

New bill would prohibit FCC from reclassifying broadband as utility - ldd-
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2303080/bill-would-prohibit-fcc-from-reclassifying-broadband-as-utility.html

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astrodust
Translation: "Someone just paid me a lot of money."

Wouldn't enforcing neutrality be the most minimal form of regulation, where
without that baseline it's impossible for some companies to compete?

It's not like declaring it a utility would mean, like in the days of AT&T,
that Comcast would be required to put up pay internet terminals in the middle
of the woods, no matter the cost, or lock in to a particular pricing
structure.

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daxelrod
> Reclassification would heap 80 years of regulatory baggage on broadband
> providers

Can anyone shed some light on what this baggage might consist of? I've heard
rumblings that common carrier status might have unintended consequences, but I
haven't actually seen them enumerated.

> imposing monopoly-era telephone rules and obligations on the 21st Century
> broadband marketplace

Last-mile ISPs are usually local monopolies. I see a lot of handwaving here
about regulating "the Internet" rather than specific classes of company.

Would Title II reclassification only involve consumer ISPs, or would it also
affect backbone providers like Level 3?

> We support the efforts ... to codify current policy

A great tactic on both sides is to claim that you're fighting for the status
quo, which works pretty well. The Net Neutrality argument is "let's fight to
keep ISPs from selectively deprioritizing traffic because that would break the
Internet." The other side's argument is "let's fight to keep government from
interfering because that would break the Internet".

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anigbrowl
Jeepers, our legislators really suck. You think utility regulation is too
onerous, reform _that_. But trying to pre-empt the regulatory process (which
involves exhaustive solicitation and categorization of public comment, unlike
the legislative branch) is just pouring sand in the works. The government
would function a lot better if Congress would let it operate instead of
constantly trying to fine-tune it.

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cygni
I'm at a friend's house who has Comcast and I can't load any pages from
pcworld.com, and
[http://www.isup.me/pcworld.com](http://www.isup.me/pcworld.com) says it's
just me. Hopefully that's just a coincidence...

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DanAndersen
Same here... I wonder what's up with that.

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wpietri
I'm tempted to refute his points, but it's not like anybody here doesn't get
why "the internet economy" would be helped by neutrality. So I'll just sigh
and vaguely wonder what it costs to buy a congressional representative these
days.

~~~
badsock
If you'd like, there's also the option of kicking some money in for this:
[https://mayone.us/](https://mayone.us/)

~~~
wpietri
I'm already in! And excited by the emails I'm getting about the next stages of
their plan. I am totally willing to try to buy our democracy back. I miss it.

