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by JustSomeNobody 3841 days ago
Yes. No. Does our (U.S.) government actually give two cares? No.
1 comments

No - they aren't gimping specific competitors or doing anything to filter data over public internet - they are offering a new tier of service - just like you have IPTV as a separate service from public internet.

And why should the government care ? Who is getting hurt here ? Not to mention there are multiple competing entities in mobile space.

We have something similar arround here with 0.facebook.com where you get free access to mobile FB version over 3G even on prepaid cards - it's popular with younger people - why should this be illegal ?

There are many, many many content providers and only a relative few ISPs. It would be pretty easy for ISP's to coordinate or even just act independently and abuse their oligopoly status and extort money from content providers who don't have the same leverage they do.
But that's not what's happening here is it ?
Remains to be seen, right?
> Who is getting hurt here ?

Businesses that wish to enter this market.

So what ? New businesses are always getting hurt by successful vertical integration because it increases efficiency through methods they can't match - as long as there is no monopoly the government should not care - it's role is to protect consumers from monopoly behaviour - not help sprout new business by preventing optimization.