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Re:Cato Institute: The Case Against Net Neutrality by wtallis on Thursday December 23, 2010 @04:10AM (#2033970)
What kind of benefits would we expect a magical solution to the inefficiency of the broadband market to provide as compared to what a comprehensive net neutrality law would provide? Or, to put it another way, if we get a good net neutrality law passed, what techniques are left for the cable/dsl duopoly screw us with? We already have laws against price fixing, so if those are enforced in addition to net neutrality, most consumers would get pretty close to the quality of service they would get out of a properly competitive market. I would be wary of the government trying to indirectly prevent the shady practices net neutrality would outlaw --- it could too easily end up providing screwed up incentives the way agricultural subsidies do.
Re:Cato Institute: The Case Against Net Neutrality by nickpinkston on Thursday December 23, 2010 @10:26AM (#2034611)
I think this is a question that isn't discussed enough.

So you've formed the question as: "how can they screw us through X more", and that's certainly part 1 of the question, there's also the second part of "how can this reduce innovation - and screw us in the long term".

I approach this from the incentive alignment that drives politics. I assume that both big biz and gov't are in

Part 1: Corporations influencing the law

Laws are written by/for lobbyists on each side. Making a new law will inherently draw out the lobbys of each side (certainly has here). If corporations are allowed to play with the laws regulating them - you can imagine that they'll try to gain as much power as possible. Think about the banking regs and how the banks just raised the fees on other things instead - same problem.

Part 2: Law Slowing Innovation

Even if NN didn't have the influence issues, it'd still be regulating the way the internet is today - not how it might be. Just as we've seen in banking, when you put restrictions on the bad guys, you also hurt the good guys. Look at what happened to Prosper.com, etc. when they tried something innovation in banking. Look at how there are no progressive banks - only progressive services using the banking system. I'd like to avoid this issue at well so the internet so can further refined.

By regulating the source of the issue, the natural monopoly of the fiber network itself, can we allow innovative firms to get in the market quickly and have incentives to innovate - or at the very least encourage the big guys to keep up.