Network neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks fairly, without discrimination in favor of particular apps, sites or services

The FCC will meet on October 19th to vote on proposing Title II reclassification that would support accompanying net neutrality protections

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It will be interesting to see how reddit reacts to this because they were ALL IN on net neutrality back in the day, I was even part of their filing with the FCC, but their recent turn against API features goes patently against the whole notion of Net Neutrality.

    • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      That has literally nothing to do with net neutrality.

      All net neutrality means is that at the ISP level all traffic is treated the same and the ISP cannot step in and do shit like, for example, block all traffic coming from a VPN server. Or block all torrent packets. Or block all ENCRYPTED packets. Or slowly deliver Facebook packets because Twitter paid them to do so.

      All traffic is treated equally, regardless of content.

      What an individual website does with its own API is not even in this conversation.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Shutting down their API is the direct anti-competitive action which goes against net neutrality. It stifles innovation.

        • pickscrape@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That argument is similar to the whole “platform N taking down content violates the 1st amendment” argument. It’s a non sequitur.

          • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I’ll see if I can make it more sense for you:

            If you argue that the pathways that make up the internet should not be artifically restricted or gated as a means of shutting down competition, while at the same time turning around and shutting down your own public pathways, that’s a huge problem.

            • Nougat@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Setting aside for the moment the fact that net neutrality has to do with IP traffic (layer 3, network) and not API availability (layer 7, application) –

              Reddit’s API is not a “public pathway.” It is a private gateway into the reddit environment. They can charge whatever they like for it, because it is a part of their application.

              The way they went about changing to their current fee model was undeniably shitty, and yeah, they’re trying to prop up ahead of IPO. None of that has anything to do with net neutrality. You’re wrong on this one, time to let it go.

              • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Reddit’s API is not a “public pathway.” It is a private gateway into the reddit environment. They can charge whatever they like for it, because it is a part of their application.

                Not saying that you are wrong, legally, and not to relitigate the whole thing again, but if you offer a public facing API and then you later on just withdraw it (or its functionality) altogether, that’s something a business should not do to its customer base ever, for ethical and social contract reasons.

                The Internet is not just defined by legal systems, it started with ethical social contract systems. More nebulous than legal, yes, but still, Society does follow them and expects companies to do so as well.

          • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            And, if you argue that an ISP shouldn’t be engaging in anti-competitive networking while at the same time (or in this case, a couple of years later) doing the same thing, that’s a huge problem.

            And make no mistake, what they did WAS anti-competitive. They wanted to shut down the 3rd party apps that put a magnifying glass on all the problems with the official reddit app just before a proposed IPO.

            • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The difference is that reddit has no obligation to anyone to provide an API. Not every company has a public API. You have no guarantee to the right to see reddit content. it’s theirs. I don’t like that but it’s the reality. They weren’t obligated to build an API and they aren’t obligated to maintain one especially not for free. I would argue it’s in their best interest to do so but they don’t have to and that’s where we are.

              Net neutrality deals with the network though including the part reddit lives at.The things that every person does (or did) have a right to connect with if they choose to. The means for connection all together.

        • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          Not sure if that holds

          They’re not stopping competition, they’re gatekeeping access to their system

          Competition is allowed still, for example, the site were using right now to communicate this very conversation

          • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            They are stopping competition. They didn’t want superior 3rd party apps competing with their super shitty app just before a proposed IPO.

    • Whitebrow@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Good chunk of the people who give a hoot about this, have already migrated from Reddit, so hard to say, who knows though? Guess we’ll see