Ted Cruz Op-Ed Against Net Neutrality | Hacker News Reader

Ted Cruz Op-Ed Against Net Neutrality

washingtonpost.com

15 pointsbigsassy9 comments

Ted Cruz is incredibly smart which makes this entire Op-Ed even more sad. Characterizing sales tax as a new internet tax? Fear mongering about ICANN being under Russian / Chinese / Iranian control? Comparing the USPS (who congress has forbidden to be innovative) to Facebook?

There are reasonable arguments to be made for net neutrality but these aren't them.

What are they?

There really aren't any. The best simply argue that net neutrality wouldn't be necessary in a world where ISPs had to compete against each other to enough of a degree, that they had to promise their customers net neutrality.

I inadvertently said there were good arguments 'for' net neutrality, but I meant there were good arguments 'against' it. I think the arguments for clearly outweigh the arguments against but smart people have their reservations.

They're usually centered on the ability of the government to enforce neutrality and whether companies would have the incentive to continue to upgrade their infrastructure. Another decent argument is that some files and services deserve higher priority (live medical data, critical VOIP, etc.) which would be illegal under NN. I think more broadly, NN is market distorting by design and will lead to many unintended consequences.

Andreessen - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/05/21...

Progressive Policy Institute - http://www.progressivepolicy.org/issues/economy/regulating-o...

Some good answers on Quora - http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-strongest-arguments-agains...

Thank you.

"Ted Cruz is incredibly smart"

Really?

Yes. Without reservation.

His politics are ugly and cynical but he graduated Cum Laude from Princeton, Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law, he clerked for Chief Justice Rehnquist, his legal aptitude was a big reason for Bush's success in Bush v. Gore (he also recruited John Roberts to the cause), and he's successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court many times.

There's no question whatsoever about his intelligence. If only he wasn't a christian dominionist.. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morgan-guyton/the-theology-of-...]

Seems like the "Obamacare for the internet" line went over well with the right-wing focus groups. Wonder if Twitter and Facebook would like to make a response to this since they were overtly praised in the article.

wow. that is not the Onion.

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