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by plainOldText 5325 days ago
His standpoint is consistent with other libertarian views he has. No regulation. The Internet has worked fine without regulation for so many years. And if your carrier/isp is throttling your connection, switch to a different one.If many people switch then they'll stop throttling. Simple as that.
3 comments
sp332 5325 days ago
The Internet has worked fine without regulation for so many years.

Ummmm, no. Markets are segregated and each municipality grants a franchise to a specific company. Most markets in the USA have one cable company, one phone company, plus maybe some wireless and satellite coverage.

ISPs have been given billions of dollars in federal subsidies. Also, there are strings attached to every one of those dollars.

The FCC and FTC have pretty restrictive regulations regarding spectrum usage, how much power you can push over phone lines, etc.

There is a lot of regulation on the internet in the USA, which is why we can't let the market settle the Net Neutrality issue.

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chrischen 5325 days ago
Only problem is many people, like me, cannot actually switch. Comcast is the only provider in my apartment. No DSL company would hook me up and no other cable company has wires in here.
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ja30278 5325 days ago
Consider the situation in which most subscribers of Comcast in your area wanted to switch..if there are enough of them to build a business, that strong 'latent' demand is a market waiting to happen.
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rayiner 5325 days ago
It doesn't work like that, not even in theory. Communications infrastructure is a market that inevitably involves natural monopolies: first because of the cost structure of the industry (marginal cost curve always decreasing) and second because of network effects.
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rayiner 5325 days ago
The internet is the product of a government project and has been heavily regulated since its inception.
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Gormo 5325 days ago
> and has been heavily regulated since its inception

Interesting; I wasn't aware of this. I know that the original network design grew out of a DARPA project, but I wasn't aware of any significant federal regulatory involvement since the internet became open to general, non-government use in the '80s. Do you have any references you could point to that might provide more detail?

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plainOldText 5325 days ago
I actually meant the Word Wide Web. It is probably more specific.
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