Can someone break down Net Neutraility to me? I mean without getting political...

fronobulax

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There are two sides to this issue although I'm pretty sure which side most of us are on.

It should be noted that the rules that were reversed have only been in place for a few years. Thus it can be argued both that they were absolutely necessary to protect consumers from predatory pricing AND that reversing them will not bring about the end of the affordable internet, as we know it.

Please remember that there is a line between explaining the "technology" and explaining the "politics" and as we approach the latter Moderators get nervous, even as we personally approach the line :)
 

FNG

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Which side are most of us on?

You can't separate politics from the issue, because at its core, it is a political issue.

IMHO YMMV Void where prohibited.
 

twocorgis

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Which side are most of us on?

You can't separate politics from the issue, because at its core, it is a political issue.

IMHO YMMV Void where prohibited.

Maybe you trust big business to police itself. I sure don't!
 

FNG

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Your false presumption is that there is no longer regulation or oversight of the telecommunications industry. This just rolls the regulatory environment back to the Clinton/Gore framework created in the 90s, under which the whole industry has undergone revolutionary growth and innovation.
 
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Default

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That was back when the internet was a "new thing" and there were a variety of isps. At least where l live, you have the choice of Comcast and Verizon and the industry has matured. Imagine being stuck on AOL for the possibility of where this *might* go.

If you control the infrastructure, there isn't a good way to built something that competes with it.
 
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twocorgis

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Your false presumption is that there is no longer regulation or oversight of the telecommunications industry. This just rolls the regulatory environment back to the Clinton/Gore framework created in the 90s, under which the whole industry has undergone revolutionary growth and innovation.

Yeah, back when almost everybody was on dial-up. Not a valid comparison.
 

FNG

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And because of this regulatory environment we are no longer on dial-up.

Get it?
 

Quantum Strummer

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If we had a proper, healthy market system operating in the ISP sphere this whole thing wouldn't even be an issue. But instead we have many parts of the country where Net access is in the hands of entrenched monopolies. If those monopolies are good actors even this isn't so bad (though hardly ideal). But ending Net Neutrality has the effect of making it easier for a wanna-be bad actor to become an actual one. I guess we'll just have to see how Net users respond if/when potential bad actors start actually behaving bad.

-Dave-
 

twocorgis

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If we had a proper, healthy market system operating in the ISP sphere this whole thing wouldn't even be an issue. But instead we have many parts of the country where Net access is in the hands of entrenched monopolies. If those monopolies are good actors even this isn't so bad (though hardly ideal). But ending Net Neutrality has the effect of making it easier for a wanna-be bad actor to become an actual one. I guess we'll just have to see how Net users respond if/when potential bad actors start actually behaving bad.

-Dave-

Which gets back to my point of trusting big businesses to police themselves, Dave. We all know how well that turned out in 2008-2009.
 

JohnW63

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Yes, the "Net Neutrality" regulations came into being after the internet had it's explosive growth and has only been around something like 8 years. But, those regs were put in to place for a reason. Prior to the Neutrality regulations, all most ISPs did is provide you a path to the internet. They weren't content providers. They didn't have a stake in what service you got your media from. As long as you paid your bills, they were fine. THEN... after the speeds got fast enough, people started choosing to watch TV and movies on the internet. AND, the providers of your internet also started providing content and were in competition with other providers. So, they start thinking, " Hey. The people using our connections are going to our competition for their entertainment !" . That prompted them to start making things not so easy for you to get OTHER providers stuff, on their hardware. Stories of sites being blocked or speeds being throttled came to light. Now, the ISPs gained an unfair advantage over other businesses.

I suspect these sorts of actions are what prompted the change, 8 years ago. Since the ISPs make no guaranttees on what speed you will get, even though you buy a package on their advertised performance, I think the ISPs with a stake where you go, will start messing with connections and you will have no recourse, because they will blame some other server or anything they want for you slow speed to your favorite site or blocking them.
 
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