As a New Zealander, I find it extraordinarily inappropriate that global infrastructure like the Internet is being shaped by the whims of US politics and corporate culture. The Internet is a global network of global concern and it should be above the manoeuvring of Republicans and American Internet providers
We would hope that American's, and the good tech informed people on HN, would recognize that the innovation in tech was done by tech firms, which is welcomed and lauded.
But it is the unwholesome development and innovation in your political and lobbying fields, that is being used to set standards around the world.
A vast chunk of problems today trace their roots back directly to the MPAA and the RIAA, and their efforts to stamp out piracy.
Piracy which in turn was defined by a set of copyright protections which ensured that the people with the better lawyers and lobbyists now dictated when a good or creation escaped protection.
Well, a lot of websites are currently based in the US, and policies like this would hurt newer players. Over time, I'd expect more startups to be successful outside the US than inside.
I'm American and I also wish that this policy didn't impact the world but the fact is that the world is connected, and pollution made in one place will eventually drift and effect another place.
I don't want to overstate how big of a worldwide impact this policy would have, just pointing out it does have some. If anything, it's an opportunity for other countries to operate differently and attract top tech talent, sort of like France is trying to do.
What do you mean? I don't see the international community having ANY say on Net Neutrality. All the actors in the debate are American. What more do you want?
Each country faces their own NN battle, and any competent authority studies the examples of other nations, or they ask experts, who study the outcomes in other countries.
Including telecom lobbyists, who study how misinformation and complex arguments can help them win political capital to push their ideas.
India in particular bore the brunt of Facebook's fortunately ham handed approach to pushing non neutral net down our throats.
And the success and failure, of the American system is used as a reference point to study Net Neutrality in India.
To be fair, the responsibly authority also uses references from interested parties, and legal examples set in other countries.
The TRAI (Telecm Reg Auth Ind) focuses on the best outcome for its citizens, so its relatively open minded in its focus.
At the same time, the Indian telecom Authority is severely lobbied by Indian telecom firms, who are now mounting their second assault on the neutral net.
And they are learning from their debacle. The TRAI is now asking questions on scenarios in which it might be a good thing that NN was not applied and so on.
Correct rulings in America, their reasoning, their supporting documents, the evidence and so on, will be used and studied around the world.
And I suppose that if American's so chose, they could look beyond their borders and see what other NN related rulings have been made around the world.
Maybe I wasn't clear; I was asking for examples of global infrastructure like the Internet being shaped by the whims of US politics and corporate culture, but the examples provided by Free Press are almost all in the US.
Ummm democracy? Capitalism? I dunno what you want man. The world is connected. We all impact each other. Europe impacts the US as much as vice versa, as does Asia, etc.
