I am pretty sure that this is not the point of net neutrality...

While true, it seems little different from the lack of growth in broadband across the country in the same time period. The ISPs have been making a lot of money but haven't built out much worth showing, either. I think it's a really good example of a fact that I don't see getting much mention - infrastructure is expensive. Plus, of course, the ISPs were actively trying to make things worse.

If I've read your comment correctly as a warning to not get our hopes up, I agree - but this is better than it very recently was, in my professional opinion ;)

Infrastructure may be expensive, but it is important to note that wherever competition suddenly appeared, Comcast and friends would upgrade their services. I think that makes it clear that they are only willing to spend the coin, if it would ensure that they have an income.

In my opinion, Title II is a stepping stone to local-loop unbundling, which would make it much easier for competitors to operate. We want companies to fight each other for our dollars, instead of adhering to gentleman agreements that would line their pockets at our expense.

A lot of Americans have a lot paranoia when it comes to Government and Government Agencies... as you can tell from that poster above, but yes that is not the point of net neutrality at all. This ruling is a good thing, not that I trust government agencies but I sure as hell don't believe ISP's should have all the power either, because they abuse the power like crazy. There is going to be a lot of clear benefits to the FCC ruling, assuming it holds up when they get sued which is bound to happen soon.

PS: I'm surprised by the amount of people not in the States (or so their profile says) that are keeping up with this. xD

Not just the TItle II classification - the additional position on municipal internet service is, I think, almost as important (assuming it is what I've heard so far; I'd love to see the actual document but it doesn't seem to be circulating yet). Anyway, it's as interesting a time to be a networking nerd as any time since the 90s. ^_^

What happens in the States will sooner or later affect us too.

I meant it more as a don't pity those fuckers, they have been stealing from us.

But, won't the ISPs just raise the price of their services astronomically for consumers to compensate for the lost income? And how will this affect small-scale local providers? We have a local provider, and with all of the snow in our area lately, downloads have been acting up. While the bigger companies can handle the extra bandwidth, I'm not sure if smaller companies can survive this.

Maybe initially but that leaves open the door for competition, competition which now has been made possible.

As for the local providers (assuming you were refering to the raising prices)?

Well, you did answer the local provider part. Thank you.

Exactly just to name two things that can come from this, local cities will be able to implement their own ISP's and Google Fiber can use utility poles which should lead to a faster deployment of fiber. That is assuming that those fighting this don't get any of the recent ruling overturned.

It's ridiculous how many Republicans appear to be bought and paid for by ISP's considering how much there worried about them and not the consumers who you know they're suppose to represent.

Just to let you all know, the FCC is run by ISP and telecommunications cronies. The chairman of the FCC commission is Thomas Wheeler, a former telecommunications lobbyist and executive. The FCC's ability to regulate ISPs means that the ISPs will be using the institution of government to protect themselves and this time it will be done in the name of "net neutrality."

To put it simply, this decision has nothing to do with net neutrality. It has to do with a de facto government-run cartel of corporate cronies and busybodies acquiring more power to dictate your internet choices and internet accesses. To add insult to injury, the bill was never passed by our elected representatives and the public has been denied any viewing of the 300+ page legislation. It means the FCC had to pass it in order for us to find out what is in it. Sound familiar?

The following illustration summarizes my point.

Almost forgot: there was proposal by Republicans for a simple bill (one that would not be so simple after getting edited by lawyers) that would have helped address some of these concerns for ISPs getting carried away. Just saying there was an alternative to giving the FCC, a corrupt de facto cartel, with more dictatorial powers.

To me, neither governments nor corporations should possess absolute power. The FCC regulations keep corporations from doing nefarious things, and the Title II provisions may create a case to curtail the NSA's power over the internet. (Title II includes protections against investigating mail and packages without warrant)

In any case, corporations when unchecked are just as dangerous as government. For example, the Ford Motor Company created a program called the "Five Dollar Day". It provided a very nice wage, but it also had provisions in which Ford can investigate people and their homes for "unamerican" behavior. EG: Interacial relationships, same-sex predilections, cultural behavior, religion, marriage status, and so forth. Furthermore, immigrant works had to receive English classes, and go through an graduation ceremony where they abandon their cultural origin to become "American". If you disobeyed the Sociological Department, you would lose your job or get a pay cut.

This is a terrifying notion, and would be very possible for modern companies like Comcast to implement. After all, ISPs are gatekeepers to information. That means things like banking, stores, services, education, and culture could be dictated by ISPs to create a walled garden that suits them.

However, we can't just oppose bad governance and corporations. We should also support good policies and institutions. In my opinion, the FCC's current actions are important to the welfare of America and its people. Should the FCC ever go bad, we must support the parts of government and society that want to improve things.


TLDR; Support the good and oppose the evil. Be sure to remember that things change - the people of today may be replaced tomorrow for better or worse.