No Matter What Happens With Net Neutrality, an Open Internet Isn't Going Anywhere, Says Former FCC Chairman (recode.net)

Michael K. Powell, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, writing for Recode: With an ounce of reflection, one knows that none of this will come to pass, and the imagined doom will join the failed catastrophic predictions of Y2K and massive snow storms that fizzle to mere dustings -- all too common in Washington, D.C. Sadly, rational debate, like Elvis, has left the building. The vibrant and open internet that Americans cherish isn't going anywhere. In the days, weeks and years following this vote, Americans will be merrily shopping online for the holidays, posting pictures on Instagram, vigorously voicing political views on Facebook and asking Alexa the score of the game. Startups and small business will continue to hatch and flourish, and students will be online, studiously taking courses. Time will prove that the FCC did not destroy the internet, and our digital lives will go on just as they have for years. This confidence rests on the fact that ISPs highly value the open internet and the principles of net neutrality, much more than some animated activists would have you think. Why? For one, because it's a better way of making money than a closed internet.

Comments

Oh, noes!

[cirby]

We're going back to the primitive and closed Internet... ...of 2015.

Remember how horrible that was?

That is NOT WHAT WE LOSE

[SuperKendall]

But, my ISP (Google Fiber) should NEVER throttle the data from other sites. ...
That's what we're losing when Net Neutrality goes away.

There is is, THAT is exactly the fresh-from-the farm Grade A Bullshit I expected from Slashdot NN Chicken Littles, and I was not dissapoint!

For decades now that has almost never happened and was terminated quickly when it did, those exceptions prove the rule that it really will not happen. The FCC said it would clamp down on anything like this, without any NN rules needed.

So where on earth does this utterly irrational fear of ISP's throttling specific sites come from? Have you no clue at how hard it is for ISP's to do ANYTHING!!! Why do you think Comcast will magically gain the ability to throttle specific sites effectively when they can't even run a DNS structure well.

without it, there's literally nothing I could do about it, other than switch back to one of the other services in my area

Tha is literally SOMETHING and a very effective SOMETHING, the reason ISP's have stoped any throttling monkey business in the past is because of that and consumer complaints. Guess what, even Comcast needs subscribers to run and without them there is no business left.