Net Neutrality Further Threatened

[destrekor]

You do realize that the existing way in which the Internet exists in the US is a direct result of government-passed regulations, right?

Yes...

The entire post wasn't about the internet as it is, was, could have been, could be, etc.
Some of it was, some of it was general discussion about the post I directly quoted.

I am fully aware of what the internet used to be, how it came to be, how it has been shaped into what it is, and in general, how we got to where we are today with regards to the internet and, in general, media service providers.


Since we're on that subject:

Much more regulation is absolutely necessary at this point, considering the internet is not at all what it once was, in relation to what it represented and what it meant to the public, both then and now.

The entire concept of the cable provider and the ISP in general needs to be drastically overhauled. It has truly become a far more essential part of developed civilization, and as schools continue to embrace it, the internet, at least, needs to be readily available for cheap, and it needs to be treated as a common utility, the providers as common carriers. That approach cemented the phone network as standard in the U.S., and is exactly what the internet is becoming and is destined to replace - it's time the government acknowledge that.
I'm not saying it's an easy over-night fix - much will have to be done in order to preserve fair access and the balance that exists with peering agreements and CDNs - but aside from the frugal aspect, there is also not that much that actually happens, negatively, when upstream or downstream is higher than the other between IXPs, so long as the media has the bandwidth to accommodate that.

 

[13Gigatons]

The last mile should be owned and maintain by a non-profit. Then there should be 10-20 different competitors to choose from.

This is how it works in other countries.