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A comment on F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as a Utility. Parent comment

Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by skylan_q on Monday February 02, 2015 @02:51PM (#8986456)
I'll have to agree to this.

Electricity is electricity, water is water, natural gas is natural gas.

But Internet traffic isn't a homogenous substance.

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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by drawkbox on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:08PM (#8986583)
Utilities are the state of being useful, profitable, or beneficial. Utilities in the US are typically public, so the internet is a public useful, profitable and beneficial utility.

A utility is a platform that is standard/common so that more useful platforms can be built on top of it. Utilities become part of the stack of economic production. A utility could be seen as an economic standard.

If wireless and radio are utilities then so is broadband and wired.

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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by rhino369 on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:10PM (#8986602)
They aren't typically public. They are typically private companies that are regulated by a utilities commission at the state level.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by dippyskoodlez on Monday February 02, 2015 @05:44PM (#8987579)
Typically, but not always.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by eigenvector on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:11PM (#8986607)
There are certainly detailed technical regulations about what type of electricity and water your utility must provide.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by aninhumer on Tuesday February 03, 2015 @05:08AM (#8989587)
Indeed, the very fact that someone can say "water is water", shows just how successful regulation has been in that market.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by pavanky on Monday February 02, 2015 @02:54PM (#8986470)
Bytes are bytes.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by Terr_ on Monday February 02, 2015 @06:25PM (#8987825)
Not disagreeing with the basic idea, but there's also latency and peak throughput.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by skylan_q on Monday February 02, 2015 @02:59PM (#8986519)
It delivers more than just bytes. It's communication in different forms for different purposes. On the other hand, when water is delivered it's the same water here or there.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by angersock on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:49PM (#8986850)
And what form does that communication take?

Bytes.

As for the water, once delivered it is used for drinking, for washing, for cooling, for watering...but it travels, unmolested, as water being commonly carried.

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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by pbz on Monday February 02, 2015 @05:17PM (#8987393)
"different forms for different purposes" -- no it's not, it's all bytes. The ISP should not care or know what the purpose of those bytes are. The same way the electric company doesn't care what I plug into my outlets.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by ericd on Monday February 02, 2015 @04:19PM (#8987061)
The electricity certainly gets used for lots of different things.

UDP and TCP is what I want my ISPs concerned with, not what I'm doing with those packets.

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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by Taniwha on Monday February 02, 2015 @04:52PM (#8987268)
no even that's too high - your ISP shouldn't be dealing with UDP or TCP (or anything else) - they should route IP packets and be done with it
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by ericd on Tuesday February 03, 2015 @02:52AM (#8989318)
Heh well, may help with QoS, but I guess that we've seen what a slippery slope that can be.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by maccard on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:20PM (#8986667)
Telecoms are also classified as utilities.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by fnordfnordfnord on Monday February 02, 2015 @05:07PM (#8987342)
I think I'd like it fine if my ISP treated my internet traffic as if it were.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by marcosdumay on Monday February 02, 2015 @04:49PM (#8987257)
Isn't the goal to make it homogeneous?
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by task_queue on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:25PM (#8986699)
Apply the same logic to any communication network, say telephones.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by Windwaker on Monday February 02, 2015 @02:59PM (#8986518)
The utility that Internet providers are providing is information.
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by skylan_q on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:00PM (#8986538)
You're calling it a utility.

I guess you're just going to define it a utility, ham sandwhich is also a utility.

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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by pyre on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:12PM (#8986616)
I'm not sure if English isn't your first language, but many words have several meanings. For example "providing utility" means "to provide something of use" per this[1] definition:

  Utility, or usefulness, is the (perceived) ability
  of something to satisfy needs or wants.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by 0xdeadbeefbabe on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:00PM (#8986531)
Well they regulate radio. [Edit] Just check out the innovations in radio?
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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by skylan_q on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:04PM (#8986565)
Well they regulate radio.

I agree, they regulate a bunch of stuff. I suppose that's a carte blanche to regulate anything it sees itself fit to regulate?

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Re:F.C.C. Is Expected to Propose Regulating the Internet as ... by enraged_camel on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:18PM (#8986656)
You're being obtuse on purpose. The name of the organization is Federal Communications Commission. They have the authority to regulate all interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The Internet absolutely falls within their jurisdiction.
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