OT - Net Neutrality has now been removed.

[Ezsoil]

It never amazes me the number of people who fail to realize that government regulation is nothing more than selecting winners and losers and limiting access to the free market by force. Licensing is nothing more than a barrier to market entry. Net Neutrality was a nifty name for government and not the marketplace to determine who can provide your servivce. I'd much rather have a free market where anyone can enter the market and provide any service that I'm willing to pay for .. than to have a limited number of providers who only offer a set of service standards as determined by government....I'm smart enough to determine what is good for me.

[5049]

It never amazes me the number of people who fail to realize that government regulation is nothing more than selecting winners and losers and limiting access to the free market by force. Licensing is nothing more than a barrier to market entry. Net Neutrality was a nifty name for government and not the marketplace to determine who can provide your servivce. I'd much rather have a free market where anyone can enter the market and provide any service that I'm willing to pay for .. than to have a limited number of providers who only offer a set of service standards as determined by government....I'm smart enough to determine what is good for me.

A minimal level of regulation is a necessary, good thing. This really cannot be debated. Prevents a WWW situation.

[Cooterpoot]

A minimal level of regulation is a necessary, good thing. This really cannot be debated. Prevents a WWW situation.

^^Gene Swindoll?

[preachermatt83]

It never amazes me the number of people who fail to realize that government regulation is nothing more than selecting winners and losers and limiting access to the free market by force. Licensing is nothing more than a barrier to market entry. Net Neutrality was a nifty name for government and not the marketplace to determine who can provide your servivce. I'd much rather have a free market where anyone can enter the market and provide any service that I'm willing to pay for .. than to have a limited number of providers who only offer a set of service standards as determined by government....I'm smart enough to determine what is good for me.

Amen

[Tbonewannabe]

Amen

You realize there is no such thing as a true free market right? Purely due to the Barriers of Entry and the size of the corporations, removing Net Neutrality will lead to monopoly type situations. This can even affect how politicians are elected. If Comcast doesn't like a politician then it could either slow the access or completely prevent you from getting information on anyone but the corporations chosen candidate. That is an extreme possibility but it isn't out of the realm of imagination.

[BulldogDX55]

Amen

How do the few of you who think that what happened today is a good thing continue to not understand what is happening? Like, I get having a different opinion on things (let's keep tax talk to the political board), but 100% of you who are happy about this don't even seem to grasp what is going on.

Let me try, one more time, to explain why this is really, really bad.

Up until 2015, TeleComs tried on multiple occasions, to regulate the flow of information and access to content that went through their service. Because they controlled both the access (to a monopoly level) and had their own content, this was ruled by multiple court cases to be an unfair business practice because they tried to restrict access to competitors. In order to save everyone time, the FCC in 2015 created Net Neutrality, to rule that once and for all that Telecoms can't do that because the internet, at this stage in society, is a necessary good. Now that Net Neutrality has been killed, the TeleComs will go back to regulating flow and access themselves. This is what people like you seem to be confusing about the situation- the NN regulation is actually an anti-regulation regulation, making it so that everyone has equal access to the internet and the services and content provided by it.

I really can't make this any clearer. I do not understand why anyone would want Comcast, the country's least favorite company, to be able to control what you can access.

[ckDOG]

It never amazes me the number of people who fail to realize that government regulation is nothing more than selecting winners and losers and limiting access to the free market by force. Licensing is nothing more than a barrier to market entry. Net Neutrality was a nifty name for government and not the marketplace to determine who can provide your servivce. I'd much rather have a free market where anyone can enter the market and provide any service that I'm willing to pay for .. than to have a limited number of providers who only offer a set of service standards as determined by government....I'm smart enough to determine what is good for me.

But are you smart enough to realize that not anyone can jump into the market to compete for your dollars, not bc of regulation but bc it?s too damn expensive and risky to lay the infrastructure to compete against what is already there? Zero regulation only works in a perfect world. Complete government control has no place in reality either. Protecting consumers (this isn?t luxury products, it?s a cornerstone of our economy) is an excellent idea when we have no alternatives. I?m very okay with the Feds regulating the major gas pipelines that supply my local utility companies with their fuel. Why? Bc they are in a unique position to royally **** us over due to virtually zero competition. I?m okay with regulating broadband as well bc they could easily do the same - just with megabytes instead of molecules.

All that said, it?s up to citizens to make sure that regulation doesn?t become overbearing and overextends its purpose of consumer protection. This knee jerk ?all regulations are bad? attitude I see today is not only lazy logic, it can be down right dangerous for our safety it we get too drunk with scaling essential regs back.

[Gatordog]

It never amazes me the number of people who fail to realize that government regulation is nothing more than selecting winners and losers and limiting access to the free market by force. Licensing is nothing more than a barrier to market entry. Net Neutrality was a nifty name for government and not the marketplace to determine who can provide your servivce. I'd much rather have a free market where anyone can enter the market and provide any service that I'm willing to pay for .. than to have a limited number of providers who only offer a set of service standards as determined by government....I'm smart enough to determine what is good for me.

Ann Rand, Atlas Shrugged. Oh how the media and our youth have forgotten true freedom and embraced socialism.