Honestly, I think the passage of Senate bill H.R.1865 “FOSTA” has quite quickly done way more harm to the internet at large than killing Net Neutrality has.
It was crazy to watch everyone go crazy about net neutrality with triple-bank-shot theories of how it might chill some site somewhere someday, but barely a peep about the far-worse FOSTA, which almost immediately forced sites offline.
I'm still not sure how to explain this. Perhaps people are just dumb and prone to irrational panics, perhaps I am dumb (i.e., NN > FOSTA), or perhaps movements like NN support are not really particularly organic, and being organized for reasons unknown.
"people are just dumb and prone to irrational panics"
Of any statement that I've read this year, this is the one that most succinctly captures the entire spectrum of political life. Left or right, fake news to hacker news... Understand that statement and you understand how far we've come.
There has been a huge fearmongering campaign behind net neutrality, partially funded by companies that profit from net neutrality.
Net neutrality is a classic case of regulatory capture, the very thing people think it will suppress. If you think Google and Netflix are supporting NN because it's a right thing to do, instead of their profit motive, you're extremely naive.
because the first line of people and services affected by FOSTA are the ones no one wants to talk about. sex workers and underprivileged queers only exist as part of the conversation when it's politically expedient for those in power. America may no longer be a god-fearing nation, but the skeleton of moralism still exists, just with all it's values stripped away. you will hear far more screams if netflix loses even 1 percent of it's value than if the safety and livelihood of all the undesirables is erased.
