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> Would we better off focusing our efforts on increasing competition among ISPs? The answer is, of course, yes. But people like to think in terms of black and
by microcolonel 9y ago
> Would we better off focusing our efforts on increasing competition among ISPs?
The answer is, of course, yes. But people like to think in terms of black and white, ingroup and outgroup, friend and enemy. The public is now thoroughly convinced not only that the reclassification had the intended effects (and it's not clear that's the case), but that reinstating the reclassification is the only way to address the issue. Anyone who says anything against this norm will be hounded until they shut up.
- aisengard 9y agoActually, the public has been convinced that regulation on ISPs is a good thing, and that repealing that regulation without replacing it with anything is a bad thing. And I think that's a pretty fair thing to think.
- microcolonel 9y agoThe way I look at it, the existing regulation only really held things back a bit from getting much worse. For things to get better, there needs to be an impetus. I talk with a number of Americans (especially on Freenode and over mailinglists) whose only options are satellite (which explains partly why they're still on IRC) or installing their own point to point radio network. All the current rules mean is that their only available ISP has to tell them explicitly that they'll be sabotaging BitTorrent traffic. Leased highway conduit space or leased dark fiber, and a loosening of (other, more administratively significant) regulations would have an outsize impact on the cost of the last miles of radio and/or fiber backhaul, instead of just adding pages to the subscriber agreement.