Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T Want Congress To Make a Net Neutrality Law Because They Will Write It (theverge.com)

From a report on The Verge: Companies and organizations that rely on an open internet rallied on Wednesday for a "day of action" on net neutrality, and America's biggest internet service providers have responded with arrogance and contempt for their customers. Comcast's David Cohen called arguments in favor of FCC regulation "scare tactics" and "hysteria." Beyond the dismissive rhetoric, ISPs are coincidentally united today in calling for Congress to act -- and that's because they've paid handsomely to control what Congress does. There's one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on, and that's taking money from ISPs. The telecommunications industry was the most powerful lobbying force of the 20th century, and that power endures. It's no secret that lobbyists in Washington write many of the laws, and the telecom industry spends a lot of money to make sure lawmakers use them. We've already seen net neutrality legislation written by the ISPs, and it's filled with loopholes. It's not just in Congress -- companies like AT&T have deep influence over local and state broadband laws, and write those policies, too. Some pro-net neutrality advocates are also arguing today that Congress should act, and there are some good reasons for that. Laws can be stickier than the judgements of regulatory agencies, and if you want to make net neutrality the law of the land that's a job for Congress. But there's a reason the ISPs are all saying the same thing, and it's because they're very confident they will defeat the interests of consumers and constituents. They've already done it this year under the Republican-controlled government. Further reading: 10M+ web users saw yesterday's net neutrality protest -- but rules are still getting scrapped.

Comments

Big surprise

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine that, it's almost as if government regulation keeps competition out of the market by letting lobbyists influence the letter of the law.

Re:Big surprise

[dgatwood]

The last time there was an actual free market on Internet Service was when you could connect to it with a 56k modem over your telephone line.

Want to have a free market again? Pass a federal law that overturns all state laws banning municipal broadband projects and creates an unfunded mandate requiring each state to run government-owned fiber to every home and business, freely leasing fiber access to any ISP that wants it. Provide an optional exemption for areas that already have commercial fiber if the existing commercial fiber providers agree to lease access to anyone who asks for no more than 10% above the actual average maintenance cost of the fiber.

Expecting a free market when the barrier to entry is so high (20–30 years to recoup your investment in fiber even if there are only two companies in a market) is naïve. There can only be one wire provider, realistically, unless you're in a major city with high population density. If that provider is not the government, there will almost never be competition.

Re:Big surprise

[interkin3tic]

As opposed to the free market utopia we have in service providers now?

"Government regulation bad" seems like the worst possible interpretation to take from this. A still bad but better lesson would be "No matter what happens, they win."

Maybe the best lesson is once you let regulatory capture happen and monopolies form, it's nearly impossible to undo it, so enact aggressive government regulations before that point.

Re:Big surprise

[rahvin112]

Imagine that, someone claiming this is government regulation on slashdot.

This isn't government regulation, it's crony capitalism. This is the largest firms getting together with congress to write a law that will enevitably favor them to distract from the real issue. Whereas regulation would be the independent regulators who are not subject to the whims of politics creating a regulatory policy that gives everyone a level playing field then enforces those rules without regard to the size or political contributions of the violator.

What will come out of congress will be exactly the type of regulation the big companies like Comcast and ATT prefer, that's the kind that lets them do whatever they want, with no enforcement and prevents the FTC from declaring anything a monopoly. Mark my words, the big ISPs will write the bill and it will do the exact opposite of what the net-neutrality movement is about.

Re:Same as healthcare

[HornWumpus]

You DID!

But we had to 'pass the bill to see what was in it'.

Re:How may of you would abandon the Internet?

[Rick Schumann]

Playing Devils Advocate for a moment: If I were ISPs and everyone did as you say, doing an end-run around my 'tiered walled garden', my response would be to ban all 'unauthorized' encrypted traffic, and threaten disconnection to anyone who violated the ToS that states that. I'd also ban use of Tor on the same grounds, since that's what most people would go to, to try to circumvent my ToS.

If you believe that the Internet is something totally optional, just a luxury, then your assertion that we don't need 'more government' in this case might be correct.
But even I think that the Internet is now too thoroughly integrated into everything to call it a 'luxury' anymore, not much more so than electricity, water service, and sewer service.
If the Internet is NOT a luxury, then ISPs should not be allowed to fuck us over as if it WERE a luxury. Otherwise it starts approaching the jackassery of Mylan and their gouging people for Epi Pens.

I'm serious when I say that if it came right down to it, I'd dump the Internet, and I'm fully cognizant of how much it would suck to do so. But if it came down to that, it would suck less to dump the Internet than it would to be fucked over by ISPs. If you can't get the government to step in and regulate bad behavior by private companies, then that may be the only avenue left to you to protest being fucked over.

Re:Same as healthcare

[interkin3tic]

The mental gymnastics here are amazing. The details of obamacare were publically debated and negotiated for about a year. A third grader reading the transcript could understand that quote was taken wildly out of context. Pelosi was wrong to say that only because she assumed once the bill was passed, the outright lies from the far right about Obamacare would die down and people would understand the benefits.

Especially disturbing the right wing is pretending there's an equivalence with now. The house bill was intentionally passed with no debate before the CBO projection. The senate healthcare bill isn't even being shown to the entire republican party, let alone democrats or the public, and the goal is to pass whatever by next week.

"Yeah, this boat we are on is about to explode, but LOL, remember how they said the titanic couldn't sink!!!"