Overwhelming Bipartisan Majority Opposes Repealing Net Neutrality

In a revealing and unusually excellent/transparent University of Maryland poll, the overwhelming majority of US citizens appear to favor retaining net neutrality, including 75% of Republicans, the LOWEST percentage of those who favor its retention:

http://www.publicconsultation.org/u...an-majority-opposes-repealing-net-neutrality/

Snip:

The argument against the proposal fared better. It asserted that ISPs, though they do not provide website content, would be able to charge consumers ever-higher fees for internet access, that the big companies with websites could pay for the faster download speeds while smaller competitors could be driven out of business, that ISPs who provide content could block access to competitors who also provide content, and that all this would undermine innovation.

With such HUGE bipartisan opposition to the FCC vote, what are the implications for our democratic process, or lack thereof?

If even the least troubling of outcomes occur, will this finally be the straw that breaks the back of tenuous support for Trump's administration and its pro-business policies, perceived by more and more as anti-John and Jane Doe?

Why was the will of the People subverted in such a fashion, and what are other long-term impacts of this FCC action?

 

That's the first question that people should be asking.

Because all the hype over these fears of the internet imploding is based on the belief that none of it could have ever happened prior to these NN rules.

Except ...it most certainly could have.

Which brings me to the second question that people should be asking each other: Do you know what NN is? Do you know what was just repealed?

I'd wager most don't know, and that's fine its complicated, but still the fear over losing the internet we all love is based so much more in panic than it is in truth.

 

No matter what, it's incredibly bad optics. (As Trump would say.)

But I'd love it if you could post a link or two for the pro-repeal argument here; I understand there are some reasonable ones.

 

"Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication.[4] For instance, under these principles, internet service providers are unable to intentionally block, slow down or charge money for specific websites and online content."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality

 

Good information.

I'd love to have someone post a pro-repeal link; I'm have trouble accessing one, and I think that's because it's so broadly opposed by so many on a bipartisan basis.

 

It is troubling to me. There would be no need for Net Neutrality rules if the government would stop approving these mega-merger consolidations. Capitalism can't function under the yoke of monopolies.

 

Agreement here.

 

I think it revolves around the hype. The hype against it was all I saw. If you look at it objectively, it was a regulation in search of a problem. I'm amazed by how popular government regulation is with the American population.

 

The only thing I've noticed is far right posters have no clue what NN is.

Something about Obama controlling our pipes, right?

 

Just a few general thoughts:

Regulatory capture, the Administrative state and the inevitable Monopoly it creates.

 

Uh huh, its only the right that doesn't know...

Go check the Sandra Fluke NN thread, she thinks the rules that just got repealed mean the internet has to delete all information about birth control.

Yea...

 

Except that it came about specifically due to ISPs actions that violated the spirit of NN before it was codified by the 2015 FCC Reg

 

The ISP's can and should charge whatever they like. That is how capitalism works. Consumers, then, can choose to buy the service or seek out another ISP. That is how competition and capitalism work. If you want to see how well government price controls work just go back and check out the economic disasters of the Carter administration.

 

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...-isp-option-internet-broadband-net-neutrality

This is the issue.

Also NN has been around longer than 2015 in some form or another.

 

This is the solution.
http://new-york.theispguide.com/

Where I live there are only two ISP's and both of them are satellite services. It is the way things are. I'd like to be able to get real broadband out here in the country but net neutrality isn't going to facilitate that. It is what it is. Rarely is government regulation a better solution than freedom.

 

Since you pretend to understand the issue please explain why since Netflix is over a 1/3 of internet bandwidth in the US should people who don't use netflix at all be forced to help pay for a service others use.

This is just to see really how versed you actually are on this subject.

Go ahead with your pro socialist defense.

 

The will of the people is to always get something cheep without doing the work.

 

Something free, courtesy of someone else, is a right! Haven't you heard?

 

You have a right to have cheep internet access provided to you at somebody else's expense.

 

If the majority think it’s a good thing then pass a damn law through congress. The regulatory judge and jury should not be as simple as a pin stroke. Seriously one president enforces a regulation, then we spend millions to make a department then the next president kills it. Let congress decide regulations for the people.

 

I don't have a problem with paying for a service. But what I DO expect is being provided that service, whether or not I am using ALL of their services. That's a huge problem. They have ZERO right to throttle my internet speeds I've already paid for.

 

Exactly. Perfectly said.

 

This post shows you have no clue what you're talking about. And proves my point.

You are clearly harping off of Ben "Wrong" Shapiro's inaccurate break down of NN, which was debunked. You have done zero research on the matter, or listened to zero actual experts (who are nearly all pro-NN) on the matter. You are simply copy and pasting stuff from far right commentators who have zero degrees or professional status in this field.



3:05(and a little before too)

Shapiro makes your same claim on netflix. He's objectively wrong.

"Netflix is a centralized streaming network. They manage their own uplink bandwidth while their subscribers access their service using their internet connection provided by the ISP."

There is a reason why every major reputable tech site disagrees with your opinion, by using facts.

 

No. I don't think some of you understand. It took me a year to figure out what was going on here. It's not a partisan thing, it borders on monopoly.

 

If next month the price of your current speed doubles, you have the right not to purchase it