Net neutrality repealed!

[Belsnickel]

(12-18-2017, 02:11 PM)Dill Wrote: So far as I can tell, Bfine is framing the issue as if government is, or can in principle, be wholly external to his beloved free market, as if the latter could function just fine without government "interference."

I don't disagree, which is why I say his analogy is somewhat accurate. There are issues with it, but it wasn't as far off as many people were seeming to see it.

(12-18-2017, 02:11 PM)Dill Wrote: If I have correctly understood the critique and defense of net neutrality, the question is whether these ISP providers constitute a club as opposed to a public good. So a claim they are a club good is not a given which can frame the debate for both sides.

Which is a valid discussion, but we must first recognize how we are using the terms. The internet cannot be a true public good in an economic sense. Period. What can happen is that we consider it one for policy and so treat it as we would a public good. I think it is important to use these distinctions when framing the debate because even if we consider something a public good and make it a utility, that doesn't change the club good status economically. Access can still be restricted or cut off.

(12-18-2017, 02:11 PM)Dill Wrote: Right now I don't see any difference between this debate and previous ones which have occurred over common carrier access--like those debates which arose over airlines, railroads, gas pipelines, power plants, radio, television and telephones.  Eventually when technological innovations become necessary elements of economic infrastructure, and the private sector seeks to gouge profit from access, the resulting "market failure" pushes that infrastructure into the realm of public good.

And the profiteers complain about government interference in their "freedom" to gouge.

I definitely do not disagree.

(12-18-2017, 02:11 PM)Dill Wrote: Would you say that I am reading this current debate too much through the lens of past? Access is still a "club good" which has not yet flipped to public? You seem to agree with me in post #64, when you say "The reason I am in favor of the public utility option is because of how reliant we are on the internet today for everything. In the end, this isn't just about entertainment and convenience."

I wouldn't say you're reading it too much through that lens, it's what set the precedent to do what we are talking about. I just think that the net neutrality issue is a separate one from the idea of it being a public utility. If I were someone that was strongly opinionated on such things (stop laughing), the repeal of net neutrality by the FCC would be laying the ground for a stronger argument to be made for it to become a public utility.