Richard Bennett, NANOG posting, and Integrity

Matt Palmer mpalmer at hezmatt.org
Mon Jul 28 03:52:24 UTC 2014


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"?).

- Matt




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