way? After all, this is what Google/Facebook does. Give things away for free and their version of net-neutrality is they get to decide who pops up in the first page results above all (ads).
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by sikosmurf on Sunday May 14, 2017 @10:02PM
(#14338643)
Your proposed situation is exactly why regulations are needed; there are very strong incentives to do things incredibly anti-consumer, and regulation is in many ways the only defense. It's generally not possible to find a new ISP, and even if I could find an ISP that didn't do this, they would be competing with the many that do.
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by smt88 on Sunday May 14, 2017 @09:22PM
(#14338474)
Google and Facebook are not monopolies, as ISPs are in many cases. You have options.
Internet service is also far more vital than Facebook.
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by phila82r on Sunday May 14, 2017 @11:06PM
(#14338874)
I would also agree that ISP are mostly monopolies. You can always decide to use FB or not. But you have to use Internet now, and it all goes through the same pipes.
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by ccvannorman on Monday May 15, 2017 @05:49AM
(#14340337)
Keep in mind those pipes were usually built with taxpayer dollars (sorry for poor source but I feel this is common knowledge)
https://www.quora.com/Who-funded-and-built-the-infrastructur...
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by newsat13 on Sunday May 14, 2017 @10:00PM
(#14338631)
> Internet service is also far more vital than Facebook.
Yes. So by lowering prices, more people will get access. I feel like you are adding a +1 here to the anti-net neutrality view (cue the internet.org initiative by facebook).
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by wavefunction on Sunday May 14, 2017 @10:24PM
(#14338732)
You're overlooking the fact that open access to the full internet would not be what a 75% price-reduced 'offering' would entail. We've already been over this argument in fact watching Facebook's 'free basics' attempt to lock India down. Paying less for something different is not really a reduction in price, either.
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by smt88 on Monday May 15, 2017 @10:10AM
(#14341679)
Pai, Republicans, and ISPs don't want or expect lower prices. They want higher profits. This isn't about wider access. The mission of public, for-profit companies is not to provide a public service -- it's to maximize profits. They're now doing it by engineering their own regulations.
Re:FCC Filings Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality Once Sp...
by kortex on Monday May 15, 2017 @09:33AM
(#14341396)
When Google Fiber rolls into a town, prices from entrenched ISPs drop drastically. There's nothing stopping ISPs from providing cheaper and better service - except for the moral hazard of monopolistic control, free from the normal pressures of supply and demand.