Richard Bennett, NANOG posting, and Integrity

Tue Aug 5 10:22:27 UTC 2014

On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 4:52 AM, Matt Palmer <mpalmer at hezmatt.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 08:16:36AM +0530, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:
>>  On 28-Jul-2014 8:06 am, "Matt Palmer" <mpalmer at hezmatt.org> wrote:
>> > On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 05:28:08PM -0700, Richard Bennett wrote:
>> > > It's more plausible that NAACP and LULAC have correctly deduced that
>> > > net neutrality is a de facto subsidy program that transfers money
>> > > from the pockets of the poor and disadvantaged into the pockets of
>> > > super-heavy Internet users and some of the richest and most
>> > > profitable companies in America, the content resellers, on-line
>> > > retailers, and advertising networks.
>> >
>> > I've got to say, this is the first time I've heard Verizon and Comcast
>> > described as "poor and disadvantaged".
>> >
>> > > Recall what happened to entry-level broadband plans in Chile when
>> > > that nation's net neutrality law was just applied: the ISPs who
>> > > provided free broadband starter plans that allowed access to
>> > > Facebook and Wikipedia were required to charge the poor:
>> >
>> > [...]
>> >
>> > > Internet Freedom? Not so much.
>> >
>> > I totally agree.  You can't have Internet Freedom when some of the
>> > richest and most profitable companies in America, the content resellers,
>> > on-line retailers, and advertising networks, are paying to have eyeballs
>> > locked into their services.  Far better that users be given an
>> > opportunity to browse the Internet free of restriction, by providing
>> > reasonable cost services through robust and healthy competition.
>> >
>> > Or is that perhaps not what you meant?
>>
>> I think he meant the actual poor people that broadband subsidies and free
>> walled garden internet to access only fb and Wikipedia are supposed to
>> benefit, but I could be wrong
>
> I've got a whopping great big privilege that's possibly obscuring my view,
> but I fail to see how only providing access to Facebook and Wikipedia is (a)
> actual *Internet* access, or (b) actually beneficial, in the long run, to
> anyone other than Facebook and Wikipedia.  I suppose it could benefit the
> (no doubt incumbent) telco which is providing the service, since it makes it
> much more difficult for competition to flourish.  I can't see any lasting
> benefit to the end user (or should I say "product"?).

FYI it's Bharti-Airtel, not an incumbent, but a multinational GSM operator.

>
> - Matt
>