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Kill Net Neutrality and You'll Kill Us, Say 800 US Startups (google.com)
A group of more than 800 startups has sent a letter to the FCC chairman Ajit Pai saying they are "deeply concerned" about his decision to kill net neutrality -- reversing the Title II classification of internet service providers. The group, which includes Y Combinator, Etsy, Foursquare, GitHub, Imgur, Nextdoor, and Warby Parker, added that the decision could end up shutting their businesses. They add, via an article on The Verge: "The success of America's startup ecosystem depends on more than improved broadband speeds. We also depend on an open Internet -- including enforceable net neutrality rules that ensure big cable companies can't discriminate against people like us. We're deeply concerned with your intention to undo the existing legal framework. Without net neutrality, the incumbents who provide access to the Internet would be able to pick winners or losers in the market. They could impede traffic from our services in order to favor their own services or established competitors. Or they could impose new tolls on us, inhibiting consumer choice. [...] Our companies should be able to compete with incumbents on the quality of our products and services, not our capacity to pay tolls to Internet access providers."
Fuck off.
My father and mother had humble jobs. My mom was a saleswoman and my father worked I'm PR. Neither were rich, although certainly middle class.
I went into tech and got rich. My parents only helped me pay for school (half me half them). Other than that, I made my own wealth.
And so what if I'm white? In modern society being white is a disadvantage. I can't get affirmative action or minority scholarships like they do.
So, we had a long period where ISPs were classified as Information Services rather than Telecommunication Services. This allowed them to not have to be treated as common carriers and thus not have to be neutral or share their lines. They loved that and this decision is an attempt to bring that back. But why on earth would the courts allow this classification when it's so clearly a lie? Why did they let them be classified this way for a decade?
An Information Service is a service you pay so that they will themselves provide you with information. For example, if you subscribe to a stock ticker service which provides you with information about what stocks have sold at what prices, that's an Information Service. A Telecommunications Service is a service you pay so that they will connect you to a network where you can contact other parties which may be distant from you and communicate with them. For example, a telephone company. It's very, very clear that no one signs up for an ISP to get information from the ISP. We sign up to use the internet to communicate with servers the vast majority of which are not owned or operated by the ISP. When Comcast attempted to argue that they shouldn't be classified as a Telecommunications service, they cited the fact that they provided information to customers because they ran DNS servers. The idea that most customers are paying their ISP primarily because they want DNS service is laughable. So why is the FCC even allowed to classify these services as something they aren't?
No, actually I doubt that seriously. Hilary would have been a vast improvement over Trump as someone who studied and understood law, international relations, had exposure to military strategy, and faced over 30 years of investigations while continuing to be squeaky clean. In contrast, Trump has 300+ active lawsuits, flagrantly violated labor laws, immigration law (yeah!), tax law, and everything else. As well as the whole committing treason bit by selling state secrets to Russia as a bribe not to expose his homosexuality.
Speaking of third world countries: Here in Uganda, we have nationwide infrastructure sharing that includes towers, 2.4/5G meteo WIFI APs, metro fibre, and backhaul fibre. We have MVNOs, nearly ubiquitous mobile coverage, an extremely competitive market, a healthy interconnection ecosystem, and a growing amount of local traffic. We're in a race to the bottom for prices, and a race for the top in service quality. Glad I don't live in America.
My parents only helped me pay for school (half me half them). Other than that, I made my own wealth.
Yeah, and Warren Buffet gave me a million dollars to invest in the stock market. Other than that, I made my own wealth.
Starting your adult life with $1M in the bank is a far cry from getting help from your parents to fund school. Most parents cover school costs for their kids through grade 12 in the U.S. Many parents continue to help for a few years after if they're able. Sure it's an advantage, but it's a world away from a "Warren Buffet gave me a million dollars" advantage. My dad helped a little bit while I was in school, but you're off by multiple orders of magnitude. Do you only consider people who start as parentless street urchins self-made? Getting free formula or milk as a baby is a shameless handout and clearly a sign of privilege.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.