Net Neutrality

I see this going the way of cellular service providers and cable where options become limited and those providing the services become concentrated into a few companies. I am not sure what kind of impact it will have on small businesses or local but I think it will have a huge negative impact on medium sized businesses. Discord for example offers a superior gaming experience than Google, FaceBook etc but will have to make a choice of slowing down streaming or pay the ISPs for the faster rates, they won't be able to hid that cost from the customer the way the "big box" internet organizations can. Either way they may no longer be cost competitive or to make ends meet be bought by one of the major players and decrease actual competition in the service. I worry about this too with news outlets like The Young Turks as well. I also want to know how education is going to be handled. Technology access has been important in decreasing discrepancies between school districts in regards to supplies and outdated textbooks. Are free education websites going to be allowed to provide their content at the same streaming feed or are they going to be required to pay for it and then pass it on to school districts?

S/N here's my 5 min intro to net neutrality for those interested.

As the internet developed, rules were introduced (https://www.pcworld.com/article/2048209/net-neutrality-at-the-us-fcc-a-brief-history.html) to govern the ISP landscape. As the internet grew, Verizon and other providers started bending the rules (https://www.freepress.net/blog/2017/04/25/net-neutrality-violations-brief-history)(for example throttling people on the unlimited data plan, and AT&T tried to force IPhone users to buy its' highest priced plan to use Facetime). The FCC tried to enforce the rules. Verizon sued the FCC in federal court (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_Communications_Inc._v._FCC_(2014)), the argument being FCC doesn't have the power to enforce the rules. The court agreed, however saying if the FCC reclassified ISP's from Title 1 (common carrier) to Title 2 (utility) it would have the power. FCC did just that, and in 2015 regained the power to enforce already existing laws governing net neutrality. Fast forward to today, corporate boy-whore/Verizon puppet Ajit Pai rolled back all those protections, and now the ISP monopolies are free to do whatever they like.

The next battle in this fight is states suing to reverse the FCC's decision, which the NY AG already promised to do. Several other states have joined NY. The argument will be that the FCC totally ignored citizen complaints and also ignored the fact that there were millions of pro-repeal comments made by bots/internet shills (https://hackernoon.com/more-than-a-million-pro-repeal-net-neutrality-comments-were-likely-faked-e9f0e3ed36a6), like the one seen here (https://i.redditmedia.com/_zH3zaQOkwyxfBumxR-KoBgt2Cb1gNi4yeVsMdbwPY0.png?w=720&).



This!
Skype, Vonage, Googlepay and other popular services have been blocked in the past while carriers push their preferred services out to the customer.

ATT owns Directv, ATT could start blocking/throttling YoutubeTV, Netflix, or Hulu forcing customer to change carriers or go sign up for Directv.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year or two. I'd imagine ATT will want to recoup some of the money they are losing from all the cord cutters

This!
Skype, Vonage, Googlepay and other popular services have been blocked in the past while carriers push their preferred services out to the customer.

ATT owns Directv, ATT could start blocking/throttling YoutubeTV, Netflix, or Hulu forcing customer to change carriers or go sign up for Directv.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year or two. I'd imagine ATT will want to recoup some of the money they are losing from all the cord cutters

If life is static, and carriers have their own mini-monopolies, then it's an issue. But life isn't static, and if profits are high enough (which they probably will be) other companies will find ways in. That's basically the point of the cord-cutting consumers. Right now I have Verizon, but I have had Comcast and Direct TV (not for internet) at various points. Verizon got my business by offering the best combination of services over Comcast/Direct TV and a few others locals. But if they start going crazy with charges or blocking services, I would switch without thinking twice.

I just can't see how limiting competition - which really is what net neutrality does by not giving small ISP's opportunities to differentiate themselves - wins out over bringing back profit motive and competition.

If life is static, and carriers have their own mini-monopolies, then it's an issue. But life isn't static, and if profits are high enough (which they probably will be) other companies will find ways in. That's basically the point of the cord-cutting consumers. Right now I have Verizon, but I have had Comcast and Direct TV (not for internet) at various points. Verizon got my business by offering the best combination of services over Comcast/Direct TV and a few others locals. But if they start going crazy with charges or blocking services, I would switch without thinking twice.

I just can't see how limiting competition - which really is what net neutrality does by not giving small ISP's opportunities to differentiate themselves - wins out over bringing back profit motive and competition.

You have a choice. There are many areas where consumers do not have a choice. They have one carrier offering decent service and that is it. That's a major problem.

You have a choice. There are many areas where consumers do not have a choice. They have one carrier offering decent service and that is it. That's a major problem.

So if that's the problem, how do we encourage more isp choices? I don't think it's by taking away the one thing that can let a smaller isp's find niche to grow in. But we will see. I for one will be interested to see if it has any effect over a 5 year span. I know what I believe will happen, but am open to actual results.

Forget it, I change my opinion:

Free porn could be impacted significantly by net neutrality ruling (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/12/19/net-neutralitys-impact-on-free-porn-could-be-significant-experts-say.html)

Forget it, I change my opinion:

Free porn could be impacted significantly by net neutrality ruling (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/12/19/net-neutralitys-impact-on-free-porn-could-be-significant-experts-say.html)

Told you it was going to be a problem! ;)

Forget it, I change my opinion:

Free porn could be impacted significantly by net neutrality ruling (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/12/19/net-neutralitys-impact-on-free-porn-could-be-significant-experts-say.html)

It's ok, you can always switch back to magazine subscription. Yes it'll cost more than free porn online, but the free market is never wrong. Besides, magazines never have to buffer.

It's ok, you can always switch back to magazine subscription. Yes it'll cost more than free porn online, but the free market is never wrong. Besides, magazines never have to buffer.

True and you never have that sticky key board problem!

You have a choice. There are many areas where consumers do not have a choice. They have one carrier offering decent service and that is it. That's a major problem.

This...