(12-23-2017, 09:10 PM)homebiscuit Wrote:

(12-23-2017, 08:16 PM)DragonFury Wrote: Netflix is just the most prominent of the cases in this debacle but without Net Neutrality the ISPs can directly control every thing you view on the internet, whether you like it or not. For example, Comcast can make a deal with Yahoo to allow their search engine to be accessed without limits while Google is reduced to essentially dial-up speeds. The same can happen for your bank, your preferred source of news or even sites like pornhub. Do you really want to be in a situation where Comcast or Verizon get to dictate the fact that the only acceptable source of news is CNN or MSNBC or the Huffington Post?

That sounds like a bunch of hyperbolized hand wringing. In theory it could happen, but so could a visit by space aliens. In reality an ISP would be digging its own grave if it took such egregious measures. ISPs make their money by delivering what customers want, not by denying them in order to promote some nebulous sociopolitical agenda. The free market will dictate what they provide, not the big mean Koch brothers ruling from some evil dark ISP command center.

Just because it's unlikely doesn't mean it's acceptable. If you could make atomic weapons disappear from the world with the snap of your fingers would you really decline the opportunity just because it seems unlikely that any country would actually use their ability to deploy said weapons? Control of the internet translates into a vast amount of power to whomever has said control, and though the federal government is not the perfect entity to wield this power it is a far better alternative to having the likes of Comcast and Verizon control that power.

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