
The End of Net Neutrality Isn't the End of the World - BifoBerardi
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-11-21/the-end-of-net-neutrality-isn-t-the-end-of-the-world
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dhimes
There might be an argument for Net Neutrality, but this article is so bad it's
"not even wrong" as we say.

 _Most relevant corporate share prices didn’t much react to these events,
which suggests that the net neutrality decisions weren’t so important for the
sector._

The author doesn't demonstrate that share prices of current major players
reflect the impact of net neutrality. One of the big arguments, of course, is
that it actually favors incumbents over new players. He tries to demonstrate
it, though, with this argument:

 _To put these share price movements in context, stocks for businesses that
would clearly benefit from tax reform rose in value immediately after
President Donald Trump’s election. When clear costs and benefits are on the
line, share prices seem to reflect this._

He argues that stock movement will be accurate when _clear costs and benefits_
are on the line. However, Trump did not have a tax plan when he was first
elected. The costs and benefits were anything but clear.

 _Have you ever used your Kindle to connect to wireless to download new books
from your Amazon account? That too is a kind of nonneutrality. You can
download the books, but you can’t use that same wireless connection for more
general purposes._

Wrong. You can browse the web with that connection. I can do it on my early
model Kindle. If you can't do it on later models, it's because of the Kindle,
_not the web._ And that's the whole point.

 _Options for access, however, are improving. Cellphone service is falling in
price, smartphones are growing in size and quality, and Wi-Fi connections are
all over the place._

This is someone who clearly doesn't understand how the internet works. Wi-Fi,
of course, is just a means of connecting to the local ISP (comcast, etc.). It
has nothing to do with going around the provider, it simply means you don't
have to plug a physical wire into your computer.

Cellphone _service_ is a competitor, at least in principle. But the prices
need to come down quite a bit before it's competitive enough to put downward
pressure on the prices.

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PacketPaul
The author does not understand Net Neutrality. He gives Netflix as an example
of a stock which did fine without it.

The author fails to understand Netflix will benefit if Net Neutrality fails.
Customers would not put up with Netflix being blocked or classified at a lower
tier. So ISPs are unable to touch it. But a new and upcoming Netflix
competitor would be at a disadvantage.

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pzone
The idea that net neutrality might not be not a big deal seems to fall on deaf
ears here.

The notion that maybe Ajit Pai might even be making a decent point is an
unspeakable blasphemy.

~~~
IntelMiner
I mean. If you'd like to incite actual discussion, feel free to expand upon
it?

