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Capitalism only works because of regulation, otherwise you'd have a society resembling a dystopian novel. In the 90s, there were many small ISPs, who were thems
by AsyncAwait 8y ago
Capitalism only works because of regulation, otherwise you'd have a society resembling a dystopian novel. In the 90s, there were many small ISPs, who were themselves run by enthusiast, so net neutrality was sort of implicitly preserved. In an age where many don't have a second choice for an ISP, net neutrality seems like the only way to at least somewhat preserve an equal playing field on the internet.
If you have a better solution, I want to hear it.
EDIT: Also, this whole U.S. right-leaning libertarian, (assumed based on your comment), thing of not wanting to involve the government in anything ever is so strange to me - you rely on them every day to enforce your property rights, ensure you have clean water in your tap etc. I understand that in many ways it can be very dysfunctional, but you have to evaluate on a case by case basis. Involvement in foreign military interventions, most would agree is pretty bad, firefighters are very good, so are roads etc.
Ultimately, if we accept that the government has a monopoly on the use of force, then we must also see that if something positive is to be destroyed by the 'free' market, then we must redirect that government monopoly to enforce that that doesn't happen.
- ttoinou 8y agoIn an age where many don't have a second choice for an ISP Where ? You have trouble in the US about that but in Europe we have plenty of competition
- briandear 8y agoPlease stop saying “Europe has plenty of competition.” I am in France and have exactly 1 ISP where I live. Not everyone in Europe is in a big city. And even in big cities, not every ISP is available at your house even though they advertise that they are in the area.
- ttoinou 8y agoI'm in France countryside too and we have a lot of different ISP
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 8y agoSo, how exactly do you have access to a lot of different ISPs? 1. There are a lot of competing networks in the ground. Like, there are five cables reaching your house owned by five different ISPs that you can choose from. 2. There is one cable reaching your house, but the owner doesn't care too much about making money themselves, so they allow competitors to use it at a price where they can compete with the owner. 3. There is one cable reaching your house, but the government regulates the price at which the owner must rent it out to competitors without any restrictions on what the competitor may transmit over it.
- ttoinou 8y agoDon't know, sorry
- KozmoNau7 8y agoI'll help you, it's #3. (I work at a former state monopoly telco/ISP, specifically with wholesale business, where we sell other service providers access to our networks, as mandated by government regulation)
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 8y agoWell, you should find out, here is the website of your regulatory agency: https://www.arcep.fr/ https://www.arcep.fr/ But don't be surprised if you find that the competition is a result of a sort of network neutrality regulation.