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[Aklyon]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/verizon-sues-fcc-says-net-neutrality-lite-rules-illegal.ars?

The company loves the open Internet, it says, just so long as no one can, well, enforce that openness.

Hmm.

[Realmfighter]

Whats that "Oh, Really" supposed to mean?

[Aklyon]

Nothing, I just though that a post with nothing but a link would be too spam-like.

[darkrider2]

Rather Convincing, If I must say so myself.

[Nikov]

Until you see its funded by Media Alliance...

[Sir Pseudonymous]

More from Ars Technica.

On the one hand, Verizon's grievance is that it was the FCC, and not Congress, that put in place exactly what they thought should be put in place, which they feel sets a dangerous precedent, by giving the FCC (widely regarded as a mass of horrible, puritanical shitbags), power over the internet. On the other hand, Congress is eminently more corruptible, and has lobbyists coming day in and day out with hookers, sacks of money, and piles of coke in hand, and so other telecoms would be more likely to get the unacceptable terms they want (particularly Time Warner and Comcast) if Congress got involved. All in all, it's a giant fucking mess, and the telecoms should all just be nationalized and instituted as basic infrastructure. Preferably with all their former executives exiled to Somalia or somesuch.

[Nikov]

Better idea. Don't regulate the internet, then when Comcast decides to block Facebook as this little cartoon suggests in its panic-mongering fashion, Comcast can lose a million customers overnight and go bankrupt.

[Phmcw]

Better idea. Don't regulate the internet, then when Comcast decides to block Facebook as this little cartoon suggests in its panic-mongering fashion, Comcast can lose a million customers overnight and go bankrupt.

Great idea  .
Then someone else do it a bit more cleverly and nuke net neutrality.

Well, as long we enforce it in Europe...

[Sir Pseudonymous]

Better idea. Don't regulate the internet, then when Comcast decides to block Facebook as this little cartoon suggests in its panic-mongering fashion, Comcast can lose a million customers overnight and go bankrupt.

The telecoms are monopolies almost everywhere in the US, and the biggest issue comes in when there's a website that competes with their cable television business, like Hulu, Netflix, or even Youtube to some extent, and so they try to throttle streaming video to artificially benefit their other businesses, often secretly. Comcast is generally believed to have been throttling streaming video, particularly Netflix, recently, though of course if they have been they've kept it secret. Capitalism breaks down when presented with secretive monopolies and (also secret) collusion between the major players in a given sector, however decent a chaotic solution to the mundane problems of managing an economy it generally is.

We already see the sort of data caps and favoritism in telecoms in other countries, like Australia, and that is not something that should be suffered to exist, ever, and those who champion it should be laughed down, and forcefully kicked out of the country if they do not then cease with it. Exile to Somalia should be the standard punishment for white collar criminals (like Telecom and Insurance Agency executives): they can't hurt us from there, and they're rich enough to buy some mercenaries to protect themselves, so no human rights problems either.

[Earthquake Damage]

The telecoms are monopolies almost everywhere in the US

This.

Not everyone gets to choose their ISP, and market forces don't work when there's little to no competition.

[darkrider2]

Okay maybe I didn't do my research. 

And competition in the US economy is a joke right now anyway.

[Aklyon]

This is why ISPs need to be branded common carriers.

Thats going to be ridiculous to do at this point, sadly.

[eerr]

Think about this really hard.

Do you really want the FCC, regulating internet?

Or would you rather have congress do it?


... shiit I don't like this plan either.

[Nikov]

Comcast is pretty broadly regarded as a horrible service provider. I recall my training for DirecTV sales. It seemed nearly half our conversions to satellite was Comcast customers. I'm surprised everyone is turning to the government to do what a good old fashioned boycott used to acheive.

[Earthquake Damage]

I'm surprised everyone is turning to the government to do what a good old fashioned boycott used to acheive.

Hello, collective action problem.  How've you been?