Meet the Department of the Internet! We'll be handling the Internet you love, but at the speed of government.
https://t.co/xDIjKdpete
— Dept. Of Internet (@Dept_Internet) February 23, 2015
On one level, I’m posting these videos purely for the enjoyment of Doug and others who think the government exists to screw things up.
On another…
Well, I’ve never really gotten into this net neutrality debate because a) honestly, I’ve never read enough about it to confidently say I fully understand it, and b) I can’t tell from what little I know which side is right, so I don’t really have a position on it.
But wow — these heavy-handed “government is stupid and malicious” videos are telling me maybe I’d better get hip to this issue. These videos are entertaining, until you realize they’re not really kidding. These folks want you to think that net neutrality is a menace.
That makes me think maybe the other side has a point, and that maybe somebody needs to stand up for it.
But I still don’t know enough to say for sure…
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Yeah, why should we be concerned? Look at how the Obamacare rollout was managed.
I’d like to start with the assumption that the government should not have any say in how the internet is run. All that ends up happening is either regulations that stifle progress, taxes applied to services to pay for other stuff, and sweetheart deals for those with the best lobbyists that help to protect monopolies.
Much like the way Obamacare SHOULD have been done, the government’s involvement in the internet should be to clearly define rules that allow the free market to work unimpeded.
And from what little I’ve followed about this issue, the two sides seem to have competing ideas of how to accomplish that…
That actor playing the smarmy government official seems familiar, but I’m having trouble placing him.
Could he be the guy who played Keynes in this video that I had so much trouble getting any of y’all to watch?
Start-up companies wanting to sell their products onlilne would have an extremely difficult time of making a go of it… so the free market won’t be so free anymore if net neutrality isn’t passed
Here are some articles on the subject
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/02/09/net-neutrality-broadband-fcc-isp-editorials-debates/23146749/
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/on-net-nuetrality-internet-freedom/
http://pbrnews.com/net-neutrality-fight-internet-freedom/
Thanks, Peggy.
You’re welcome! 🙂
The administration wants to regulate ISPs (Verizon, Comcast, TimeWarner) as public utilities, which would prevent those providers from choking off the bandwidth of smaller Internet sites and giving preference to larger companies. If I am looking for a particular used book, Time Warner could make it easy to buy from Amazon, but might make it nearly impossible to buy from someplace like Ed’s Editions in West Columbia.
Net neutrality is the idea that all data traveling on the Internet should be treated equally, and that ISPs should not be allowed to decide what data they want to allow or restrict. The videos you posted are actually arguing AGAINST net neutrality–allowing ISPs to charge more depending on what the content is.
So you’re saying this magic machine has been giving you friends and free stuff for 20 years? Government to the rescue!