The BIGGEST problem I have with Net Neutrality (regardless if it is initially for the good or bad) is that your are removing the checks and balances from the free market (aka capitalism) and handing it to government.

I mean, don’t these sorta things always start out as “good intentions”?? There are a bunch of short-range thinkers on here who are only thinking of measures to equalize the rights of consumers against the big evil ISP’s. While there are valid points where these ISP’s are tipping the playing field in their favor, be careful what you wish for is what I say. If you give these powers to your government, are you also naive to think your government will always have your best interests in mind? I’d say historically speaking this is not always the case.

Net Neutrality is really a means to an ends. Nope, I didn’t get that backwards. Consider this:
If one wants to implement a communist/socialist structure within America, one would agree that due to the existence of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, this would be a very difficult task to achieve. In true nerd fashion, kind of like trying to run Windows XP on SPARC hardware (the software cannot function on the hardware). So how do you get around this?? Easy, install an emulator or virtualization layer. In this case I believe it is capitalism, aka big business. For example, government cannot directly infringe on your rights... to smoke a cigarette let’s say. But a company can, because your employment is mutual which "volunteers" you for anything the company wants. Therefore, a communist regime need not change this country’s fundamental laws in order to implement dictatorial control of the masses, they only need to control the corporations. Net Neutrality installs the transport layer needed for a government to control the Internet and that sector of our lives. Is it just me or does GE bother anyone else?? The sad irony here is that communism can use its arch nemesis “capitalism” against itself like a parasite uses a host.

I know most slashdotters here are a mixture of young IT professional's and students alike, and the vast majority being tilted to the liberal side - and there's nothing wrong with that. The danger (and this is historically substantiated) is that the ambitious youth as a whole are vulnerable to communist ploys. Ask yourself this honest question; would you recognize a communist ploy if you see one? How do you even know what to look for? Granted, like capitalism communism has it's good and bad parts. The difference is that capitalism incorporates both good and bad at any given time (check and balance) while communism starts out with good intent like "Net Neutrality", but then evolves into something nefarious. "Net Neutrality", oh sounds so fair doesn't it? I think communists like to use oxymoron’s for naming things. Like "Free Press" founder Robert McChesney is a Marxist. Sad that many of you have bought into the "business is evil" and "capitalism is evil", there always has to be a villain etc... and you are being fooled into doing the ground work for true communists. The sad part is by the time you all "figure it out" it'll be too late. I used to think the Germans were soooooooo stupid for falling for the Nazi’s and Hitler. But knowing history now, it was mainly the youth and the big unions that gave power to that movement. You all forget that those German unions and students all were fighting for the exact same stuff you all are fighting for today: social justice, equality, freedom from big business, better jobs, unifying the country (Nationalism), environmental concerns, community service, etc... Any of this sounds familiar? I'm not saying give up on those core beliefs - after all they are noble causes, just be careful what and whom you vote for, and recognize the hidden agendas. Ironically with all the slams I see on here about big business being bad for the ‘little guy’, you same individuals see nothing wrong with ‘big government’?? A word to the wise; governments can change and this one does every four years!

I never would have thought in my day’s time aka 2009 we'd be dealing with a real Communist threat within our country. What is this – the sixties all over again? I would have never thought some of you right here right now reading my post are communists (of course – that’s if this post didn't get "moderated"). Some out spoken about it - others being stealthy and hiding under the "liberal" and "progressive" labels. I just want to ask one question; historically speaking... do you honestly think communism is the best model for governing civilization??

I’m tired about all these pro-democracy points of view. News flash – the USA is a “Republic”. Do you think our fore-fathers played rock-paper-scissors to come up with that for of government? Or do you think they saw a fundamental flaw in a true Democracy frame of government? Capitalism is predicated on the individual, while communism is predicated on the collective. The most important difference is that "power" is distributed to everybody in capitalism. Some say however might say due to this wide distribution, the power is too small for one individual to make a difference. BUT this is also the advantage in that if it gets corrupt, it cannot take down the whole system. In communism power concentrated to the leadership which if gets corrupt (as history confirms it will) is bad for everyone. It is very unfortunate that in a quest to amplify your individual power by joining with others, you eventually lose all your power and rights to the people at the top.

Yeah.... I was just thinking the same thing. How quick we forget our history. This sounds like DIVX (not the codec - but what Circuit City was pushing) all over again, just without the physical medium (aka DIVX Disc).

What bothers me about these "subscription-based" consumer models is that a verification system is required to authenticate or "authorized" consumers. Such systems can easiely produce reports on consumer habbits and veiwing preferences. Reports could be given to Goverment agencies, FBI profiling can be modeled, etc... Granted, not really a big issue in a free society like ours (cough cough), but has anyone seen the German film "The Lives of Others"??

On-topic I can’t say it is right for any company to tell others what side to take on political issues no matter what side it’s is. I have a theory: If one wants to implement a communist/socialist structure within America, one would agree that due to the existence of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, this would be a very difficult task to achieve. Kind of like trying to run Windows XP on SPARC hardware (the software cannot function on the hardware). So, if one cannot change the hardware, one can chose to run an emulator or virtualization layer. In this case I believe it is capitalism, aka business. For example, government cannot infringe on your rights, to smoke a cigarette let’s say. But a company can because your employment is mutual which “volunteers” you for anything the company wants. Therefore, a communist regime need not change this country’s fundamental laws in order to implement dictatorial control of the masses, they only need to control the corporations. Is it just me or does GE bother anyone else?? The sad irony here is that communism can use its nemesis “capitalism” against itself like a parasite uses its host.

I know *most* slashdot'ers are a mixture of young IT professional's and students alike, and the vast majority being tilted to the liberal side - and there's nothing wrong with that. The danger (and this is historically substantiated) is that the ambitious youth as a whole are vulnerable to communist ideals. Granted, like capitalism communism has it's good and bad parts. The difference is that capitalism incorporates both good and bad at the same time (check and balance) while communism starts out with good intent like "Net Neutrality", but then evolves into something nefarious. "Net Neutrality", oh sounds so fair doesn't it? I think communists like to use oxymoron’s for naming things. Like "Free Press" founder Robert McChesney is a Marxist. Sad that many of you have bought into the "business is evil" and "capitalism is evil", there has to be a villain etc... and are being fooled into doing the ground work for true communists. The sad part is by the time you all "figure it out" it'll be too late. I used to think the Germans were soooo stupid for falling for the Nazi’s and Hitler. But knowing history, it was mainly the youth and the big unions that gave power to that movement. You all forget that those German unions and students all were fighting for the same stuff you all are fighting for today: social justice, equality, freedom from big business, better jobs, unifying the country (Nationalism), environmental concerns, community service, etc... Any of this sounds familiar? I'm not saying give up on those core beliefs - after all they are the overall "good", just be careful what/whom you vote for, and recognize the hidden agendas. Ironically with all the slams I see on here about "big business" being bad for the little guy, you same individuals see nothing wrong with "big government"?? A word to the wise; governments can change and this one does a lot!

I never would have thought in today’s time aka 2009 we'd be dealing with a real Communist threat within our country. I would have never thought some of you right here right now are communists - some out spoken about it - others being stealthy and hiding under the "liberal" and "progressive" labels. I know there are modern-day communists reading this right now (of course - if this post didn't get "moderated"), and I just want to ask “historically speaking... do you honestly think this is the best model of governing for the human race??”

I’m tired about all these “pro” democracy points of view. News flash – the USA is a “Republic”. Do you think our fore-fathers played rock-paper-scissors to come up with that? Or doing think they saw a fundamental flaw in a true Democracy frame of government? Capitalism is predicated on the individual, while communism is predicated on the collective. The most important difference is that "power" is distributed to everyone in capitalism. The flaw here is that because it’s distributed its power is so small. BUT this is also an advantage in that if it gets corrupt, it cannot take down the whole system. In communism power is eventually concentrated to the leadership which if gets corrupt (as history confirms it will) is bad for everyone. It is very unfortunate that in a quest to amplify your individual power by joining with others, you eventually lose all your power and rights to the people at the top.

The BIGGEST problem I have with "Net Neutrality" (regardless if it is initially for the good or bad) is that your are removing the checks and balances from the free market (aka capitalism) and handing it to government.