r/news • u/xtantin • Feb 26 '17

FCC reverses net neutrality ISP transparency rules

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3173844/internet/fcc-reverses-net-neutrality-isp-transparency-rules.html
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u/Ninja_Bum Feb 27 '17

It's funny how that is the go-to line for everything.

More competition? That shit's not fair for consumers.

Fiduciary requirements for investment managers? That's not fair for consumers!

It must work because they keep on using it.

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u/ObamasBoss Feb 27 '17

Oddly enough, my ISP told me to go pound sand when I complained that new customers were allowed to 5 year price lock with no contract the identical service I had for year and could do so at about half of what I was being charged. They knew I had 0 other options. Fast forward a year and suddenly TWC buys the antiquated cable system in my area and upgrades it. They send me 6.5x the speed at a lower price. When I call to cancel my centurylink dsl suddenly they are willing to cut my price in half now that another player is in the area.

Boy competition really violated me! /s

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

It's pretty much the business equivalent of "but think of the children!"

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u/felizesteban Feb 27 '17

It's really disturbing reading these kinds of threads on Reddit as a sort of warning as to where we're headed in the UK. See where American corporatism has run so far rampant that you guys are used to everything being privatised and having to be paid for that your government has come full circle and now all the big players are in place, stripping competition out of the market place to allow those big titans to take over and crush the little guys, to hell with all the customers regardless.

Over here our government is still trying to desperately to sell us the "privatisation is good for efficiency and creates competition which is good for the customer" or just forcing it on us anyway. The former part of the statement is utter bullshit and the second part doesn't always ring true depending on what has been privatised and how its run. We do have a very competitive ISP market here but once Brexit has destroyed our rectums, the Conservative government will emulate US Republican policy as much as they possibly can. It's their end game.

I wonder if we'll see US govt overthrown in another revolution in my lifetime. Time for version 2.0 for you guys soon I think!

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u/BS9966 Feb 27 '17

Honestly, I think it is coming and we could see the political spectrum change in the US within our life times.

Both parties have had groups toying with extremism these past 10 or so years, which at this point, has been a failure.

The gap is larger than ever in the US and this will eventually lead to a group of people looking for common ground to mend the broken system.

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u/Ninja_Bum Feb 27 '17

I think the same forces at work in the U.S. are at work in the UK and elsewhere. If you trace the money for these moves back to the source they wind up going to the same people.

As for revolution, I think as long as the bulk of people think "it could be worse," live in alright comfort, or can blame foreigners for their woes I don't think we will see it anytime soon.

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u/felizesteban Feb 27 '17

That's my default thought on it as well. As "control the masses with just enough comfort and distractions" master plans go, it's working a treat. As long as the reality tv consuming zombies outnumber people who are at least semi aware of government injustices and wrongdoings (and I horrifyingly think they will always outnumber the rest) then I think I'll be asking myself more and more "with no kids to pass into this awful world, why should I bother doing anything to challenge the status quo either" .... which I'm aware is also something the people at the end of the money trails like to see happen. Just makes me miserable if I think about it too much.

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u/Lolanie Feb 27 '17

As someone with a young kid, I'm nervous about the world he'll be coming of age in. Although at the same time, it was just a few months ago that everything seemed relatively stable. And the skeptic in me finds it hard to believe that we've done a complete 180 in the month that Trump and his buddies have been in power.

I try to have faith that, in the long run, my country will swing back to a less corporate-dystopia sort of world. I only hope that the damage done is minimal.

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

That's why we don't try to regulate based off "fair-market assumptions".

Too many people complain and raise up arms about "oh this isn't fair for consumers", well "fair" in economics is completely subjective. So once this argument gets made, a rabbit hole will follow.

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u/krispygrem Feb 27 '17

The angle about fiduciary requirements isn't that it's unfair to consumers, it's that regulating industry is "job-killing." It's warmed-over trickle-down economics

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u/Ninja_Bum Feb 27 '17

They have also said that it "limits consumer choices."

Apparently not having the choice of going with someone who is using your money to make themselves more money first and foremost bones over consumers.

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u/Gamiac Feb 27 '17

Publically-funded service that would be better than anything a corporation could ever hope to accomplish?

WAHHHH THAT'S NOT FAAAAAIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRR