Say goodbye to your internet

[skinnay 0]

Next month it looks like the FCC will repeal net neutrality rules. ISPs will then be able to block and slow down access to websites as they please. They will also be free to collect and sell things like your browsing history and web traffic. If you think the state of privacy is bad now, just wait until your entire online history is traded on big data exchanges.

There is absolutely no benefit to the consumer, or anyone besides the telecoms which have paid congress to repeal neutrality rules.

This is one of the most egregious sell outs of citizens and businesses to lobbyists. This has the potential to screw your life up, cripple american technology, and create a business landscape so hostile that we push new businesses out of the country.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/11/20/what-to-know-about-the-fccs-upcoming-plan-to-undo-its-net-neutrality-rules/

[yoink 321]

Yup. This is really bad news.

On a Time Warner connection and DZ.com haven't paid their monthly extortion fee (sorry 'maintenance') to that particular ISP? Well then this site is going to run like shite for you...

Political parties during elections paying ISPs to reduce traffic to competitors websites or search results? That's going to be a thing.

As a society we're still catching up with the evolution of digital information. Privacy, research into the 'truth' of information and anonymous responsibility will all be part of my child's upbringing - stuff I never had to worry about.

It's a little weird for me, because as a nation the US has the biggest hard-on for 'FREEDOM' in the world but this is the antithesis of that for information.

Most people just don't give a shit because they don't understand this emerging digital society.

[kallend 2,027]

We have the BEST government money can buy.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[RMK 3]

yoink

as a nation the US has the biggest hard-on for 'FREEDOM' in the world

On my visits to the US, I'm not "feeling" the freedom - seems to just be a talking point.

I now find in quite oppressive in many regards.

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

[mistercwood 287]

I genuinely never thought this would happen - the damage potential is ridiculously obvious, not to mention that the whole thing is exactly the *opposite* of what free-market believers advocate for.

Also how does this even work/impact on a global scale?

You are playing chicken with a planet - you can't dodge and planets don't blink. Act accordingly.

[skinnay 0]

mistercwood

Also how does this even work/impact on a global scale?

There's unfortunately no way to know for sure since we don't know what telecoms will do, but we do know that we are now placing 100% trust in them to maintain the integrity of US infrastructure.

Some of my biggest fears are that Amazon's us-east and us-west house a major piece of all online platforms. They are seen to be the gold standard of integrity and availability on the internet. If neighboring backbone providers install "toll roads" (which was why so many millions were spent to lobby the GOP), I imagine there will be a major relocation to Europe and Sao paolo zones. I'm not an economist, but I believe a downsizing of aws-us would scare the absolute shit out of institutional investors.

It's so scary because a loss of confidence will have a major ripple effect. We will never know if providers will start blocking traffic to xyz. We will never know if a new political issue will influence traffic slow downs and censorship. There's really no way know what to expect - and that alone will have a major impact on tech investments.

At the end of the day this is a major risk that every tech business must deal with. In my business we're investing to expand in Europe and India where there's less risk. I think there are going to be a lot of US tech businesses looking to fill niches in emerging markets. Modern tech is like water, it will flow in direction of least resistance. When telecoms build damns and restrictive streams, the water will flow out.

It's truly sad what is happening to this country.

[normiss 803]

I find it interesting to see how many people didn't realize how many and how long tolls roads have already existed.
A dual homed, redundant, failover protected, 100Gb connection, routed and protected path ain't cheap. More so if you want your traffic prioritized over the other traffic. QoS markings, support, equipment, routnig protocols, and speeds are costly add-ons.
Damns, restrictive streams, geographic challenge of hardware paths, and traffic backhauls are part of the reality of the business.
I can't even begin to discuss the varying differences in cell phone company network connections, speeds, redundancy, or paths. But it's damn funny to see the public understanding of that.

The change is in the data collected and how it's used that worries me.
We've long had different prices and support structures of varying types of network connections.

[DanG 1]

Of course we've had different prices for different connections. What we haven't had is different prices for different content.

- Dan G