Why are Republicans against Net Neutrality?

[gigantalor]

Enough with the "they're against it because Obama's for it" BS

As if Hillary Clinton would be getting the full support of the GOP if she won the election.

 

[Lee978]

For a party that is supposed to be about liberty and freedom, why are they always so opposed to what they supposedly support?

This statement encapsulates the ignorance the left is pettling on this issue. They don't even realize that what they are arguing so vehemently for actually equates to more government intervention (not realizing the FTC already regulates ISPs). What's worse is the fact that they don't even understand the history behind this issue. Some of them (like Senzo here) will tell you that we need net neutrality because the internet has never been regulated. Others will tell you that we need net neutrality because the internet has always been regulated (up until recently).

They also like to push this myth that ISPs hold monopolies and therefore we need to treat them as public utilities. If they aren't reclassified as public utilities, we are told that ISPs will simply offer degraded connections where they will also discriminate based on who offers them the most money. Do they offer up any evidence to support these unsubstantiated claims? No they don't. Why? Because they don't exist.

Here are some facts by way of the FCC:

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db1224/DOC-324884A1.pdf

The first graph illustrates how the number, variety, and speed of the internet has increased significantly over the 4 years covered. The second graph illustrates how over 80% of American households have at least 2 ISPs who offer over 10mbps downstream speeds. The second graph also shows how 96% of American households have at least 2 ISPs who offer over 6mbps downstream speeds which until recently, was also above what the FCC defined as "high speed broadband." Conveniently for the FCC, they just changed their definition up to 25mbps to try and make their monopoly argument more compelling.

Still, if monopoly conditions actually existed as the left would like us to believe, then none of the above would be happening. In fact the opposite would be prevailing. We would be seeing less internet for the same prices and less people would be connected. Instead, for the past 20 years or so, the internet has been largely unregulated and none of the nightmare scenarios the left religiously believes will occur have happened. It seems as though the FTC has actually done a good job at enforcing the law and not allowing "unfair or deceptive" business practices. But that's not enough for the left. They want more government intervention, apparently they just don't know it.

Go figure

 

[Lee978]

Btw, this is not to say that there aren't any problems with the industry currently. I don't know anyone who likes their ISP, their customer service probably sucks, and we could definitely use more competition. However, providing bad customer service doesn't justify reclassifying an entire industry as public utilities especially when the evidence clearly shows that internet speeds have increased year over year. I know the FCC claims they will practice "a light touch" or w/e but who is to say that 4 years down the road the current FCC doesn't want to implement price controls? If this new ruling holds, it will definitely be within their power to do so and that is what is so scary about this whole thing. Instituting price controls will completely obliterate the internet as we know it.

 

[Hog-train]

Btw, this is not to say that there aren't any problems with the industry currently. I don't know anyone who likes their ISP, their customer service probably sucks, and we could definitely use more competition. However, providing bad customer service doesn't justify reclassifying an entire industry as public utilities especially when the evidence clearly shows that internet speeds have increased year over year. I know the FCC claims they will practice "a light touch" or w/e but who is to say that 4 years down the road the current FCC doesn't want to implement price controls? If this new ruling holds, it will definitely be within their power to do so and that is what is so scary about this whole thing. Instituting price controls will completely obliterate the internet as we know it.

Yet price controls work perfectly fine in South Korea, whicc has the fastest internet in the world and at much cheaper prices.

 

[Lee978]

Yet price controls work perfectly fine in South Korea, whicc has the fastest internet in the world and at much cheaper prices.

Every week portions of the Korean web are taken down by government censors. Last year about 23,000 Korean webpages were deleted, and another 63,000 blocked, at the request of the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), a nominally independent (but mainly government-appointed) public body. In 2009 the KCSC had made just 4,500 requests for deletion. Its filtering chiefly targets pornography, prostitution and gambling, all of which are illegal in South Korea. But more wholesome pursuits are also restricted: online gaming is banned between midnight and 6am for under-16s (users must input their government-issued ID numbers to prove their age). Sites from North Korea, including its state newspaper, news agency and Twitter feed, are blocked, as are those of North Korea's sympathisers. A law dating back to the Korean war forbids South Korean maps from being taken out of the country. Because North and South are technically still at war, the law has been expanded to include electronic mapping data

 

[Cirris]

Hell yes!!

FCC overrules state laws to help cities build out municipal broadband.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/26/8114205/fcc-decision-municipal-broadband-internet

That's good, It was damn shameful that Big Cable bought the North Carolina law that stopped municipalities from building their own fibre network..

As for Republicans being against Net Neutrality. I'm not surprised. They seem to be on the wrong side of every issue these days. It makes it hard to even take them seriously. I'm not a big fan of Democrats so it's annoying when the "opposition party" can't get their shit together and be true competition to keep them in line.

I'm not a Republican. I have no party affiliation. I did register for a party once. It was when I was 18 and dumb.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

The republicans are doing what they do best. Trying to sell anything off they can to corporate oligarchs.

Everythjng about out internet service and broadband is in the toilet compared to other industrialized nations.

We pay the most and get the least value.

This has neo con written all over it.

 

[djacobox372]

They also like to push this myth that ISPs hold monopolies and therefore we need to treat them as public utilities. If they aren't reclassified as public utilities, we are told that ISPs will simply offer degraded connections where they will also discriminate based on who offers them the most money. Do they offer up any evidence to support these unsubstantiated claims? No they don't. Why? Because they don't exist.

I only have one broadband option, comcast, and I live in the middle of the biggest city in my state. That's a monopoly--plain and simple. If I don't use comcast I don't have broadband.

No evidence of degrading connections exists? LOL, you need to read current events more.

Throttling streaming sites has been proven over and over again, look it up. Here are two articles implicating verizon and comcast in throttling content.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/186576-verizon-caught-throttling-netflix-traffic-even-after-its-pays-for-more-bandwidth

http://consumerist.com/2014/02/23/netflix-agrees-to-pay-comcast-to-end-slowdown/

 

[Lee978]

I only have one broadband option, comcast, and I live in the middle of the biggest city in my state. That's a monopoly--plain and simple. If I don't use comcast I don't have broadband.

Mind sharing what city you live in? It's kind of hard to take your word for it when FCC data shows that 96% of American households are covered by 2 or more ISPs when it comes to broadband speeds.

No evidence of degrading connections exists? LOL, you need to read current events more.

Throttling streaming sites has been proven over and over again, look it up. Here are two articles implicating verizon and comcast in throttling content.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/186576-verizon-caught-throttling-netflix-traffic-even-after-its-pays-for-more-bandwidth

http://consumerist.com/2014/02/23/netflix-agrees-to-pay-comcast-to-end-slowdown/

I should of been more clear. There is no evidence that degradation actually occurs on a wide scale (according to NN proponents that is what will happen if ISPs aren't reclassified as public utilities). That beings said, you really should re-read those articles you linked to. The consumerist article you linked to explicitly states that throttling wasn't the issue but instead the issue between Netflix and Comcast/Verizon had to do with "peering ports."

Much like Netflix’s ongoing standoff with Verizon FiOS, the drop in speeds wasn’t an issue of the ISP throttling or blocking service to Netflix. Rather, the ISPs were allowing for Netflix traffic to bottleneck at what’s known as “peering ports,” the connection between Netflix’s bandwidth provider and the ISPs.

As to the other article you linked to; the claims Verizon were making against Netflix turned out to actually be true. It wasn't the case the Comcast or Verizon were degrading Netflix's connection to consumers because both ISPs wanted Netflix to pay up. It turns out Netflix intentionally routed their content through congested pipes to push their own agenda.

New research from computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis shows that, as its traffic increased in the last two years, Netflix forced it through clogged delivery routes, when less congested channels were available.

The scientists concluded the data “strongly suggest that the correct response to growing congestion” was for Netflix to use different connections for its traffic, not for Comcast to add capacity. This corroborates Comcast’s argument that “Netflix has not been honest.”

Evidence also suggests that, at the same time Netflix allowed congestion to increase until it affected performance, Netflix published misleading data casting the blame on Comcast.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2014/10/07/netflix-net-neutrality/16824437/

 

[CableandThanos]

LOL lee came in and wrecked everybodys shit and all you hear now is crickets.

Hogtrain got all hot and bothered and then when presented with facts- bailed-lol

 

[Hog-train]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-3

Hey but at least they have the fastest internet in the world.

You're conflating two completely separate issues.

Your article talks about CENSORSHIP of media. That has zero to do with the quality and speed of their internet. Nice try though.

The price and speed of Korean internet is far superior to that of the US.

 

[CableandThanos]

You're conflating two completely separate issues.

Your article talks about CENSORSHIP of media. That has zero to do with the quality and speed of their internet. Nice try though.

The price and speed of Korean internet is far superior to that of the US.

LOL what a joke.

Kind of easy to give your people fast internet when half of the country lives in one fuckin city. half of S Korean people live in or right near Seoul.

I'm sure the government and or business could do the same for us if half the fucking population lived in New York.

OHH and by the way, their freggin tap water just became ok to drink in the last couple years. Great that they have fast internet but couldn't drink the damn tap water.


Mommy I'm thirsty, go play on the internet son, LOL-

 

[7437]

LOL what a joke.

Kind of easy to give your people fast internet when half of the country lives in one fuckin city. half of S Korean people live in or right near Seoul.

I'm sure the government and or business could do the same for us if half the fucking population lived in New York.

OHH and by the way, their freggin tap water just became ok to drink in the last couple years. Great that they have fast internet but couldn't drink the damn tap water.


Mommy I'm thirsty, go play on the internet son, LOL-

You sound mad

 

[CableandThanos]

You sound mad

NO I just hate when a person comes in and picks one thing from a country that they might do better and or faster than the US and try to say we are sorry or unacceptable because of it. Especially without even looking into why that might be?

So a country poured a shit ton of money into ONE thing and is helped out by its population basically all living in one city.

S. Korea couldn't even give their people decent tap water to drink until recently, but low and behold they can get their porn faster than us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Thanos]

The same reason republicans are against the following, because they are ignorant and downright stupid:

Equal pay for women
Accepting climate change
Gun control
Against women's right to choose
Immigration issues
Legalizing marijuana
Invading countries to bolster the military industrial complex
Keep punishing Cuba
Blindly supporting Israel at all costs
Against gay rights
Wage ongoing war against unions
Keeping prostitution illegal (but once filmed its ok)

Do I need to go on?

vomit

 

[Hog-train]

LOL what a joke.

Kind of easy to give your people fast internet when half of the country lives in one fuckin city. half of S Korean people live in or right near Seoul.

I'm sure the government and or business could do the same for us if half the fucking population lived in New York.

OHH and by the way, their freggin tap water just became ok to drink in the last couple years. Great that they have fast internet but couldn't drink the damn tap water.


Mommy I'm thirsty, go play on the internet son, LOL-

Yet I live in NYC and I only have one choice of internet- Time Warner.

And BTW, I am Korean-American who has visited Seoul and other cities. Their internet is far superior.

So basically you have no idea WTF you're talking about.

Korea has better internet for one specific reason. The government heavily subsidized and planned the internet infrastructure. They required the companies laying down the cable lines to lease them to COMPETING companies. COMPETITION = BETTER PRICES AND SERVICES for customers. It's called last mile unbundling- something the FCC will not do due to political pressure.

You're a mouth breathing moron who is defending Comcast, Time Warmner, etc. The worst companies in America- LOL what a tool.

 

[Donny White]

I'm surprised it isn't illegal to be a card carrying Republican in the U.S.

It should be.

Of all the ones I've met (100s) they seem like some of the most vile people ever. Nazis.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Responses in yellow . . .

Your responses are either telling him he's right or not understanding what he's saying.

 

[Lee978]

You're conflating two completely separate issues.

Your article talks about CENSORSHIP of media. That has zero to do with the quality and speed of their internet. Nice try though.

The price and speed of Korean internet is far superior to that of the US.

Are you being serious right now? My post doesn't conflate anything. I acknowledged that S. Korea has by far the fastest internet speeds hence the "at least they have the fastest internet" statement. I also acknowledged the fact that S. Korea censors their internet which goes against the very principles of net neutrality which you supposively stand for but I guess that's just lip service.

It's really amazing to me that the most outspoken liberals don't even understand what net neutrality is and are willing to tout countries who censor a lot of their media content on the web when that goes directly against NN principles lol.

 

[Lee978]

Yet I live in NYC and I only have one choice of internet- Time Warner.

As the most populous city in the United States, residents of New York City have a myriad of options for broadband Internet access. Time Warner Cable, Verizon FIOS and RCN are among the residential providers, while many of the city's parks feature free AT&T Wi-Fi.

http://www.speedtest.net/local/new-york-ny

Rofl, a quick google search shows your full of shit.