Great news.

Motion to form the Demohorde party?

Truely, this is a great day. (:

Okay, ENUFF with this Obama gaming stuff! It isn't hip to be playing video games. At first it was cool, but now this is kind of getting ridiculous. Two cabinet members who are "nuts" about virtual worlds? Let's hope they're not too nuts about it that it would leak into the real world. And what's this? A guild that is composed soley of academic folks that write and study virtual worlds? they should be Second Life instead of WoW if that's the case. Also I'm AGAINST net neutrality.

Freakin Sweet! maybe they'll let us say those seven "dirty" words on TV now!

@Syn: I've heard so many arguments against it and so many definitions of it, and I remember there was an article about it on here a while back. I read that on Wikipedia and wondered why anyone would be against that. I think either Wikipedia is wrong, which would be absolutely shocking, or maybe we've all been getting mixed signals on the subject and it is a positive thing as that subtly says.

Lvl 70? ..noob

This is just so fucking awesome. People on the FCC that actually understand modern media? Outrageous!

What NobodysDream said. There's the crux.

Hell yes!

Shaman are such a rare breed Horde-side. At least on my server.

I love it.

Truly, this is a new age. An age in which politicians actually relate to us.

But then, who are we but next year's old people?

@dprime
Actually, many regulations are often very good for many industries. Many industries lack competition and innovation without regulations that force companies to focus on innovation of product rather than the manipulation of markets.

This is the exact kind of regulation that "net neutrality" implies. Many companies have inherent and/or vested interests in companies in other sectors doing well or poorly, and if allowed to, will manipulate markets in order to give these interests competitive advantage or disadvantage.

Example: ISP X buys Yahoo, then proceeds to install hardware that limits it's customers internet access to Yahoo as their only search option. ISP X controls a large majority of the ISP share in many markets, and in many regions, is the only provider available. They are able to manipulate the search engine market, therefore stifling competition and innovation. And I don't think anyone but my Grandma thinks that Yahoo is more advanced and innovative than Google, and probably not even her;P (As far as search goes anyway, I think Yahoo has it's place for news and other products.)

This is just one example of how many laisez-faire markets are inherently not free and can be manipulated in order to stifle competition and innovation.

(Also charging higher prices for tiered services can be easily used to manipulate markets through consumer demand. Not to mention the possible threats to the freedom and flow of information, and even Democracy itself. You seem like a smart person, you can come up with many other manipulations yourself if you think about them.)

The point is that just because something is regulated does not necessarily mean it is less free. Often times it increases freedom.

You're right, market regulation does go against what seems like sound policy in basic economics, as it pertains to economists like Smith or Ricardo, but as you further your studies and get into more advanced economics you'll find that many markets are not inherently open and free, and need to be regulated in order to make them more free, open, competitive and to allow for the innovation that market competition creates.