Not OP but I’d like to say that the real consequences from a big, multifaceted subject, be it government policy, the direction of a large institution, war, aren

Not OP but I’d like to say that the real consequences from a big, multifaceted subject, be it government policy, the direction of a large institution, war, aren’t readily apparent until a decade or more later. I’ll use Google as an example. In 2010 they were generally seen as one of the “good” companies. They seemed more supportive of open source, such as developing android, they were going into new business niches where incumbent companies had once dominated, such as with google docs competing with Microsoft office. The promoted less tacky advertising, discouraging flashy banner ads in favor of plain text, And they had free email. Google certainly had its critics back then, but a lot of the criticisms was more abstract, such as its ad based business model, and relationship with China before they left. Now Google has many more critics and many reasons to dislike the company. The company was successful because of its focus on engineering and revenue from ads. What made it successful is leading to its downfall. You have small business owners claiming it commits anticompetitive behavior with ads and search; antitrust regulators are looking at the company. Google has terrible customer service, with paying customers, shutting down access for unknown reasons and provides no avenue for remedy. Android has become a walled garden because of its play store and no cellphone manufacturer is going to develop its own version of android because of fear that they will lose access to googles android. The company comes up with shiny new products only to cancel development and support two years later when it hasn’t been an explosive success. I remember in 2012 talking to group project partners at university about “bubbling” where google would tailor your search results based on tracking. I was laughed at by one of my partners because the consequences seemed trivial. That practice in conjunction with social media enabled the ability for people to live in their own media environment, separate from others. That has since had a profound impact on our politics. I suspect in 5 more years, once the telecoms, their lawyers and business development people fully realize what they can do with peoples growing dependence on the Internet, will we really see the consequences of no net neutrality.