So the big deal this week is the FCC repealing the 2 year old Net Neutrality rules. There are things to be wary of, and thing to not be wary of from this move. First though, lets ask a question, what has/has not happened in the last 2 years under the Title II move? Truth be told, I haven’t seen much difference between pre-2015 and the last 2 years. That does not mean there is not a difference, just that I personally have not seen any.
Now what has bothered me is a lot of meme’s and bullcrap surrounding this. I am talking about things like this on ARS which talks about a change in Comcast’s Net Neutrality promise. Quick look you see 5 lines in the first screenshot and 3 in the second. Now take a moment to read, and I mean really read and understand the first line in the second screenshot. It encompasses the first 3 lines. the big difference is a change in wording to present tense compared to future. Outside of that, not a big deal, in fact most of it is the same basic premise, worded differently.
The real answer to it all is legislation that will prevent throttling and keep the net open. There is always a need for traffic shaping and control, if for no other reason than security issues (say blocking known Command and Control sites). Also how does this affect companies that have to deal with GDPR and other regulations outside of the country?
I will finish this like so. A few years ago we were all pissed off about the demise of unlimited data plans on the mobile networks. Forward to now, and you see most networks have some sort of unlimited data plan again. Net Neutrality is important, the question is how can we guarantee it without using a heavy handed, over-regulated approach.