Pokemon Go > Net Neutrality

Congratulations to Google on Pokemon Go. Google’s parent company Alphabet incubated and spun out this latest highly successful data-collection-device - for sale to advertisers everywhere.

Pokemon Go is a phenomenon. Of course, if you are in any way involved in social media or popular culture - you already know this. The game’s app is drawing tens if not hundreds of thousands (millions?) of consumers out into the sunlight and the streets - chasing down augmented-reality Pikachus and Charizards.

Consumers are speaking - and they are roaring for Pokemon. And when consumers speak - companies listen.

T-Mobile Jumps on the Pokémon Go Bandwagon with Free Data Access for Players: “Pokémon GO players on the network won't get dinged for any data…for the next year starting on Tuesday the 19th.”

And if Pokemon Go remains popular - you can bet T-Mobile will extend the free data offer way past a year. And you can bet that by then T-Mobile will not be the only provider giving people free Pokemon.

Consumers love Pokemon. Consumers love free stuff. Combining the two is yet another free market victory for consumers. And the party rolls on. Except - cue the anti-free market, pro-government fetishists.

Does T-Mobile's 'Pokemon' Data Plan Poke at Net Neutrality? “(D)igital rights advocates question whether the deal amounts to favoritism that violates the spirit of Net Neutrality.”

If you asked the average consumer “You can have free, unlimited Pokemon Go - or Net Neutrality” - guess which he or she would choose? Net Neutrality is a Fantasy Land fetish about which the average consumer has never heard. Getting free stuff they love is a Reality-based boon to consumers. The vote wouldn’t even be close.

Except - cue the anti-free market, pro-government fetishists.

T-Mobile Gives Free Unlimited Data for Pokemon Go - Raising Net Neutrality Concerns: “To be clear: making Pokémon Go exempt from data caps is bad for net neutrality, for the same reasons making certain video and music apps exempt is a bad idea.”

Free Pokemon GO Data for T-Mobile Users, Is It Against Net Neutrality?: “Of course, this is against net neutrality and the carrier has been criticized several times.”

It’s almost as if “Net Neutrality” is a Leftist safe word - to be uttered when the free market growing freely causes them too much discomfort.

Few things demonstrate the insular Government Bubble better than this:

T-Mobile's Cool New 'Pokémon Go' Deal is a Threat to the Open Internet: “T-Mobile is waiving the charges for data its customers are using to play ‘Pokémon Go’ — and people are furious about it.”

Which “people?” Certainly not consumers - who vastly, exponentially outnumber any Bubble contingent of pro-government Net Neutrality fetishists. The babble continues:

“On first glance, it seems like a weird thing to be angry about. Customers get to catch more pokémon, T-Mobile gets a publicity boost, everyone's happy - right?”

Full stop - consumers do think it’s a weird thing about which to be angry. They are very happy. Except the fetishists don’t stop:

“Not quite. The carrier's offer arguably violates a principle of the open internet that has caused huge debate in the past: Net Neutrality.”

Again, if consumers are happy with what they’re getting - who cares what happens to some faculty-lounge nonsense that the government has bizarrely, tyrannically imposed onto a magnificently functioning Internet ecosystem?

The anti-free market, pro-government fetishists do.

Pokemon Go News: T-Mobile to Exempt Pokemon Data through August 2017; Is it Worthwhile?

T-Mobile Giving Free Data for Pokemon Go, but is This a Good Thing?

T-Mobile Promotion Scheme On ‘Pokemon Go’ Not Good Enough For Customers

How about we let consumers decide if this - if anything - is “worthwhile.” If it’s a “good thing.” If it’s “good enough” for them.

Rather than the tiny contingent inside the Government Bubble deciding for them?

That’s how free markets work. Unless the government fetishists get their interloping, wealth-and-freedom-destroying way.

This first appeared in NewsBusters and Red State.