8 ms·

Yes, I think the biggest take away of this is to push the fact that republican legislators did not listen to their constituents. At all. They did not put their

Yes, I think the biggest take away of this is to push the fact that republican legislators did not listen to their constituents. At all. They did not put their constituents first. At all. The chairman actually talked about consumers working with the FCC to enforce regulations as a bad thing.

tptacek 9y ago
I do not agree. I believe Republican voters do not in fact want the government extensively regulating the Internet. It is very difficult to argue in 2017 that the Republican party is the party of a pragmatic, consumer-protected regulatory state. The Republicans believe that the market will take better care of Internet users than any regulatory agency. On this one issue, it's possible they're even right.
- betterunix2 9y ago
  "The Republicans believe that the market will take better care of Internet users than any regulatory agency. On this one issue, it's possible they're even right." There is a pretty significant problem with this reasoning: what market are you referring to? Most Americans have zero, one, or two broadband ISPs they can receive service from. In most cases where there is any choice, it is between cable and DSL, which have very different technical characteristics and are not always interchangeable. I could get behind a market-based approach if there was some kind of proposal to foster a market. What happened to the line-sharing requirements that gave us competition among DSL services in the late 90s? That was a market-based solution and it worked well; that approach continues to work well in other countries. Instead, the current approach is to leave the monopolies and duopolies in place, and to do nothing to reduce barriers to entry for competing services or otherwise foster a competitive market.
  - russdill 9y ago
    We could sit here all day and argue about net neutrality regulation all day. But "let the market decide"? I don't know how someone can say that with a straight face.
    - sudojudo 9y ago
      It's not a straight face, it's a smirk, and they'll keep saying it so long as it bothers you. They'll happily eat dog shit if the opposition has to smell their breath. This is how populism works, and it's only going to get worse.
      - spsful 9y ago
        That was a damn good mic drop my friend
- kup0 9y ago
  1) Republican voter support is broad for net neutrality. Multiple sources have shown this pretty consistently. 2) The Republican deregulatory ideal (if it works at all) only works if competition exists. It doesn't. The market can only have a chance to work if it exists.
  - Rapzid 9y ago
    On top of that republicans have been enforcing net neutrality for decades.
    - spsful 9y ago
      Can you back that up with something specific? I'm Paul Ryan's party platform put out last year they specifically mentioned deregulating the internet. Not sure how you can overlook that
- Delmania 9y ago
  > On this one issue, it's possible they're even right. IF there was competition. However, the ISPs have sought to end that.
- fjabre 9y ago
  You do know that TCP/IP packet data delivery is handled by network protocol right? Protocol is designed to work, not to please Verizon lawyers. Internet only works when neutral. Here is your argument: Regulation bad - Deregulation good. Don't you think that's a bit overly simplistic? What part of this are you missing? Either you have the Internet with protections in place or simply you don't have an Internet at all. Your world view is AOL and Compuserv. That's what a world without NN looks like.
- yndoendo 9y ago
  And when a market doesn't take care of itself the people are the ones to suffer, no matter which party they are part of or voted for. Mortgage industry was self-regulated and politicians just balled out the bad actors. It is about "finding" simple and reliable regulations, since there is no true "etched in stone" regulations. Regulations have a shifting baseline. Say 100 fish are in a lake. Regulate that only 20 maybe harvest a year. This goes on for 10 years and in the 11th they are all gone. Write once regulations do not account for changes in the environment / market environment.
- debugxyz 9y ago
  A poll "found that 83 percent overall favored keeping the FCC rules, including 75 percent of Republicans" http://thehill.com/policy/technology/364528-poll-83-percent-of-voters-support-keeping-fccs-net-neutrality-rules http://thehill.com/policy/technology/364528-poll-83-percent-...

tptacek 9y ago

I do not agree. I believe Republican voters do not in fact want the government extensively regulating the Internet. It is very difficult to argue in 2017 that the Republican party is the party of a pragmatic, consumer-protected regulatory state. The Republicans believe that the market will take better care of Internet users than any regulatory agency. On this one issue, it's possible they're even right.

betterunix2 9y ago
"The Republicans believe that the market will take better care of Internet users than any regulatory agency. On this one issue, it's possible they're even right." There is a pretty significant problem with this reasoning: what market are you referring to? Most Americans have zero, one, or two broadband ISPs they can receive service from. In most cases where there is any choice, it is between cable and DSL, which have very different technical characteristics and are not always interchangeable. I could get behind a market-based approach if there was some kind of proposal to foster a market. What happened to the line-sharing requirements that gave us competition among DSL services in the late 90s? That was a market-based solution and it worked well; that approach continues to work well in other countries. Instead, the current approach is to leave the monopolies and duopolies in place, and to do nothing to reduce barriers to entry for competing services or otherwise foster a competitive market.
- russdill 9y ago
  We could sit here all day and argue about net neutrality regulation all day. But "let the market decide"? I don't know how someone can say that with a straight face.
  - sudojudo 9y ago
    It's not a straight face, it's a smirk, and they'll keep saying it so long as it bothers you. They'll happily eat dog shit if the opposition has to smell their breath. This is how populism works, and it's only going to get worse.
    - spsful 9y ago
      That was a damn good mic drop my friend
kup0 9y ago
1) Republican voter support is broad for net neutrality. Multiple sources have shown this pretty consistently. 2) The Republican deregulatory ideal (if it works at all) only works if competition exists. It doesn't. The market can only have a chance to work if it exists.
- Rapzid 9y ago
  On top of that republicans have been enforcing net neutrality for decades.
  - spsful 9y ago
    Can you back that up with something specific? I'm Paul Ryan's party platform put out last year they specifically mentioned deregulating the internet. Not sure how you can overlook that
Delmania 9y ago
> On this one issue, it's possible they're even right. IF there was competition. However, the ISPs have sought to end that.
fjabre 9y ago
You do know that TCP/IP packet data delivery is handled by network protocol right? Protocol is designed to work, not to please Verizon lawyers. Internet only works when neutral. Here is your argument: Regulation bad - Deregulation good. Don't you think that's a bit overly simplistic? What part of this are you missing? Either you have the Internet with protections in place or simply you don't have an Internet at all. Your world view is AOL and Compuserv. That's what a world without NN looks like.
yndoendo 9y ago
And when a market doesn't take care of itself the people are the ones to suffer, no matter which party they are part of or voted for. Mortgage industry was self-regulated and politicians just balled out the bad actors. It is about "finding" simple and reliable regulations, since there is no true "etched in stone" regulations. Regulations have a shifting baseline. Say 100 fish are in a lake. Regulate that only 20 maybe harvest a year. This goes on for 10 years and in the 11th they are all gone. Write once regulations do not account for changes in the environment / market environment.
debugxyz 9y ago
A poll "found that 83 percent overall favored keeping the FCC rules, including 75 percent of Republicans" http://thehill.com/policy/technology/364528-poll-83-percent-of-voters-support-keeping-fccs-net-neutrality-rules http://thehill.com/policy/technology/364528-poll-83-percent-...