[rayiner]

As I said, this isn't happening in a vacuum. Silicon Valley sees this issue as a "necessary exception" to a generally "hands off" regulatory regime as to the internet, as Sam Altman articulated the other day, but I think this is more subtle than how your average politician views the situation. Selling this as a party-line, regulation versus deregulation issue is easy.

To highlight what I see as an impedance mismatch between Silicon Valley and Washington, take YC's comment to the FCC. There is a line in there "we should treat the telcos like the utilities they are" or something to that effect. That resounds here on HN, but made me cringe. The failures of utility regulation are a source of embarrassment to both sides of the aisle. Whether we're talking about rolling brownouts or ancient sewer systems dumping waste into rivers, nobody is really happy with how utilities are regulated in the U.S. So why evoke that association? You're guaranteed to alienate all but the hardcore "consumer protection" contingent of liberals, which are a dying breed.