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Comment · 9 years ago
Comment · 9 years ago
1. Even if it prevents some of the worst abuses by incumbents, net neutrality regulation isn't going to create more competition.
In fact, if net neutrality regulation creates additional compliance costs it might actually reduce competition by increasing the barriers to entry for new ISPs.
2. I think most people would agree that the Internet should generally remain a level playing field for all businesses.
However, it's not clear that net neutrality regulation is necessary to maintain such a level playing field. It wasn't necessary in the past. Moreover, there is potential for consumer benefit associated with some kinds of content discrimination, which net neutrality regulation might unjustly prohibit.
The reality is that if the US broadband industry was competitive we wouldn't be having this argument. We should fix that first, then see if we still need net neutrality regulation.
Comment · 9 years ago
I think it makes sense because retail ISPs operate in a two-sided market. Comcast provides access to Internet services, which customers want and are willing to pay for. Similarly, Comcast provides access to customers, which the Internet companies who provide those services (and associated CDNs and transit providers) want and are willing to pay for.
I don't think there's anything especially wrong with this business model. It's similar to how a newspaper charges both readers and advertisers for access. The disadvantage is that you have to keep both parties happy.
Incidentally, if customers uploaded the same amount of data as the Internet services, Comcast wouldn't get transit fees but it would get additional revenue from the customers, so I think things would balance out.
Comment · 9 years ago
I've posted this comment before in another thread:
I oppose net neutrality regulation. In principle, I don't think there's anything wrong with an ISP prioritizing certain kinds of traffic over others, so long as it does not have an anti-competitive effect.
For example, I don't see how Netflix paying Comcast to zero-rate Netflix traffic is fundamentally different from Amazon contracting with mail carriers to subsidize the cost of shipping for Amazon purchases, or even -- to use an example another commenter made -- an appliance manufacturer contracting with electrical utilities to subsidize the cost of electricity used by their appliances. So long as Comcast makes its zero-rating program available to all content providers -- including their own -- on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, I don't think there are any competition issues.
I've heard people argue that zero-rating makes it harder for smaller content providers to compete, since they won't have the resources to subsidize their customers' traffic. As I said in another comment, that's just the nature of business. Being big affords you certain advantages, like economies of scale. This makes it easier to compete on price. Smaller companies have to compete in other ways.
In my view, the real problem with the telecom industry in the United States is a lack of competition [0], a problem caused at least in part by municipal [1] and state [2] governments. With more competition, net neutrality would be a non-issue. Consumers would just stop using ISPs that unfairly discriminate between traffic.
[0] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/410353/net-neutrality-...
[1] https://www.wired.com/2013/07/we-need-to-stop-focusing-on-ju...
[2] http://broadbandnow.com/report/municipal-broadband-roadblock...
Comment · 9 years ago
Per CDC (2014), the marriage rate in the United States is 6.9/1000 people while the divorce rate is 3.2/1000 people. [1] I'd say that's very high.
Comment · 9 years ago
The answer is probably no.
Requiring a person to unlock a device is not prohibited by the Fifth Amendment simply because the device contains incriminating information that would otherwise be inaccessible to police.
If the police have a valid warrant to search your safe, you are generally required to unlock it for them, even if the safe contains evidence that incriminates you. If you are issued a valid subpoena to produce certain documents in your possession, you are generally required to produce those documents, even if they incriminate you. Compelled decryption of hard drives is fundamentally no different.
It is true that the act of unlocking the safe or producing those documents is itself testimonial in the sense that you are conveying the fact that you know the combination or possess those documents. But under the "foregone conclusion" doctrine, if the state already knows that implicit testimony, then it is not protected by the Fifth Amendment. It's obvious that Rawls knows the password to the drives.
There are legitimate concerns about how search warrants should apply to electronic devices. However, these are Fourth Amendment issues, not Fifth Amendment ones.
If you're interested, Orin Kerr from the Volokh Conspiracy has written several articles about compelled decryption, including with respect to this particular case [1, 2, 3].
1: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201...
2: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201...
3: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201...
Comment · 9 years ago
I think it's more likely that there's a history here that we're not aware of. His complaint suggests he's been arguing with Google's management for some time, and that this memo was the last straw.
Comment · 9 years ago
That's why the parent said "legally in the US", not "at the border".
Comment · 9 years ago
Or even:
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Sure, but that indicates a need for competition, not net neutrality. As I said in another comment, even if it prevents some of the worst abuses by incumbents, net neutrality regulation isn't going to create more competition.
> This analogy breaks down immediately, because Comcast is already getting Netflix traffic for free. There is no toll that needs to be subsidized, no charge that needs to be zero rated. Comcast is just blackmailing Netflix for protection money.
I don't think you understand the example. Mail carriers also get packages from Amazon for "free" in that sense. They don't pay Amazon for the right to deliver Amazon's mail.
It occurs to me that there is a difference in that the recipients of packages do not need to pay to receive them, whereas Internet users pay for access. There's no reason why mail services couldn't work that way in theory, though.
> You do realize that this effectively sets up Comcast as the gatekeeper to the Internet? Do you really want Comcast to be able to decide what's on your Interwebz?
If the market was sufficiently competitive, then Comcast wouldn't be the gatekeeper. If Comcast behaved badly, people would switch to a different provider.
Not every instance of possible bad behaviour needs to be regulated.
> That's even before we get into the fact that requiring to contract with Comcast before you can offer any online service is a barrier to entry and a competitive barrier.
We're talking about zero-rating, not "requiring to contract with Comcast before you can offer any online service". Those are completely different things.
> So that's your solution? Screw the small guys?
My solution is to increase competition, actually. My point is that we don't penalize big companies for being successful by taking away the benefits of being big, such as economies of scale. The "small guys" have to compete as well and shouldn't rely on the state to reduce consumer benefit in order to make it easier for them to increase their market share.
> Even if we start now, there won't be another option for years.
That's not necessarily true. For example, the FCC could do what Canada does and require ISPs to sell Internet access at fixed wholesale rates to resellers. Competition will spring up overnight.
There are many other approaches as well, such as blocking municipalities from entering into monopoly franchise agreements with ISPs, ensuring equal access to rights of way, and supporting municipal broadband.