Master_shake_
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2012
- Messages
- 17,794
Like they've been doing all these decades before NN was put in as the Obama administration was on it's way out the door?
actually.
"Without government oversight, phone companies could have prevented dial-up Internet service providers from even connecting to customers," technology reporter Rob Pegoraro wrote in The Washington Post last week in an article titled, "The Trump administration gets the history of Internet regulations all wrong." "In the 1990s, in fact, FCC regulations more intrusive than the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules led to far more competition among early broadband providers than we have today. But Pai’s nostalgia for the ’90s doesn’t extend to reviving rules that mandated competition—instead, he’s moving to scrap regulations the FCC put in place to protect customers from the telecom conglomerates that now dominate the market."
In 1996 and for years afterward, copper telephone wires that were regulated under Title II of the Communications Act provided the primary infrastructure for Americans to access the Internet. Dial-up Internet was initially the king, and Americans could choose from many dial-up providers that offered service over those phone lines. DSL greatly improved upon dial-up, but Americans still could choose from many providers because of a decision made by Clinton's FCC.
In November 1999, the FCC "unanimously voted to adopt new rules that will force local telephone companies to share their lines with high-speed Internet access providers," The Washington Post reported at the time.
"Line-sharing provides more choice and flexibility for the consumer, ultimately, and of course more competition in the marketplace," then-FCC Chairman William Kennard said the day of the vote. "It's another important milestone."
Because of line sharing, many companies could offer DSL Internet service over the phone lines controlled by the incumbent telephone companies. This resulted in "a choice of broadband providers that today’s users might find bizarre," Pegoraro noted. "A consumer guide that ran in The Washington Post's Sunday Business section in 2003 featured 18 DSL services available here."
its funny how fast people forget the 90's
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ports-utility-rules-and-open-access-networks/
the fuckery lasted 7-11 years not decades.