Net Neutrality

Since this is a sports board I'll add that Mark Cuban has been a strong advocate as well.

 

I suppose that just being against government regulations is the default position of the GOP, but some regulations are necessary.

A Fairness Doctrine for the Net! If you read Townhall.com, you also have to read the Daily Kos. If you look at SportsJournalist.com, you also have to read...

 

My guess is that Beck knows damn well net neutrality isn't the bogeyman he's portraying it as. But it gives him another flimsy arrow to add to his wacked-out quiver.

 

Except that's not what it is. Not at all.

 

Between today's court ruling and the one last month allowing unfetered corporate support of political campaigns, I honestly think life as we live it's lived today in America will be radically different in the next couple of years.

 

I didn't mean to say that it was. I was just trying to imagine the conspiracy theories that they could be driving at.

 

Gotcha. My bad. Sorry.

 

Eh, my fault. My being a Neanderthal, it was an easy mistake for you to make.

I should have been more clear.

 

I could see myself against net neutrality for a multitude of reasons.
Why I don't have the numbers in front of me, it seems like they say about .1 percent of internet users account for something like 95 percent of the traffic or some other crazy high number.
As video and other data heavy sites get more popular and more people jump on, the more likely the system won't be able to handle the demand and you get more crashes.
So, in some respects, a tiered payment system makes lots of sense.

 

This is an idea, much like free speech and spending for corporations, that sounds great in the theory of free-market capitalism but horrible in its application. There are people who would say anybody can build a company to compete with Comcast -- just as there are people who believe that anything Microsoft does to discourage competition is A-OK because you're free to start your own software company if you don't like it.

 

It all depends on your view of the internet.
Is it a thing, a commodity that can be measured and used?
Or is it a place, where people go.
To me, that's really the great divide. Because, depending on which side, your approach and how you handle the internet is completely different.

 

I think the classic view is that the Internet is a place people go, and that freedom is to be protected at all costs. Once it starts being seen as a commodity to be regulated and taxed, that's the ballgame.