If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.? | Hacker News Reader

If net neutrality dies, will innovation and businesses leave the U.S.?

17 pointsmxuribe13 comments

Sorry if the headline sounds like clickbait...but honestly, if (or when) net neutrality dies, does that create some sort of incentive for small businesses (which are based on cheap-ish net availability/access) and start ups to begin looking for a better environment outside the U.S.? If i were to create a start-up from scratch, would I have better luck, say, creating it in Canada or Berlin for example? And, if the killing off of net neutrality does in fact create this sort of negative effect - small businesses leaving the nation in droves - what's the point of start ups if incumbent giants have too strong a hold?? Or, am i just over-reacting?

Curious to hear thoughts - even if to only settle my pessimism.

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Net Neutrality repeal will have a long tail effect. It will cause the economy to slow as people have less disposable income, it will cause the cost of starting new sites to skyrocket as people choose plans that limit their access. It will make paying municipal bills more expensive. Repealing Net Neutrality is in effect a tax increase on American consumers and businesses, no more no less. The only real question is how far it will move the needle and realistically that depends on how expensive Comcast decides to make it. They have a monopoly and they fully intend to exploit it as far as they can, regardless of the detriment to the internet or consumers. Personally I hope they go full evil right off the bat. Were the American consumer in any way shape or form intelligent or in possession of a spine they wouldn't put up with this, but as it is, we're feeling what it was like when Rome started to decline.

Edit: typo

It won't. First of all, I think most are overestimating the effect - as mentioned, many other countries don't have similar legislation.

It might make broadband more expensive, and it might make some Netflix-style bandwidth-heavy startups more difficult to start.

But, the U.S. has almost a monopoly on Venture Capital, a huge concentration of skilled labor in Silicon Valley, a huge internal market, relatively more lenient regulation and many other advantages.

For most startups, those advantages will outweigh any inconveniences or dangers the new playing field brings. I think it's akin to the danger from IP or whatever... if you're fearing that a big telco will try to shake you down, it means the startup is probably doing well (similar to when a startup is threatened with IP litigation).

"First of all, I think most are overestimating the effect - as mentioned, many other countries don't have similar legislation."

Because a USA apple is the same as an EU orange?

That is, do other rules they have make it such that they don't need this rule specifically?

"But, the U.S. has almost a monopoly on Venture Capital, a huge concentration of skilled labor in Silicon Valley, a huge internal market, relatively more lenient regulation and many other advantages."

This relies on your first assertion being true: that little will change.

If bandwidth costs rise dramatically, are folks going to be keen to invest in startups with shortened run-ways?

It's not one startup that's doing well, it's SV culture. It's doing far more than the other sectors of the economy, thus the shake down of the entire network by legacy players (GOP being more heavily funded by elder-statesmen if you will, of Comcast, Koch bros...)

I'm curious if Net Neutrality can be enforced at the State level. That way each state can fight back, and the ones that decide not to will experience enough of a difference that they'll do the same.

I view what's happening with net neutrality as what happened to cable television. When I was growing up, I only had access to local shows and then the number of channels grew steadily. Then fast forward to today and you have all theses different packages that you have to pay for in order to access them. It's just another way for companies to continue making money off us.

I think they see how torrents and online streaming sites threaten their revenue and that the Internet can do to them what it's done to advertising (esp. for media).

I'm curious to see what forms of innovation and technology will come out this to try and bypass this. Maybe nothing. Who knows though.

Internet globe is very connected, you can move your money anywhere you want, net neutrality will just make it more costly to make business in the US, but if we want US-based good-latency-servers then we will still have to pay for local boxen no matter what the laws. I am not in support of artificial bandwidth throttling and consider the internet to be a utility -- the information stream. Regulate, yes, but create a VIP lane ... why on earth. Once regulations get too privatized in the USA it won't make sense to base your telecom out of the USA any longer.

Well, we don't know. It might go wrong in many ways, and it's only up to ISPs to figure out how much pressure they can put on users and business. As a rule of thumb I'd expect business to suffer less, because they're more likely to go in court and win, and thus more dangerous.

Everyone is following the money, as long as the VC money are concentrated in Silicon Valley, no one is leaving...

Yes... but there are plenty of safer homes like Ireland which might suit innovative businesses better.

I think the cable guys just awakened the sleeping giant. By making sure they can tighten the screws on Silicon Valley they have spawned out a multitude of startups that will topple them one day. The cable companies make money by making something scarce. They will milk every penny of their investment and give it back to the investors without much reinvesting it back to create cheaper broadband for the masses. Silicon Valley’s whole business model is based on cheap access to the internet that's why google Facebook etc is investing so much to connect the third world. I believe they were hedging against net neutrality dying someday. I can't imagine after winning the first battle they took a timeout. The investments in the 3rd world internet may ultimately lead to newer cheaper ways to connect the world. Cabel companies clocks started to run out the day they attacked net neutrality. Let's see how they survive in about 10 years’ time.

No, net neutrality will leave (some/many?) other countries as well in some form or another.

No.

There was no Net Neutrality up until 2015.

Net Neutrality still allows ISPs to sell packages giving you access only to specific websites.

I wish it would, but I doubt it.

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