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I also find myself to be skeptical of Net Neutrality. But I should be clear that I want the same end result as those who are pro-net neutrality - a transparent,

I also find myself to be skeptical of Net Neutrality. But I should be clear that I want the same end result as those who are pro-net neutrality - a transparent, fair, and working Intenet. I just simply don't trust the government to be the arbiter of that, and I don't trust a regulatory agency to be making wholesale decisions regarding the enforcement of Net Neutrality or regulating speech on the Internet. That doesn't mean that the government has no responsibility to enforce fair trade and transparent advertising. And it doesn't mean that ISPs are angels with customer interests in mind. I want purchasing options with a transparent understanding of what I'm purchasing and clear expectations on what's being delivered. And I want elected officials making laws that determine any regulation of the web, not an agency that allows elected officials to hide behind it's regulatory fiat. While you may not like the idea of the market correcting bad behavior, I find the government is even worse (and slower) at correcting bad behavior (and it is almost always overcorrects).

okreallywtf 9y ago
I see this kind of sentiment a lot, and while I can kind of get where it is coming from can you cite some specific examples to back up your skepticism about the government as a regulator? Can you cite any examples where the government was doing a bad job of regulating and got out of the way and it improved? I'm honestly not sure what other options there are in many cases. Who else is going to do it? Just because government isn't working (I imagine it is working in a lot that we don't have to think about exactly because it is doing what it is supposed to do), doesn't mean that it can't work or it isn't the best tool we have. Its nice to think "let the market handle it", and maybe in some cases that is true but there are pretty clear examples where that isn't true (like power generation and distribution). I could easily blame the government for the issues this causes in my state where the power company is far too powerful and lobbies to effectively, giving them too much sway over the government. Is that "the governments" fault or is it the fault of the people for not holding the government accountable for not looking out for the interest of the people enough? I feel like those of us with cynical feelings about the government have a tendency to sit back and gripe but then not actually do anything to make it work better. I think that if we aren't actively trying to make the government better and work for us, we really don't have much room to complain (and I include myself in this because that has been me for quite a while, aside from voting and giving the bare minimum of thought to it I haven't really done anything useful). If we sit back and let whoever wants to run things run things we can't be surprised when we don't like what we get. At the end of the day the government is what we want it to be and how badly we want it to be that. Garbage in garbage out.

okreallywtf 9y ago

I see this kind of sentiment a lot, and while I can kind of get where it is coming from can you cite some specific examples to back up your skepticism about the government as a regulator? Can you cite any examples where the government was doing a bad job of regulating and got out of the way and it improved? I'm honestly not sure what other options there are in many cases. Who else is going to do it? Just because government isn't working (I imagine it is working in a lot that we don't have to think about exactly because it is doing what it is supposed to do), doesn't mean that it can't work or it isn't the best tool we have. Its nice to think "let the market handle it", and maybe in some cases that is true but there are pretty clear examples where that isn't true (like power generation and distribution). I could easily blame the government for the issues this causes in my state where the power company is far too powerful and lobbies to effectively, giving them too much sway over the government. Is that "the governments" fault or is it the fault of the people for not holding the government accountable for not looking out for the interest of the people enough? I feel like those of us with cynical feelings about the government have a tendency to sit back and gripe but then not actually do anything to make it work better. I think that if we aren't actively trying to make the government better and work for us, we really don't have much room to complain (and I include myself in this because that has been me for quite a while, aside from voting and giving the bare minimum of thought to it I haven't really done anything useful). If we sit back and let whoever wants to run things run things we can't be surprised when we don't like what we get. At the end of the day the government is what we want it to be and how badly we want it to be that. Garbage in garbage out.