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FCC Votes To Consider Next Round of 'Net Neutrality' Rules
As you may have watched live earlier today, the FCC in a protester-heavy hearing has voted to formally consider a net neutrality proposal. The linked L.A. Times story says the 3-2 vote of the commissioners represents a victory for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler: 'A Democrat who took over in November, Wheeler triggered outrage among public interest groups, online activists and many liberals with a plan that would for the first time allow the possibility of so-called pay-for-priority deals. Wheeler said his plan has been misconstrued and that it would not allow broadband providers to block any legal content or slow down connections in a way that is commercially unreasonable.' As the Washington Post points out, the phrase "commercially unreasonable" is a loaded one. More good coverage at Ars Technica, too.
Just remember, people with cancer who complained about how Obamacare was hurting them and their treatments were called dirty filthy liars and then were audited by the IRS. I'm sure the same won't happen to you, after all they got away with it last time.
Lets regulate netflix instead.
99% of slashdot doesn't even want to admit there's a problem.
Netlfix (and yes, this is entirely about netflix and almost no-one else) has no finacial reason to be responsible with how they transmit data. Every ISP out there hates them. Not because they compete. Netflix is one of the few reasons people haven't gone entirely to their cellphones for the internet. What they hate is that Netflix is completely irresponsible when it comes to how they handle transmitting their data. No Cache. No real peering. They switch networks seemingly at random with no notification. All at tremendous detriment to the ISPs network.
The ISPs don't want to end net neutrality. Quite the opposite. Traffic shaping and bandwidth caps are expensive. You need equipment and people to deal with that. But they have to make Netflix poor network decisions hurt netflix. It's the only way they can see to reign them in. The FCC's answer is what you see here. I think it's a terrible idea.
What I'd suggest is something a bit more reasonable. Why is it that Netflix is unregulated? They're basically a broadcaster right? Why not get the ISPs together with Netflix and come up with some industry standards? If you're going to supply 34% of the content during peak usage, why shouldn't you be under some obligation to do it in a way that wasn't going to harm the network? Wouldn't that be more reasonable than the insanity they're suggesting now?
Or are we going to continue to pretend there's this vast ISP conspiracy to stop you from using the internet because losing customers is somehow possible?