re: FCC plans to vote to overturn U.S. net neutrality rules in December

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but it's not realistic to expect government to stop favoring certain providers in the near term

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But it is realistic to think the government WILL regulate those certain providers in favor of consumers?

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Not sure exactly as I'm not an expert in anti-trust law, but it sounds awfully like the government's view of Microsoft back in the 90s and early 2000's which found that their bundling of products constituted a monopoly.

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This happened with Comcast (which owns part of Hulu) and Netflix, a situation which led to the rules we currently have in place.

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Whether an ISP is also a content distributor should be a moot issue if there were greater competition in that market. Other ISPs could get involved and create their own competing content if they chose, or partner with other content providers to compete for consumers' money.

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So we are going to return to cable? So much freedom.

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Ive had multpile ISPs go away because they couldn't make any money, what with all of those hogs out there......no....no I haven't. Theyre doing fine

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Actually you have, you just don't know it. It's what's driving the consolidation you've seen in the industry. Small operators can't survive, so they are getting bought by bigger operators for cheap. Good grief.

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I cant figure out why Republicans always want to limit access or liberty

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Untrue. They just expect you pay for your own isht. That isn't denying your freedom.Having to pay for what you use isn't oppression.

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Goodbye the private citizen telling you information that maybe you wouldn't have known from the mainstream media

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You've clearly never been in a newsroom.

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But it is realistic to think the government WILL regulate those certain providers in favor of consumers?

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It's a matter of choosing the most realistic alternative on the table, so yes. It isn't ideal.

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I think I stand with the Free Market brain geniouses in this thread. This is definitely an anti-trust issue. We should go ahead and get rid of NN now. Then, 15 years from now when the internet is an unrecognizable HellScape devoid of anything other than heavily monetized corporate media, the government can finally take anti-trust action against the big Telecoms to right all these wrongs. I wouldn't have it any other way.

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But we don't know what these companies are going to do! Despite evidence that they will do it if they have the chance! Free market!

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What are you on about?

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See, ShortyRob, toldya I suck at this.

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The internet market is an uncompetitive market because it has high capital requirements and heavy regulation.

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You think vehicle manufacturing doesn't have this?

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I have no interest in debating the meaning of "free market" in this context.

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Wise choice.

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The point is that a lack of net neutrality will grant content control to companies favored by government and protected from competition through high capital requirements and regulations.

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NN raises the bar for mothe of these

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They only own the pipe because the government GAVE them the pipe! Typically those pipes are in public right of ways. We have a say in how they use those pipes.

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So like I said, the government is the one controlling access and entry into the markets. The issue boils down to barriers to market entry that limits competition. If there were 50 ISPs you could choose from, I doubt you'd even be talking about controlled content or speed throttling.

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It's a two part issue you idiot.

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You're not going to make any friends with ad hominem attacks

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Without neutrality, they get both a monopoly on providing the service AND get a monopoly on what services you can access via the internet.

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The monopoly is due to entry barriers. You're making the ISPs out to be the bad guys when they are doing what any self-respecting monopoly (or oligopoly) would do. You should be mad at the local municipalities that are making it difficult for others to come in and compete for customers by offering better products and services.

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The problem is they already own the pipe, and municipalities aren't just going to let new competitors come in and lay pipe everywhere. They'll behave in ways consumers don't like because consumers won't have choices to switch. The ISP's will just do what they've always done and divvy the country up into a series of geographic monopolies.

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What is being destroyed is the foundation of a free-thinking, free-trading, society.

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Everything you said here and in between has been addressed. The issue of ISPs limiting content would be addressed through increased competition. If Comcast has tigerdroppings on a blocked list or throttles speed to the site and I don't like it but Mom&PopISP doesn't, I may cancel my subscription to Comcast and go over to M&PISP.

The problem you want solved will solve itself through competition if more competition is allowed into the market.

The ISP's ARE Cable. You're being presented with a false choice. The ISP's, the cable companies, the wireless providers, ARE THE SAME PEOPLE! That is what's happening. It's not "do I get service x from company a, b, or c?" AT&T IS company a, company b, and company c. They own the content, they own the distribution method, and now they want to be able to have more control over what that distribution method actually carries. See, now, you can choose whether or not you want to view their content or someone else's content on your browser. What the ISP's want to do is to make sure that the only choice you have is their own content.

Fine, I'll just choose another ISP, you say. THERE WON'T BE ANY OTHER ISP'S!!!! The 3 that own it all now will still own it all then. They will do exactly what the Bells did for phone service. They will pick their geographic regions and allow each other to have their monopolies.

You will end up with LESS choice, LESS service, HIGHER prices, and with corporations having complete control over all information. We've already seen how google was doctoring search results to favor certain candidates. Now, imagine if rather than simply burrying news stories and blogs that didn't agree, you couldn't even access those sources period. Imagine if those sources, like drudge, didn't exist. Imagine a world where the MSM is the only media. That is what this is about.

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DarthRebel, LSURussian, and ShortyRob for starters.

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Link? I don't remember anyone in this thread saying corporations are always right.

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Unregulated printers? It’s now as if there will 3 printers

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There are TONS of cities that only had 1 or less newspapers. I guess free speech died in the 1700s....

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high capital requirements and regulations

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NN raises the bar for mothe of these

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How the frick do they not AT LEAST know that?

I mean frick. Just really frick our education system.