this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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Internet should be public like many other utilities.
This is the only answer
Cries in having a for-profit, NYSE traded electric utility
The internet should be entirely decentralized. We have the technology.
The internet IS decentralized.
Not nearly as much as it should be. In many places certain ISPs have near monopolies over internet access, and domains and dns used on the web are managed by ICANN. Sure, there's alternatives to that, but barely anyone knows or uses them
Not to mention things like Cloudflare, AWS, and GCP.
I understand what you're saying but it feels wrong to lump Cloudflare in with Google and Amazon. Clouflare, thus far anyway, has been mostly a force of good for the internet.
So was Google in its first decade or so. Hell, I'll even grant that AWS, GCP and k8s have been mostly benevolent. But these parties becoming near monopolies for hosting or routing is costing a price of centralization.
Companies having a geographic monopoly over access to the internet doesn't change the fact that the Internet as a whole is decentralized.
That being said, yes, something should be done about ISPs.
lol. Net neutrality and FCCs Ajit Pai. Educate yourself bra.
I don't think you understand what decentralized means
hm, i didn't think about that yet, this is actually a pretty interesting thought.
I think we as a society need to have a debate about this.
The internet is free and public. You can go to any mcdonalds and go all the internetting you want. At home, its all the buried cabled that have to be checked on and maintained that you have to pay for.
Lmfao you think they actually maintain that shit? They dont check on it, that’s part of the problem.
Won't they start pulling more and more tax for it then ? Having it private keeps the competition at least, wouldn't you agree ?
Your taxes already subsidize it. You just don't see any benefits for your money in the current system because they pocket it without making upgrades.
ISPs in the US are notorious for getting public funds for services that they never provide, so I wouldn't be too concerned about that.
Exactly. They're getting massive handouts from our money. Let's cut out the middlemen and pay a utility directly.
What competition? Tax me and give me fucking municipal fiber instead of giving giant paychecks to wealthy assholes who invest nothing in improving the service but raise everyone's rates regardless.
Ah yes competition. I get to choose between two providers, charter and at&t. Same price, about the same speeds.
Not where I live. All private Internet, but very limited choices that all keep getting more and more expensive.
They also tend to deliberately stay out of each other's service areas so they can ramp up prices with de facto local monopolies.
Please tell us how “keeping it private” ensures competition and prevents monopolies. For extra credit, let us know WHO is responsible for preventing monopolies.
Where did I say it prevents monopolies ?
Where I'm from if it goes public I'm sure the govt is going to take advantage of it with piss poor speeds. When it's private, at least there are companies competing with decent speeds even though it's expensive. It's a choice between the lesser of two evils.
Where I’m from private is slower, more expensive, capped, and throttled. Public is faster, cheaper, unlimited and unregulated. And private lobby’s/bribes politicians to put laws in place preventing public.
I guess to answer that, wonder if your water, electric, or waste companies are gouging you. If they are, like in Texas, then yeah maybe?
Everywhere I lived, people and voting have strong control over utilities and they are fairly priced because it's a service not a business
Where I use to live was all private. CenturyLink was the only option as they had an agreement with Comcast that Comcast wouldn't come into my area.
I paid $60/month for 500kbps down. Yes kilobits.