Wednesday of you have not notice ( and peas should not bother), is Internet slowdown day. A day for websites to act like a bunch crying two years old.
I find the argument for net neutrality chock full of hype, lies, logical fallacies, and bluntly, without merit. What I hear most logical fallacies of the slippery slope, it will break the free internet, is without verifiable poof, by activist do not have any technical knowledge on packet technology and how networks work . I bet without looking they can’t even tell me the first layer of the OSI model. I have worked the industry and I talking beyond just an IP address but network equipment.
Net Neutrality is a solution looking for a problem. Packet data has always been prioritized, a email pack doesn’t need the priority as a video packet. The way packet technology works like Highway 217. The highway gets its feed from interchanges (on ramps and off ramps) major arterial streets and carry a wide range of traffic. Same a network backbone. Now highway and the network can only handle so much traffic. There a point where demand exceeds capability we get a jam like southbound 217 form Walker to Denny.
A lot of the net slowdown is traffic demands exceed capability. Now Netflix is acting like a spoiled brat. There want push more traffic (more 180 and 4K HD) so backbone providers did the numbers and said sure but we have build more capacity but it Netflix casing the problem net Netflix will have pay more. Netflix balks and went to the FCC, The FCC exceeded authority, and now Netflix is having a temper tantrum that affects us all. Netflix need to put on the big boy pants, it is like me having a fit because subway will not sell me a 12 inch sub for the price of a 6 inch sub.
Of course with these activist want is to regulate or should I say nationalize the Internet as an utility with price controls. The problem is the history of such regulations; regulations impedes innovation and investment. A good example is the French Minitel Videotext system. While state of the art in the 1970 and early 1980’s it was eclipsed by the internet, Minitel had hindered internet innovation in France.
“Internet service spread much more slowly in France than it did elsewhere in Europe or in the United States, largely because of the popularity of the Minitel, historians say. Only around the turn of the century did the Internet come to much of this soggy western region, an expanse of green that bulges out into the Atlantic Ocean.”( 1.)
The said can be said of government regulated Internet, instead of an innovated fast system Netflix would find itself in a slow but equalized bureaucratic net.
A comment I posted to Forbs :
I like the idea of definition of economics : The allocation of scare resources that have attentive uses. The broadband back bone fits this description. These also something you missed in your description: as demand exceed resources, speed tends to slow down. As highway traffic increases the more likelihood of a traffic jam. I suspect a lot of slowdowns are not because ISP are blocking content. It is not in their best interest when customers will find a different service or do without. The problem with net neutrality is like saying to be fair, ban HOV lanes; therefore, everybody including Netflix can sit in the same traffic jam.
Much of the argument I see is a lot of logical fallacies. Nobody is braking the internet, and the net does not give you the right to other people property. Netflix is acting childish and irrational; l they think the solution is build more capacity but the providers should foot the bill. It is like saying, if I am extra hungry, McDonalds has to sell me a extra large fries for the price of a small fires.
My response to Internet freedom day: the net doesn’t give you right to my network.
You’re Banned from my net
If you post a counter argument I will t ban because this net is private property.
