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Because The Internet is not primarily a commercial platform, it is primarily a communications platform. One absolutely magical aspect of the internet as it is

Because The Internet is not primarily a commercial platform, it is primarily a communications platform. One absolutely magical aspect of the internet as it is today, is that I can stand up a server - on my desktop, on a VM in the cloud, on a physical server, wherever - and my friends can access it from all over the world. Poor indian farmers with smartphones can use my server to get data about the local market for rubber, rich financiers can use my server to educate themselves about the likely effect of new financial laws, Strip Club workers can access my server and learn about new health risks. All of that goes away once I need to pay Comcast a bribe to persuade them to provide access to my server for their customers. This has nothing to do with whatever commercial opportunities the Internet may or may not provide for Big Business, and I really dont care much about those. In time my little server may start to make a profit, maybe that is my motivation when I begin or maybe not, but regardless of my original motivations The Internet is magical technology that lets people from all over the world communicate. that is the functionality I care about, and that is the functionality that anti-Net Neutrality laws massively threaten.

rayiner 12y ago
Why would cable companies have any incentive to demand payment from small entities like that? There is no profit motive in that, just bad publicity. I think its a really contrived argument, and shows exactly what I'm talking about: big money companies are trying to justify laws that favor them by raising totally hypothetical concerns about what companies may do to small entities that have some public interest benefit. If Comcast et al really try to keep sex workers from getting needed information about health risks, let's address it when it happens with a targeted law. I'm sure it'll be much easier to get public support for such a policy then.
- bandushrew 12y ago
  The health risks for sex workers was purely a hypothetical situation that showed the general class of the problem. The point of it being a communications platform is that there is an infinite variety of cases of exactly that kind of problem, potentially leading to an infinite variety of 'targeted' laws. Aside from the incredible inefficiency of attempting to deal with them one at a time, practically speaking it is just not going to happen. Cable companies will not have any incentive to specifically demand payment from small entities like that. They will just degrade the service they provide for everyone, and make special cases for those who pay the appropriate amount of money. This will massively damage the internet as a communications platform, it will cause huge problems for small content creators who are trying to get a start, and the need to make deals with a wide range of ISPs will crush small businesses, and startup entrepreneurs. Netflix is a fantastic example of this. It is, right now, big enough to be able to move largish amounts of money around to solve its delivery problem. A few years ago, it was not, and - this is important - it would never have gotten to the size it is if the anti-NN measures that are being proposed now were taken back then. Snapchat, WhatsApp, the list goes on for companies that started small, and were able to grow because they did not need to pay ISPs individually to have their content delivered to the ISPs customers. MineCraft has been responsible for millions of downloads of its product, probably causing Comcast customers to consume thousands of GB of bandwidth from Comcast. At what point would the distributors of MineCraft have needed to pay Comcast a bribe to ensure its bits were delivered without interruption? You are either being very disingenuous regarding the effect of these measures, or you genuinely do not understand them. Assuming it is the latter, i suggest you do a little more reading.
  - rayiner 12y ago
    You're using very biased language ("bribe"). Its not bribery for a for-profit company to demand payment for other company's who want to reach its users. That the basic premise of Facebook's or LinkedIn's business model after all. You've clearly picked a side, but why should we? I understand that people on here have an interest in startups succeeding against big companies, but why does that rise to the level of public interest? These are just all for-profit companies hoping to make a bunch of money off consumers. It should also be noted that content creators naturally have a lot of leverage, because their products are non-fungible. Its content aggregators and distributors that would see the biggest hits to their profit margins.
    - bandushrew 12y ago
      It is successful content creators who have a lot of leverage. Aspiring content creators (and distributors) have none. "These are just all for-profit companies hoping to make a bunch of money off consumers." Unfortunately you have completely ignored all discussion of The Internet being a communications platform, and not merely a commercial platform. Ignoring that point entirely has allowed you to continue making your own point, which is to refute the idea that we should care what happens to a bunch of for profit internet companies. I agree with your point, FWIW, once once a company reaches the size of a Facebook, or Netflix I don't care what happens to it. I do care desperately that individuals are able to easily create and distribute content to each other, of any kind. The Internet as a communications platform that is available to everyone, for everyone, is what is endangered by the proposed anti-NN measures.
      - rayiner 12y ago
        > Unfortunately you have completely ignored all discussion of The Internet being a communications platform, and not merely a commercial platform. I'm not ignoring this point, I just don't buy it. The internet is mostly just a bunch of privately owned networks, operated for profit. I think it has public-interest value as a communications platform for certain non-profit enterprises like Wikipedia, etc, and maybe we need legislative protection of those functions. But I don't think ensuring that some new for-profit startup can function without paying the people that own the wires rises to the level of "public interest" even if they aren't the size of a Netflix or Facebook. I think this is primarily where we disagree: once you're for-profit, you're on your own.

rayiner 12y ago

Why would cable companies have any incentive to demand payment from small entities like that? There is no profit motive in that, just bad publicity. I think its a really contrived argument, and shows exactly what I'm talking about: big money companies are trying to justify laws that favor them by raising totally hypothetical concerns about what companies may do to small entities that have some public interest benefit. If Comcast et al really try to keep sex workers from getting needed information about health risks, let's address it when it happens with a targeted law. I'm sure it'll be much easier to get public support for such a policy then.

bandushrew 12y ago
The health risks for sex workers was purely a hypothetical situation that showed the general class of the problem. The point of it being a communications platform is that there is an infinite variety of cases of exactly that kind of problem, potentially leading to an infinite variety of 'targeted' laws. Aside from the incredible inefficiency of attempting to deal with them one at a time, practically speaking it is just not going to happen. Cable companies will not have any incentive to specifically demand payment from small entities like that. They will just degrade the service they provide for everyone, and make special cases for those who pay the appropriate amount of money. This will massively damage the internet as a communications platform, it will cause huge problems for small content creators who are trying to get a start, and the need to make deals with a wide range of ISPs will crush small businesses, and startup entrepreneurs. Netflix is a fantastic example of this. It is, right now, big enough to be able to move largish amounts of money around to solve its delivery problem. A few years ago, it was not, and - this is important - it would never have gotten to the size it is if the anti-NN measures that are being proposed now were taken back then. Snapchat, WhatsApp, the list goes on for companies that started small, and were able to grow because they did not need to pay ISPs individually to have their content delivered to the ISPs customers. MineCraft has been responsible for millions of downloads of its product, probably causing Comcast customers to consume thousands of GB of bandwidth from Comcast. At what point would the distributors of MineCraft have needed to pay Comcast a bribe to ensure its bits were delivered without interruption? You are either being very disingenuous regarding the effect of these measures, or you genuinely do not understand them. Assuming it is the latter, i suggest you do a little more reading.
- rayiner 12y ago
  You're using very biased language ("bribe"). Its not bribery for a for-profit company to demand payment for other company's who want to reach its users. That the basic premise of Facebook's or LinkedIn's business model after all. You've clearly picked a side, but why should we? I understand that people on here have an interest in startups succeeding against big companies, but why does that rise to the level of public interest? These are just all for-profit companies hoping to make a bunch of money off consumers. It should also be noted that content creators naturally have a lot of leverage, because their products are non-fungible. Its content aggregators and distributors that would see the biggest hits to their profit margins.
  - bandushrew 12y ago
    It is successful content creators who have a lot of leverage. Aspiring content creators (and distributors) have none. "These are just all for-profit companies hoping to make a bunch of money off consumers." Unfortunately you have completely ignored all discussion of The Internet being a communications platform, and not merely a commercial platform. Ignoring that point entirely has allowed you to continue making your own point, which is to refute the idea that we should care what happens to a bunch of for profit internet companies. I agree with your point, FWIW, once once a company reaches the size of a Facebook, or Netflix I don't care what happens to it. I do care desperately that individuals are able to easily create and distribute content to each other, of any kind. The Internet as a communications platform that is available to everyone, for everyone, is what is endangered by the proposed anti-NN measures.
    - rayiner 12y ago
      > Unfortunately you have completely ignored all discussion of The Internet being a communications platform, and not merely a commercial platform. I'm not ignoring this point, I just don't buy it. The internet is mostly just a bunch of privately owned networks, operated for profit. I think it has public-interest value as a communications platform for certain non-profit enterprises like Wikipedia, etc, and maybe we need legislative protection of those functions. But I don't think ensuring that some new for-profit startup can function without paying the people that own the wires rises to the level of "public interest" even if they aren't the size of a Netflix or Facebook. I think this is primarily where we disagree: once you're for-profit, you're on your own.