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BitTorrent CEO On Net Neutrality

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the no-way-he's-biased dept.

angry tapir writes "According to BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker, the Internet industry has to regulate itself by responding to consumer demands in the wake of the recent US federal court ruling that the Federal Communications Commission didn't have authority to enforce its net neutrality rules."

13 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by Pojut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...but unless you work for, are paid by, or represent an ISP, how can you support allowing ISPs to give preferential (or detrimental) treatment to different types of Internet traffic?

    --
    Living With a Nerd
    1. Re:I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by Moryath · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No shit.

      The problem right now is PEOPLE HAVE NO CHOICE in their ISP.

      Or rather, the "choice" is between No ISP, Shitty company A, and if you're REALLY lucky, perhaps Shitty Company B.

      My area is an urban area. I'm "lucky" to have cable and DSL competing. Or really not, because it's Comrape and A-Titty-Twister "competing" with each other, which is to say, not competing at all.

      We can complain all day long, but we as consumers are fucked, because 90% or better of Americans live in an area where the only ISP has a monopoly, and the other 10% have a duopoly at best if they are lucky. And apparently, nothing short of an act of Congress (and I shudder since Obama and the rest of the Senators/"Representatives" are pretty much bought-off scumbags who don't represent us at all) will fix it.

    2. Re:I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by 1s44c · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Obama and the rest of the Senators/"Representatives" are pretty much bought-off scumbags who don't represent us at all

      All politicals are 'bought-off scumbags' who don't represent anything more than their own self interest. Anyone who really cared would be terrified to have so much responsibility.

    3. Re:I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by Pojut · · Score: 5, Insightful

      On the Internet though, your neighbor can easily run a "factory" by simply seeding a bunch of torrents like an asshole, using all the bandwidth.

      Or by watching cats all day on Youtube...or by watching TV episodes on Hulu all day, or streaming movies through Netflix all day, or any other number of bandwith-intensive activities.

      Torrent users are being targeted because they are the easiest ones to go after...what about the stay at home mom who streams Netflix and Hulu 8 hours a day, or the patent examiner who works from home and is constantly streaming c-span reruns to help with their research?

      There are a lot of high bandwith uses for the Internet that don't involve piracy or torrents...so why is it only torrents are being targeted?

      --
      Living With a Nerd
    4. Re:I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by Moryath · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anyone remotely honest doesn't have the kind of money needed to run these days, either.

    5. Re:I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We can complain all day long, but we as consumers are fucked

      We're fucked as long as most consumers are so hypnotized by marketing and ubiquitous advertising that they are no longer able to make informed decisions based on their own best interests.

      They're glad to whip out the plastic and raise their credit limits no matter how much shit they have to eat, as long as it's...shiny.

      Until consumers understand that no corporation is their friend, and even the best of them will act badly, we're only going slide further into mercantile serfdom, where we exist to feed the corporations. Either that or we have to elect officials who will enact real consumer protections, with teeth. Since most politicians work for the corporations, that is unlikely.

      I'm afraid we're going to have to fight this war ourselves, or accept that things will get worse.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    6. Re:I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by dkleinsc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, it turns out that the image of people spending oodles on worthless crap is not an entirely accurate picture. Watch and learn from Elizabeth Warren. Are there outliers? Sure, but the statistical trends she describes are very very clear.

      If you don't have time for the whole thing, one of her basic points is that middle class folks are not in fact buying lots of clothing or appliances or other shiny toys, but are spending far more on housing than they used to (for a house which is not much larger and probably older than what their parents would have bought in the 70's), and because of the higher fixed expenses have significantly less discretionary funds to spend and save. So on average an American middle class family is doing everything they can to reduce spending and still not making ends meet, much less have any savings available.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    7. Re:I know everyone is against the FCC and all... by Pojut · · Score: 4, Funny

      haha, you fucking dork. what level is your wizard up to?!? bahahaha

      None...he died...thanks for bringing it up, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Living With a Nerd
  2. Self Regulate? by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Doesn't "self regulation" usually result in services and pricing that always benefit the industry at the expense of the consumer?

    1. Re:Self Regulate? by AnonymousClown · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Doesn't "self regulation" usually result in services and pricing that always benefit the industry at the expense of the consumer?

      No, no, no. Here are some examples where it has worked:

      1. there's the ummmm
      2. and the ummmm
      3. and ....

      Never mind.

      --
      RIP America

      July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001

    2. Re:Self Regulate? by Pojut · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Unfortunately, the very thing that free markets require to function properly (greed) is also the very thing that causes them to fail -_-;;;

      --
      Living With a Nerd
    3. Re:Self Regulate? by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Only if free markets don't work

      Free markets would work, but unfortunately they don't exist, at least not for long. The inevitable state for a mature market is monopoly or cartel, and the price of freedom is eternal regulation.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  3. How about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We just GIVE the FCC the power to regulate (bitchslap) troublemaker isps like comcast.

    The free market wont fix it. Nobody else will fix it. So make the FCC do something useful for a change.

    Altho i'm not sure why we allowed internet provider greed to ever bring up net neutrality at all. Neutrality should just be the way things are by default.

    We're just not a very bright species i guess. Or too many of us are getting paid one way or another to be tools for the isps. Sell everyone out for a buck.