Net Neutrality is a Lie — Let the Free Market Reign
Net Neutrality is a lie.
There is nothing neutral about government regulations on internet service. There is a tremendous amount of propaganda circulating about this topic, and it is mind blowing some anarchists support government regulations on the provision of internet.
These people argue that ISP corporations will control everyone and charge exorbitantly high prices for internet. These nefarious companies will also implement massive censorship campaigns and other dastardly deeds in the absence of regulation, say net neutrality proponents.
This type of fear and paranoia is rampant. However, all of the armchair central planners forget the beauty of the free market.
The Consequence of Government Mandated Price Controls on Internet
When governments are not controlling prices and setting ISP standards, new industry entrants emerge. However, when internet service is determined by artificial prices, scrappy startups are disincentivized from engaging in the market and innovating beyond the current infrastructure.
This is why Comcast, Verizon, and many of the traditional internet providers have secretly or openly supported net neutrality. They know with regulations in place, they will not have to worry about being out-competed for better prices regarding the provision of internet services. It's basically monopoly given to bureaucratically entrenched internet providers. See Jeffery Tucker's talk on the Corbett Report for more details on this tragic scenario:
Tucker further elaborated on this issue in his article called "Goodbye Net Neutrality; Hello Competition."
With market-based pricing finally permitted, we could see new entrants to the industry because it might make economic sense for the first time to innovate. The growing competition will lead, over the long run, to innovation and falling prices. Consumers will find themselves in the driver’s seat rather than crawling and begging for service and paying whatever the provider demands.
With net neutrality abolished, the market will once again reign supreme, and the creativity of entrepreneurs will begin to flourish.
The Modern Technological Ecosystem
This move toward freedom is extremely important for our current technological ecosystem.
Humanity is entering into the age of internet 3.0, artificially intelligent systems, and blockchain-based wealth creation. If the internet is constrained by violence-backed regulations, it may not be able to keep pace with the decentralized, smart technologies that are emerging. The internet must remain free for exploration, and this includes provision of the internet itself.
How Blockchain and Bitcoin Will Welcome the Repeal of Net Neutrality
Many people have asked me how the revocation of net neutrality will effect blockchain and bitcoin. I believe the recent news of repealing net neutrality will open up fintech sector for more growth and innovation. In other words, this move will set a fantastic precedent for the future of blockchain.
If barriers to entry are removed for provision of the internet, it means that internet itself will likely be deployed in new, efficient, and marvelous ways --- thereby bringing the boon of blockchain to thousands of people who do not receive any financial services.
For example, with onerous regulations abandoned, blockchain startups like Nexus may be able to experiment more readily with launching cubsats into space and deploying mesh networks to everyone from orbit. If the previous bits of red tape were still in place, this would be a difficult task to accomplish.
Nonetheless, plenty of government red tape still exists, and it will still be a challenge for market actors to innovate in a world full of regulations --- but the removal of net neutrality is a positive step in the right direction. Viva la free market.
Sterlin Luxan is a visionary thinker, cryptocurrency junkie, connoisseur of psychology, an MDMA high priest, and the Mr. Rogers of Anarchism. He writes for bitcoin.com, runs a consultancy business in the crypto space, and is a public speaker. He created the doctrine of relational anarchism and contributes to many causes in the thriving liberty ecosystem.
Such a good education here! thank you!
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You got a 0.20% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @jout!
It really seems to me that perhaps this would reduce the price instead of increase it for most every day people. Now bit companies will be spilling out money so we can access their sites faster and that cost should not fall on us. We as consumers should get good quality internet for a fraction of what it costs now as we wont be the only ones fronting the bill anymore.
Competition is ALWAYS a good thing - unless of course your that one person at the top.
The cost for ISPs decreases with the repeal of the regulation, meaning there are three possibilities:
All of these possibilities are a good thing for consumers because they involve the ISPs providing a better service or a cheaper service.
New technology would only be required if there was actual competition in the market and not regional monopolies and oligopolies.
To maximise profit in the long run an ISP will invest into more efficient technology. Cash holdings are not productive assets. Cash is used to pay bills, wages and debtors.
There is definitely competition at a local level with ISPs. On a national scale, obviously the competition decreases since nationwide infrastructure is very expensive to build and maintain.
We're headed back to the internet dark age of 2015!
The arguments against net neutrality make sense if there is competition in the market, as anyone who takes advantage of consumers will be punished severely.
@sterlinluxan is there competition in the market?
My thoughts exactly, I was going to make a similar comment 🙂
It seems to me that large corporations get it both ways: regulation they want, and dismantle regulation they don't, or effectively sidestep it. I'm not sure where I land on the net neutrality issue but I know that the argument of any deregulation is always good fails on this point.
I'm placing my trust in the ability of Americans to throw their toys out of the cot if they even slightly get inconvenienced by a service.
Any ISP who thinks it will get away with what it wants to get away with, is going to get a very sore butthole :D
That's my prediction for 2018.
Yes, there is some competition. Smaller ISPs struggle to get more customers due to the high costs of infrastructure, meaning they stick to a particular area. Even so, there are enough options so that you're not stuck with only one ISP.
good post. you did good job by covering various aspect. Jeffery Tucker's talk added good valu to the post. who can avoid government red tape. it contiues to exists. you spoke the fact about Blockchin and Bitcoin.
Innovation and open minded thinking are the antithesis of regulation and compliance. Sure we need protection from certain events, but it seems to me that once certain rules are adopted, people learn how to circumnavigate so more rules are born. You get to a stage when the rule base is so large and complex, the entity that you are trying to protect is strangled. Seems to me that all too often these rules and regulations are for nefarious reasons too, with "doom and disaster" the label used to sell them. For millennia, humans have been engineered right down into their DNA to be the most extraordinary adaptive beings that this planet has ever seen. It would be so good to see that unleashed for the innovations that could come rather than shackles from the minutiae of unbridled regulation and control. D
plus we can self fund it now. awesome.
I forsee Decentralized internet version technology coming up soon, time to ditch HTTP and its protocol, we have to come up with another tech and ditch this their Intenet
Absolutely! This is the last push we need for starting the next thing.
https://steemit.com/internet/@febinkk/net-neutrality-repeal-can-be-the-final-push-for-a-really-decentralised-internet-20171218t14659630z
Consider CEPTR ( http://ceptr.org/ ) and their currently releasing Holochain-based dApp hosting crowdfund: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/holo-take-back-the-internet-shared-p2p-hosting-community-technology/x/17812553?secret_perk_token=f6bb2c5e&utm_source=Holo&utm_campaign=25c1e33248-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_11_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_251eaccb29-25c1e33248-40658421#/
No...this POST is a lie...I agree that competition helps consumers and that in most cases regulation isn't necessary as any douchebaggery by a company will quickly lead to their demise. However, in the case of Internet Service Providers, it just doesn't work. That's like saying that we don't need checks and balances within our government because if it gets too corrupt, the citizens will always just be able to overthrow it. A new internet service provider cannot just pop into existence without substantial cooperation from the big guys.
tl;dr: competition doesn't protect consumers at all if it's impossible to compete.