Reply to post: "The downside of regulation is that in impedes on freedom of choice"

FCC boss slams new Californian net neutrality law, brands it illegal

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

"The downside of regulation is that in impedes on freedom of choice"

How? Actually well done regulation usually improve the freedom of choice - i.e. antitrust ones. Net neutrality actually improves it - denying the ISPs to choose from you as they look for what is more remunerative for them.

Unless you mean you would like to choose more pollution, unsafe devices, dangerous pharmaceuticals and food, etc. etc.

Even standards are a kind of regulation, and it is true they could limit choice, but in this case interoperability may be more important than pure choice. There would be no Internet without its standards. Would have been "The Microsoft Network", "AppleNet", "Google Collective" (probably no Google, though), each incompatible with the others, better? Is "choice" always better?

Just look at how USA lagged behind Europe in mobile phones adoption in the 1990s and early 2000s because having different incompatible networks slowed down adoption.

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