Who benefits the most from competition and innovation in Internet services? The people who have the most need to save money: the poor. Further they more than anyone have the need to use the Internet to save money and to seek opportunity. They need cheap Internet.
And Net Neutrality will take it away from them.
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“Conservatism” as we know it is primarily an Anglo-American tradition. Not all countries have something like it, and Germany definitely does not. Their major ‘right’ coalition (the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union parties) are Christian centrists. The believe in a powerful state, but one that should show compassion and respect for Christian values. They are most definitely not a small government movement.
So it’s telling that even German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out against Net Neutrality, and for the right reasons.
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Don’t break the net by imposing a new, radical regulatory scheme. Internet access should not be a public utility. It has nothing to do with Net Neutrality. It would kill investment and expansion of high speed services to more people. More regulations hurt the little guy more than the big guy. Regulations hinder competition. Fast lanes become more likely. Netflix is just playing games to get a competitive advantage just like every other lobbying business. And once this gets in, FCC will go all out, the same way it always does.
This is a good site, covering a number of myths about the proposed Title II Reclassification, a dramatic step the radicals are pushing for the FCC to do, basically overturning a key concept of the bipartisan Telecommunications Act, and re-regulating the Internet as a phone service. It’s a terrible idea.
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So the Aereo case went to the Supreme Court, and it’s official: Aereo lost, and may be killed as the result of government. Naturally I agree with the three justice minority of Antonin Scalia, Sam Alito, and Clarence Thomas. Clarence Thomas is the kind of guy that, if he rules against what I thought was right, I’ll doublecheck to see if I was wrong. And he voted with Scalia.
Turns out there’s some real gold in the dissent, too. Justice Scalia could write Tech at Night.
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It’s funny how all the leftys who get outraged about Citizens United and corporations speaking out on issues (and the ISPs are right by the way) are totally fine when firms like Google and Reddit speak as corporations in favor of socialized Internet.
The FCC is acting as lawless as every by the way. FCC Republicans were kept out of the loop on Chairman Wheeler’s new plan, proving this is ideological, not practical. Not that left-wing criticisms of Wheeler are any better. But I’m glad to see both House Republicans like Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz in the Senate getting sick of this runaway regulator.
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Even as Bitcoin crime and deception continue, the government has decided that yup, Bitcoin investors have to pay taxes just like everyone else. The anarchists have deemed taxation to be “unacceptable”. I’m sure the IRS will take that as an answer, right guys? Pass the popcorn.
Even if the Obama administration’s data use is way up, the answer is not to abolish NSA, or start shutting down programs entirely. Marco Rubio is right that it would amount to unilateral disarmament. I wonder if he reads RedState!
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Next time you wonder why there is such a push to pick winners and losers with regulation, remember that industries like broadcast TV don’t like to become buggy whip makers, so they have to go after firms like Aereo who innovate and threaten traditional revenue streams.
Which is why, as much as I do agree that there are a number of piecemeal copyright reforms we should make, I disagree that fixing radio regulation isn’t a good idea. We have a system in place now called ‘compulsory licensing’ which is designed to rig the marketplace. Getting to a free market is a valuable thing. Copyright is probably too strong, but this isn’t where we need to trim it back, at all.
Let’s walk and chew gum at the same time. Let’s take on targeted copyright reform as Derek Khanna suggests, while also deregulating radio/music licensing.
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How desperate do you have to be? The radicals at Public Knowledge are trying to take credit for Republican initiatives. To claim a lefty was the ‘thought leader’ behind phone unlocking is ridiculous. That was Derek Khanna. Even Washington Post says so.
AT&T is wishing for a modern FCC so that they can innovate with the IP revolution. Instead FCC is threatening the economy by stalling, and for the basest of reasons: to try a power grab.
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Good news! California Democrats think you can erase stuff from the global Internet just because you really really want to. This is magical thinking in law form. Telling kids they should run amok online because they can just erase it later, is insane. The Internet is dangerous and not for kids.
Again, the core problem with patent troll litigation isn’t with the court system, it’s with too many patents being issued. So the patent-holding tech industry may have a conflict in what it recommends to fix this. But seriously, the only reason patent trolling works is that so many bad patents get issued to begin with.
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Russia is reacting to Snowden’s leaks. One wonders what he’s telling them.
Here we go again. Having failed to pass the preferred bill of Joe Lieberman’s and Jay Rockefeller’s last time, Senate leaders are trying again on a cybersecurity bill. Any bill Senate Democrat leaders support is suspect, given their history of the Internet Kill Switch.
There’s room for legislation, but by default I oppose their plans to expand the scope of government online.
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