F.C.C. Considering Hybrid Regulatory Approach to Net Neutrality | Hacker News Reader

F.C.C. Considering Hybrid Regulatory Approach to Net Neutrality

nytimes.com

It's striking that Comcast so thoroughly dominates the US Government that the FCC has to approach 'solutions' from the position that they have to route around Comcast.

Hybrid systems always lead to a worst of both worlds outcome. Such systems are always designed not with excellence in mind, but with placation in mind. Someone with influence threw a tantrum at the proper solution, so the hybrid was introduced as a way to pacify them.

This is not how you lead the world in Internet connectivity and deploy universal gigabit+ broadband with no tax on Internet services (ie what we should be aiming for).

To say nothing of its merit, it looks like they're going to rely on the justification that reversing past deregulation policy would create a situation where their own past arguments would be used against them in court when the ISPs inevitably challenge their decision.

I'm thinking the ISPs will probably challenge it anyway. The impression I'm getting is a lot of them wanted nothing to do with Title II.

Except when it benefits them: https://www.techdirt.com/blog/netneutrality/articles/2014103...

"We've wised up on our earlier judgement. We were wrong when we stated these things because of foo, bar, baz, bat, bam, bla" ... that sounds like a good answer to any "You had other arguments in the past!!!" attack?

"Hybrid systems always lead to a worst of both worlds outcome."

Not necessarily in engineering, but in politics generally that's true.

We have a hybrid healthcare system for example. It combines all the worst things about private for-profit healthcare with all the worst things about socialized medicine.

Don't sell it short. The US healthcare system also has many special flaws all its own. For example, I don't think either a fully for-profit or a fully socialized system would get taken for a ride on pharmaceutical and vendor costs the way we do.

Awful. Instead of throttling Netflix at the backbone level, they'll do it in the local loop.

A single, neutral regime is the only viable one that doesn't mess things up.

The trick is how to NOT turn title II into a highly regulated service like the POTS loop, but into one the encourages competition within the bounds of traffic neutrality.

"or to be vulnerable to criticism"

Let's not do this insanely important thing that may define the next hundred years of access to information because someone might say mean things about us??

"The retail portion...which allows the consumer to access any legal content on the Internet.."

"legal content"

The real motivation lies in that sentence.

“any use of Title II would be problematic.”

For you, not for us.

Nothing like installing the thin edge of the wedge from the start.

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