Hacker News Reader

Comment by jdoliner | Hacker News Reader

> And that isn't what network neutrality is anyway. Network neutrality doesn't regulate content. It says nothing about what anyone can print, it just says that everyone can buy ink on the same terms.

What do you make of the case of Gab then? They're a competitor to Facebook, Twitter etc. They're not allowed on either app store and they've had their site taken down by multiple domain registrars. Are they being allowed to buy ink on the same terms? No, they're not, I guess we explain that away by saying: "well... they're hate speech." That's going to convince some people, some other people will take a look at that and say: "Wait, if they're hate speech maybe I'm hate speech too, maybe this whole net neutrality thing isn't actually meant for me." Which is why net neutrality has suddenly become a much more partisan issue.

View on HN

> They're not allowed on either app store

The app stores are monopolies. The FTC absolutely should be slapping them for half the stuff they're doing.

But the app stores still aren't natural monopolies. They wouldn't be monopolies if people could install apps the same way they do on desktops. There is no need to regulate their content, what's needed is to restore normal competition to those markets.

>The app stores are monopolies.

Only on iOS. There are several alternative app stores for Android, and you can install apps the same way you do on desktops (after flipping a switch in settings).

Still a monopoly like that, see Internet explorer case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....

Would have been true if the largest manfactureres of Android phones didn't put their own browser and other apps. Samsung has its own browser and Chinese manufacturers use Chinese browsers. So chrome is rarely the default in more than half the android phones releases every year.

> The app stores are monopolies. The FTC absolutely should be slapping them for half the stuff they're doing.

> There is no need to regulate their content

Is there or isn't there a need to regulate them?

That is at best a misreading of the parent comment. Try quoting whole sentences and see if you can identify the parts of the argument that you chopped out.

Network neutrality is about networks, not apps. It simply says that you can't block or prioritize traffic purely based on the identity of the endpoints. That's all. It does not regulate app stores. It does not prohibit QoS. It has nothing to do with Gab, that's several layers up the stack.

It does have something to do with Gab- if net neutrality goes away then Comcast can block their site exactly the same way Apple can refuse to put their app in the App Store.

Well, your hypothetical moron is apparently unable to understand net neutrality at all, even the very simple version that "net neutrality means that the ISP can't block one company. If net neutrality goes away. Then it doesn't matter if Gab gets their site registered - Comcast will be allowed to block it. What you are arguing for is extending net neutrality principles to App Store providers and domain registrars, instead of just ISPs". And yes, the existence of so many idiots on one side of politics is exactly why this is a partisan issue.

The network didn't ban Gab. Proprietary walled garden services banned them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com