Straight to the point

[unixronin]

I don't believe I have yet seen a more succinct summary of the "Net Neutrality" issue than the one Illiad posted today.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

You don't necessarily have a choice of whose fiber you're going across. In particular, it allows EVERY local loop owner to hold everyone in their coverage area hostage.

For example, we're on an RTU to which Verizon is not obligated to give third-party carriers any access at all, so unles we want to go with dial-up, our choice of ISP is Verizon if we want DSL, or Adelphia if we want cable. There are no other choices. Without Net neutrality, everyone is potentially in that same boat. All independent ISPs that don't have a block of customers whose local loops they own could be driven out of business almost overnight, simply by the telcos either refusing to carry their traffic or demanding surcharges for it that the independent ISPs couldn't pay and still stay in business.
You like to use VOIP, maybe? What if your telco starts demanding $1 per minute to route Vonage traffic?
You like Google? Maybe your telco has a co-marketing agreement with Yahoo!, and they start charging an access fee for Google that adds something like fifty cents per Google page load to your phone bill. How long can you afford to keep using Google at fifty cents a page load?
You have an email account that's not run by your local telco? Oh dear, that'll cost you fifty cents a kilobyte sent or received from now on.

The bastards are crooked enough already. They don't need any more room to gouge people.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

And?

It's fscking private property. If you don't like the access fees, do without access.

Plus, think about who will be implementing this. The Congress of the United States of America. They call it "Net Neutrality" but it's not like they have to adhere to truth in advertising laws. What was the full name of the PATRIOT act? "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism"? You think there's really a chance they won't just tilt the field some more in favor of their pet lobbyists?

And hell, even if they did happen to be on the level for once, these are people you wouldn't trust to make peanut butter sandwiches for your kids. You think they're suddenly going to turn into little einsteins when it comes to crafting a policy on network structure and usage fees? When has governmental regulation ever improved the service you got from an industry?

-Ogre

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

The local loop is NOT private property. It is a right of way, and a regulated monopoly, granted by the state.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

It is private property in the same way that shopping malls are private property. If they don't invite the public, they have not reason for existing. In addition, my property description allows easements for these utilities to use My private property, because the government, and society, deems the service provided is that important. If they abuse that access, they will lose the easement.