Net Neutrality Seen Through the Telegraph

James McP writes "Ars Technica has a write-up on the unregulated telegraph of the 19th century, which gives a view into what could happen to an internet lacking any regulation mandating neutrality. The owners of the 'Victorian internet' used their control of the telegraph to prop up monopolies, manipulate elections, facilitate insider trading, and censor criticism."

Comments

Re:It doesn't matter who is violating your rights

[Fjodor42]

My point exactly :-)

Re:What do you think the government is?

[plasmacutter]

> Uh, and just what the hell do you think the government is comprised of? Deities who are always neutral and never do anything wrong? It's made of people too, but they're privileged people who are making the laws, which makes them even more dangerous than the free market you so baselessly despise.

More dangerous? I'd say both are equally dangerous, given the same amount of power. But even bad politicians can make good laws. And so long as they make good laws, we have nothing to worry about. If they make bad laws, we need to replace them. Seriously, although they do lots of things wrong, they don't screw up *every* law.

> And are you seriously comparing an ISP's rightful regulation of its internet traffic to robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting?

"Rightful" regulation? "Its" traffic!? It's MY traffic they're "regulating" dammit. If I need to vote for a law to make businesses stop pulling that crap, I will. I'd rather it not come to that, but they started this. They were going to start double-dipping and charging people who weren't even their customers. It's only you crazy libertarians (unlike the sensible ones) who get bent out of shape over this, and there aren't very many of you, given how terribly Ron Paul did in the polls. That, or you're too afraid of the government to vote.

> Could some of you stop giving the government so much power, please? We get it, you hate free markets and think government power solves absolutely everything by magic.

Nobody thinks that, although I've seen a few libertarians where you could just about substitute government and free market and make the same statement. Neither one is good and you need a balance of both. Either one alone can and will screw you.

But you wanted to go on a crazy libertarian screed, I guess. You might try posting those somewhere that people care. Though I'm not sure that such a place even exists.

why did you post this anonymously, i wanted to friend you.