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Interesting approach, especially given that they don't seem to be concerned about having internet service providers declared public utilities.
by jbgreer 5y ago
Interesting approach, especially given that they don't seem to be concerned about having internet service providers declared public utilities.
- bilbo0s 5y agoespecially given that they don't seem to be concerned about having internet service providers declared public utilities. Which is why it will obviously fail at actually doing anything useful. However, the intended purpose may not be so much to do anything useful, as it is to score some points for incumbent politicians. In that, it could succeed brilliantly. It's actually a very smart move if you consider the political benefits accrued to politicians.
- tolbish 5y agoWhat a smart, optimal use of taxpayer dollars. Ohio residents should be proud.
- jeffbee 5y agoName even one way in which Google resembles a public utility. When I build a house, do I have to pay $25k to get my Google pipes hooked up? Seriously where are the parallels?
- ketzo 5y agoIt's a service with which essentially every person living in present-day America needs to interact on a day-to-day basis. And yes, they need to. I think it is hugely disingenuous to pretend otherwise. We can talk all day about how DuckDuckGo and ProtonMail exist. But for a huge, huge majority of people, Google simply is the internet.
- bananabreakfast 5y agoHard disagree. Gmail maybe. Providing email as a utility service is a strained argument but could be made as there is a parallel to actual mail service. Literally everything else Google does has a mainstream alternative that is a click away.
- vineyardmike 5y ago> everything else Google does has a mainstream alternative that is a click away. Except no one clicks away (most people).
- bilbo0s 5y agoThe material point is that an ISP is what you need to get to Google. You don't need Google to get to the ISP. You need electricity to get television, you don't need television to get electricity. You need electricity to get the internet, you don't need the internet to get electricity. Now whether or not television or internet are more useful than electricity is an entirely separate question. But which of the three is the baseline utility is a bit obvious. But again, the intended purpose is probably not to make Google a utility, it's to score political points. So none of these arguments are really relevant to the calculus that a politician would work through before taking an action like this. This is still a brilliant action from a political perspective because it will undoubtedly win incumbents some votes.
- ziftface 5y agoI wish they would do that as well, but that certainly doesn't invalidate these concerns
- bananabreakfast 5y agoSure it does. It undercuts their entire argument by making it look much more like a political stunt than any kind of serious action.
- ttt0 5y agoISPs don't abuse their power like Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. do.
- verall 5y agoThey absolutely do? ISPs frequently rate the top of most hated companies lists, and many Americans do not have access to more than 1 ISP offering (>=30mbit) high speed internet.
- awillen 5y agoComcast once charged me a $5 self-installation fee. As in I set up the equipment in my house and paid for the privilege. My other option was to not have internet.
- mansion7 5y agoThey may start doing so, if said providers start banning and censoring people based on political beliefs as Google does.
- babypuncher 5y agoI don't think I've seen anyone get banned from any major platform for their political beliefs. It has always been for hate speech, inciting real-world violence, or spreading blatantly false misinformation that lead to incitements of violence (such as the unfounded claims that the election was stolen). Funny how none of the Republicans pushing this censorship narrative batted an eye last summer when Facebook was taking down local BLM groups that called for violence.
- ttt0 5y agoI got banned from Facebook for swearing basically. Someone took it as 'cyberbullying' or whatever nonsense. I tried to appeal explaining my intentions, but they basically told me that my intentions don't matter. By the way, spreading misinformation like the infamous lab leak theory? Facebook fact checkers are a joke, they're fact checking stupid memes.
- NationalPark 5y agoWhat was it specifically that got you banned?
- ttt0 5y agoIt was just an old meme and it was in my native language so you wouldn't get, but the offensive part of it is simply 'bitch'. Not as a direct insult, but kinda like in "surprise, bitch". Another thing is that I got suspended for butting in to a conversation about homosexuality where someone was saying that homosexuality is natural, and I said something to the extent of "rape and murder is natural too" to point out the fallacy and they sent me on a 30-day vacation from Facebook for that.