Net Neutrality

[mike]

Hey guys, what is the real scoop on net neutrality? I haven't had time to follow this at all. I can only assume that if the government is involved, it will be anything but neutral.

 

[benjamen]

Basic summary...
Currently all content and websites on the world wide web are provided at the same speed by your internet provider (net neutrality).

Now, internet providers want to be able to change that. Those that pay extra to the internet providers will have their content delivered faster to the consumer. If you are a poor website or don't want to pay this blackmail, consumers access to your website will be much slower. Essentially, the big boys (google, yahoo, ect) will pay the fees and their consumers will have super fast connection to them, while everyone else (like pmbug.com) will have terrible access speeds.

 

[pmbug]

Cable companies want to kill off streaming video competitors like Netflix.

 

[ancona]

Net Neutrality would insure that anyone using the web has equal access. Without it, bloggers would get crushed. I think this is more driven by Government than anything else. The primary result of blogging has been the free and open dissemination of news, ideas and theories, many of which the government would rather not have ever existed. Make no mistake when looking at Net Neutrality folks, this is about the spread of information, not streaming video. The bandwidth argument is total bullshit, and that is a fact. Where I work [NASA], a single fiber optic line can carry the load of two thousand five hundred computers with zero problem, so there is no reason to throttle speed other than to generate more money or to stifle speech.

 

[DSAbug]

Cable companies want to kill off streaming video competitors like Netflix.

Yep. it's easy to see why cable companies want to do this. They basically view it as one of their competitors using their own product against them. What it's doing is keeping them from being able to charge more for their TV packages.

 

[mmerlinn]

I can only assume that if the government is involved, it will be anything but neutral.

CRONY capitalism hard at work.

Free internet: Everyone gets unequal amounts of everything.
Socialist internet: Everyone gets equal amounts of nothing.

 

[mike]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Penn]

I watched the hearings on it- and even tho most of them said the right words I dont trust them.

 

[pmbug]

* necro bump *

President Joe Biden has renominated Gigi Sohn to fill the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) now-vacant fifth seat. This is the third time Sohn has been nominated. Should she gain the Senate's approval, she will break the agency's current 2–2 Democrat-Republican logjam and allow the agency to re-enact Obama-era net neutrality regulations, which are economically nonsensical and largely unnecessary.
...

More:

Biden renominates Gigi Sohn, net neutrality advocate, to the FCC

Net neutrality is an unnecessary and failed policy.

reason.com

 

[searcher]

FCC to vote to restore net neutrality rules, reversing Trump​

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules and assume new regulatory oversight of broadband internet that was rescinded under former President Donald Trump, the agency's chair said.

The FCC told advocates on Tuesday of the plan to vote on the final rule at its April 25 meeting.

The commission voted 3-2 in October on the proposal to reinstate open internet rules adopted in 2015 and re-establish the commission's authority over broadband internet.

More:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/fcc-vote-restore-net-neutrality-rules-reversing-trump-2024-04-02/