FCC Turns Around On Net Neutrality With "Faster Lane" Rules - Update

[marurder]

I have to say this, I DO prefer the internet in China despite its censorship of many things (youtube, google blocking and new sites are my biggest gripe). It is however reliable, fast, and unlimited (and bypassed with proxies).

 

[Zontar]

Class action lawsuit by 97% of all companies in the US in 3, 2,...

In all seriousness though, this will never hold up in court the moment someone brings it up, and it probably will be before it even gets in the first stages of implementation. Say what you will about corporate control over things, this is one of those cases where the interests of most corporations and those of the citizenry are in the same place. If we're lucky, a few heads will roll, namely one that has to do with wheels.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Won't someone think about the poor corporations? Capitalism rocks and people shitting on it need to stop holding tight to their small paychecks and start giving more to corporations.

Yes, I am kidding. The truth is that I am hating capitalism more all the time.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Welcome to the free market I guess... the worst part is this will impact EU net access as the drop off in numbers for certain services will see a price hike for us.

This isn't really the free market, it's big business greed destroying the free market. The government sets up regulatory bodies, corporations get their men in place, and use laws to force out competitors. It's why just about everything in America is messed up and getting more messed up. Use the law to fight competition and change the rules in your favor.

 

[Colt47]

Well, here comes praying that Wheeler doesn't get his plan to fruition.

 

[Mid Boss]

This coming on the heels of Time Warner, the second biggest internet provider, being bought by Comcast the biggest internet provider. Comcast will be the only option in many areas which will not only raise prices and now they can throttle bandwidth to any company that doesn't pay up without threat of people jumping to another internet provider. On a related note, Princeton just did a study that found that America is no longer a democracy. But rather an oligarchy where the land is ruled by the rich and powerful with everyone else having no say in policy. http://www.policymic.com/articles/87719/princeton-concludes-what-kind-of-government-america-really-has-and-it-s-not-a-democracy You can bet your ass that Tom Wheeler has the CEOs of Comcast on speed dial.

 

[McMullen]

You know what the really sad thing is? These guys are able to make these decisions because we all agree they can. It is hypothetically possible for everyone to just decide at once to make Wheeler and people like him homeless and penniless where they belong. Unlikely, but possible. Instead, we continue to agree to let them have this effect on our lives.

 

[wetfart]

Don't worry. Everything will work out just fine. Especially if that Comcast/Time Warner merger goes through. ... Right? *Weeps bitter tears*

 

[Baresark]

I don't see the issue... the dude is being totally fair.
/sarcasm

You have to laugh or you will cry.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

America: Where freedom isn't free.

Hey you can have freedom of speech on the internet.

[sub][sub]It's only gonna cost you $19.99 a month[/sub][/sub]

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Well, that didn't take him long to change his mind.

Anyway, I agree with those calling bullshit on the whole "pay to get a faster service" thing. What's going to happen is that you have to pay money just to get the current maximum rate.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

If it goes through, then it's only a matter of times until most countries hop on the bandwagon... Yay...

 

[Entropywarrior]

This is such f*cking bull. As a Canadian, thanks to Harper just copying everything the American government does, we now get to look forward to this in our future. I like how a telecommunications lobbyist is in charge of the FCC, clearly not biased at all. In what way does this represent the will of the people whom the government claims to follow? Democracy my ass, more like an Oligarchy at this point.

 

[Zeterai]

This is such f*cking bull. As a Canadian, thanks to Harper just copying everything the American government does, we now get to look forward to this in our future. I like how a telecommunications lobbyist is in charge of the FCC, clearly not biased at all. In what way does this represent the will of the people whom the government claims to follow? Democracy my ass, more like an Oligarchy at this point.

If I recall, this was already attempted in our dear Northlands. Harper shot it the hell down, more or less telling the minister in charge of it that if they didn't revoke the laws allowing it, he would, as I understand.

 

[Aitamen]

So all we, the little people, can do is hope that our individual ISPs don't fuck us over.

I feel like I'm pretty safe, with my carrier... but all those horror stories about having to pick between Comcast and Qwest(Now CLink) because that's all some people have (or worse...) man, I feel bad for those folk.

So... we hope Google (who officially supports Net Neutrality) gets their fiber-net into high gear? Hope we have one of the daring upstarts? Them's some slim pickin's when it comes to hopeful ideas...

 

[J Tyran]

Welcome to the free market I guess...

Corpocratic markets are not free and free markets are the last thing they want, they like the regulations, legislation and red tape because they use it to block competition and allow them to create monopolies and oligopolies.

They get themselves a few lobbyists, offer a few senators and congressmen (state and national) a chunky sinecure after they leave office and then they sew up the markets between them with price fixing and artificially limited services and supplies to increase the cost to the customer (or the opposite and flood the market to affect price). Any company that isn't on board with them or does to well and they use the law to shut them out, they also stifle small businesses and start-ups making it a slog for them so they can buy their patents, IP or business models.

 

[Amir Kondori]

I just love how this played out. Of course mister industry stepped in, pretended he cared about net neutrality and was going to make sure it was upheld, somehow, someway, although he never gave any details as to how.
Now of course he has shown that he is going to do the exact opposite. Allowing pay for play is exactly the opposite of net neutrality. It is what telecom and big cable have wanted this whole time. It has been proven they were degrading Netflix performance, their biggest competitor for video services, and once these pay to play rules get enshrined they will be the in the position to pick and choose which services will have any ability to compete in the open market.
Screw these assholes. These people are scum sucking thieves and should be jailed, it really disgusts me. The only hope we Americans have at this point is Congress and we all know the telecoms throw way too much money around on both sides of the isle for that to happen, especially now that the Supreme Court has eliminated campaign contribution limits.
Our country is fucked and we need some major change. I hope we get it.

 

[Michael Legault]

The FCC will in fact soon propose new rules drafted by Wheeler that will allow internet providers to offer a "faster lane" to companies willing to pay for it, according to sources briefed on the proposals, and to negotiate the terms of those deals individually. Those costs would presumably then be passed on to consumers, either as increased prices for content subscriptions or as added costs at the internet provider level for access to optional, specialized service tiers - an extra $5 or $10 per month for Netflix access, for instance.

So the theory is that the ISP corporations will design, create and install a super-fast service for those companies willing to pay extra to have their content stream quicker, which will presumably run seamlessly on top of the current infastructure already present across the country?

Bollocks.

That is Utter Bollocks with a capital UB, and I'm sure Tom Wheeler knows that this will not happen.

If there's one thing we know about these types of private corporations, it's that they would rather see their industry stagnate and rot than pro-actively upgrade their services out of their own profit margins.

What will happen is that regular data will be artificially capped to a speed below the actual capacity of the lines, and you will have to pay to unlock full access to the already in place infastructure of the internet. It will cost the ISP nothing because they will refuse to spend anything on their lines, they will just cap internet speeds at the business end of the line instead of the user end.

This happens already, I pay for 10mb DL, have I ever actually seen it move that fast? It tends to hover around 4-6. I can't wait to move to Halifax, they have unlimited fibre for about 35 bucks a month because the big companies don't own the lines there and have to rent from the companies that do and by some miracle they aren't price gouging dickheads. We'll see how long it lasts...

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

It looks like 'America, land of the free' will soon join 'Fox News, Fair & Balanced' as slogans that need to be taken away due to severe inaccuracies.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Goddamit. I'm just about ready to move to another country at this point.