5 ms·
I read sometimes about how few choices you US people have when buying your Internet connection. Something about only a single ISP allowed by the city etc. That
by geon 14y ago
I read sometimes about how few choices you US people have when buying your Internet connection. Something about only a single ISP allowed by the city etc.
That would make your ISP the de facto government for your online activities. A government that is potentially very invasive, inspecting your every data package, limiting your access to certain sites and dictating what kind of content you can download at full speed.
How is that libertarian?
- tptacek 14y agoThat's a non sequitur question. A circumstance in a particular market isn't "libertarian" or "not libertarian". A libertarian would say, people should be free to make and enforce promises among themselves, and the government should constrain itself to those roles that can't be performed by markets. Libertarians by and large don't believe in "antitrust". The market is, a libertarian would reason, inevitably more powerful than any temporarily dominant firm. If a cartel of ISPs emerged from a free-market approach to Internet governance, that cartel would either (a) be an optimal solution to the requirements of Internet users or (b) eventually worked around and eventually replaced by alternate offerings in the market.
- beernutz 14y agoDoesn't that ignore the effect of government granted monopolies? Since some ISPs are granted monopoly status by local governments, by definition the free market can't work. So, as in cases of civil rights, maybe the answer IS to attach neutrality conditions to such monopolies?
- tptacek 14y agoA libertarian would throw up in their mouth at the idea of a government-granted monopoly.
- angersock 14y agoSo, they have little-to-nothing useful to say on the current state of affairs for modern ISPs and telcos, then? And are instead just wanking around a mythical tabula-rasa marketplace?
- tptacek 14y agoNo. Obviously, a libertarian would say, "instead of changing the law to further enhance state control over the Internet, we should enact different laws to deregulate local last-mile telecom".