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The roads are still privately owned in the net neutrality analogy. So the government isn’t paying to maintain or upgrade them. However the taxi companies also d

• Kadin 9y ago
  > If we want net neutrality than make the roads a public good That would be nice, but unfortunately the same corporate interests that are presently disassembling net neutrality rules already prohibited public-sector projects that might compete with them and interfere with their monopoly rents. There is no feasible route to public ownership of the infrastructure at the moment; ensuring reasonable and non-discriminatory access to it, on the basis of that infrastructure only existing due largely to license and permitting agreements (use of public land, pole leases, etc.), is -- or rather was, until last November's election -- a reasonable step in the right direction. I wouldn't mind a public conversation, though, about seizing last-mile infrastructure and making it a public good, just as a sort of Overton Window-shifting maneuver. Right now the momentum favors the ISPs, and they are going to continue to consolidate their monopoly positions and extract maximum rents from consumers while the regulatory environment favors them. Blunting the momentum and inevitability of their regulatory takeover would be good, although I'm pessimistic about being able to do it in the near term.