
Mayor quits FCC committee, says it favors ISPs over the public interest - lainon
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/fcc-broadband-committee-wants-to-restrict-publicly-owned-networks/
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ScottBurson
Although this probably won't get discussed much in the blogosphere, it
actually bothers me more than the recent reversal of the Title II
classification for ISPs, over which so many electrons were spilled. In my
view, actual competition from municipal fiber would produce better outcomes
than we could ever get with Net Neutrality regulation. That Pai's FCC is
moving in the wrong direction on this front as well is very disheartening,
albeit, alas, unsurprising.

~~~
amazon_not
This is a pretty uncontrovesial opinion. A lot of both pro and con network
neutrality advocates will agree on that what we actually need is more
competition, rather than more regulation.

In fact those that oppose network neutrality will use this very argument to
assert that network neutrality should be repealed and all efforts should be
made to advance competition and investment instead.

Too bad that when it comes to actually enabling that competition there's a
deafening silence.

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jasonkostempski
How is quitting going to help anything? If you're in it, at least you can try
to fix it. Maybe slow things down a bit like Ron Swanson to minimize the
damage they do?

~~~
daveFNbuck
Time is a finite resource. At some point it's no longer worth the opportunity
cost to stay in for a minimal change in the outcome. I'm sure a mayor has more
important things to do.

You're also neglecting the possibility that publicly quitting and explaining
why will have a bigger effect than staying in and trying to influence a rigged
outcome.

~~~
megaman22
How effective are most of the things mayors do?

Trying to steer the ship in a less shitty direction might be the best use of
their time

~~~
daveFNbuck
If you believe that a mayor's time is worthless, it makes sense to waste it in
a useless committee. Apparently this mayor feels differently than you about
the value of his time.

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zero_intp
I am an architect at one of the companies that has a representative on this
committee. When I have brought up discussions of localized broadband public
partnerships I have been mercilessly shut down. Capex is a limited commodity,
but so is qualified legal and engineering resources. The short and medium
returns on investing our growth capabilities on limited return partnerships is
insufficient to warrant the effort.

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dzdt
Regulatory Capture background must-read:
[https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture)

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droopybuns
I am all for locally based ISPs. It would be amazing if local municipalities
could create incentives for financing the last mile of connectivity
exclusively to local ISPs.

I absolutely abhor the idea of government supplied Internet. I’m too cynical
to believe that there is some magical force field that differentiates local
government ethics from federal level ethics. If Snowden tells us our internet
habits are snooped at a National level, I expect it at a local level. The
current proposals are binary in a stupid way.

Incentives local ISPs, not municipal ISPs.

~~~
sshumaker
I think it's easy to make this mistake and to associate government == bad
ethics, when it's clear that you see similar misbehavior in government AND
business.

The problem is size, not public vs. private. Size equals power and that is
usually the heart of the problem.

~~~
droopybuns
Businesses are accountable to local government.

While local government is accountable in elections, I don’t think that is a
reasonable stick for day to day operations.

I find your contexting my comment as a “mistake” to be arrogant to the point
of almost irredeemability. Are you trying to be that obnoxious?

~~~
dang
We've warned you repeatedly about posting uncivil comments to Hacker News. If
you keep doing it, we're going to ban you. Could you please fix this? The idea
on HN is: if you have a substantive point to make, make it thoughtfully; if
you don't, please don't comment until you do. And personal attacks are right
out.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

