Most liked posts in thread: 'Net nuetrality....what does it really mean?

Glad you posted this, I was seriously considering posting something similar. Net neutrality is critical if information is going to travel freely and uncensored. And in this age of corporate controlled media (ALL MEDIA) the internet is the only place for truly unbiased (if sometimes crazy) information.

 

You probably should have posted some info from the other side of the debate.

 

OK. This is all very interesting. But what happens when our money grubbing government gets their claws into it? There is not one thing our government touches that doesn't get screwed up and that costs us in the end.

Yet another way for them to profit.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

An interesting little excerpt from our Declaration of Independence. I find it sad that they foresaw our problems over 200 years ago and that we can't see where all this is headed when it is laid out right in front of us.

Scary times indeed.

 

Hmm, who to trust? The money grubbing government or the money grubbing capitalists?

Cheers!
Chris

 

Trust?! Hell, I don't trust either of them! :cornut:

 

Good post Scott. I was having this talk with a family member the other day. I'm not sure I'd draw the same parallels between net neutrality and, say, xbox live however. My rationale for this is that the internet was an organic creation with many different parts coming together, whether it was government, schools, or private industry. The end result is the internet we have today.

Xbox live on the other hand was designed to put MS licensed content on the web for subscribers to enjoy. If we're going to talk about access being restricted we could easily throw in region locked DVDs. My personal view on modded Xbox's is this: Mod to your hearts content, it is your property and you should be able to do with it as you please (as a recent court case showed), so if modding allows you to play region locked xbox games I see no problem. However, if you use the mod to cheat on xbox live I think you should be prevented from using that system.

To get back on topic, designating ISP's as common carriers would be nice, but their argument is that they built the network (like Xbox live) and should determine how it works.

 

At what point does Internet Access become a Utility. Like water and power? If I had more than 2 choices for wireline internet access in my area, I'd be more willing to let Comcast do with its network as it pleases. Problem is, Comcast is a "last mile" provider with a terminating-monopoly on their business.

You can't use Cox Cable or Cablevision in my area since they simply aren't available and the last mile connections are owned by Comcast. Typically they didn't build up these networks. They simply purchased them from other smaller cable companies through the years after they'd been built.

The new NN regs are pretty straight forward for wireline providers though. It's the wireless providers that have been let off the hook thanks to a powerful lobby from Verizon with the backing of Google(interestingly, Google was all for 100% neutrality for wireless providers until Verizon started being buddy buddy with them for the Android OS). What you're going to end up with is this: You pay for your data plan, then you pay for the type of data you use based on classifications that they want to arbitrarily use. In essense, you're paying for water service, but then get charged again if you want to make a soup with that water. If you want to use the water for Tea or Coffee, different charge on top of what you've already paid.

The argument for allowing wireless providers to have this kind of control over their network is: "Well, if you don't like it, switch providers." While there are more providers that consumers can switch to, it's often difficult to do this with Contract Agreements and early termination fees coupled with GSM vs. CDMA networks. You may purchase a phone that won't let you simply switch to another network. Switching to another network could cause consumers to pay ETFs, startup fees, new phone purchases and porting fees.

The FCC had to make a compromise to get Wireline Neutral. This was it. This is only the beginning of the battle too. The wireless carriers are going to battle this in court just to get precedents set to use later to screw consumers over in the future. Pretty much a certainty that the Corporate Oligarchy will fight tooth and nail for yet another way to keep us under thumb.

 

Keep the government out of my life, leave the net alone, just one more way for them to tell me what I can and cannot do.

 

We could always not buy what they are selling, but too many of us think we actually "need" all these digital leashes in our lives.