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defrogEver since the WSJ reported that the FCC is planning to propose new rules regarding net neutrality, my Facebook stream has been filled with memes and petitions like this:
Every time I see one of these, I want to punch a hole in my desk. And not because I’m angry at the FCC. It’s because I’m tired of all the stupid paranoid hysteria over this.
Fight For The Future and other activists are demanding that I be freaked out over the FCC’s current plan to destroy net neutrality and make the internet the intellectual property of Comcast. The reason I'm not freaking out about it is because the FCC isn’t actually proposing that, as far as I know.
In fact, I haven't even seen the actual FCC rules being proposed. No one has. That’s because they haven't actually been published yet.
Which means people are "freaking out" over something they haven’t even read but heard about via some unnamed sources quoted by the WSJ – sources that also don't seem to understand the difference between charging for dedicated priority bandwidth and deliberately throttling or shutting down competitors. They definitely don’t understand how the economics of bandwidth delivery work.
Look. I understand the concept and attraction of net neutrality. It’s a valid issue that deserves reasoned debate. But apparently no one wants reasoned debate. It’s 2014, after all – why have reasoned debate when you can generate more clicks with knee-jerk hysteria?
Thanks to these shrill, stupid and uninformed memes and online petitions, it’s practically impossible to have a reasonable debate about net neutrality anymore. Or about anything, really. Everyone wants their own way or nothing, and anything less is a jackboot stamping on yr face.
I’d recommend reading this article for some perspective, but it won’t really make any difference, will it?
Chaotic neutral,
This is dF
Every time I see one of these, I want to punch a hole in my desk. And not because I’m angry at the FCC. It’s because I’m tired of all the stupid paranoid hysteria over this.
Fight For The Future and other activists are demanding that I be freaked out over the FCC’s current plan to destroy net neutrality and make the internet the intellectual property of Comcast. The reason I'm not freaking out about it is because the FCC isn’t actually proposing that, as far as I know.
In fact, I haven't even seen the actual FCC rules being proposed. No one has. That’s because they haven't actually been published yet.
Which means people are "freaking out" over something they haven’t even read but heard about via some unnamed sources quoted by the WSJ – sources that also don't seem to understand the difference between charging for dedicated priority bandwidth and deliberately throttling or shutting down competitors. They definitely don’t understand how the economics of bandwidth delivery work.
Look. I understand the concept and attraction of net neutrality. It’s a valid issue that deserves reasoned debate. But apparently no one wants reasoned debate. It’s 2014, after all – why have reasoned debate when you can generate more clicks with knee-jerk hysteria?
Thanks to these shrill, stupid and uninformed memes and online petitions, it’s practically impossible to have a reasonable debate about net neutrality anymore. Or about anything, really. Everyone wants their own way or nothing, and anything less is a jackboot stamping on yr face.
I’d recommend reading this article for some perspective, but it won’t really make any difference, will it?
Chaotic neutral,
This is dF
