The FCC's Net Neutrality Sellout: A Wakeup Call And A Slap In The Face

[RoonMian]

Oh, believe me, we're aware. The shitty thing is, there is practically nothing we can do about it. Then, when the US gets screwed over by this, other countries people in power will notice and do the same to make even more money.

In another thread I already voiced my concerns that the current proposal by the EU commissar for the digital agenda is basically doing the same. It's just sneakier over here. So the EU may already be hot on the US' heels.

Captcha: It is certain ... Please, say it ain't so... D:

By the way, your avatar is awesome.

Edit:

Freedom of information, espression and communication is being attacked here, very fundamental aspects of our societies. I really hope that you can turn this around somehow and that net neutraility is actually being constitutionalised in the EU as it appears it might happen.

The Itre already gutted Neelie Kroes' proposal with broad exceptions for "specialised services". Our last chance is to all vote for people we trust to turn against this in the EU Parliament elections next months. Namely the social democratic S&D block, the green /EFA block or splinter groups like the pirates and stuff. The EU Parliament will only vote on this after the elections so we gotta shake up the house first, because if the christian conservative EVP and the libertarian ALDE blocks stay the strongest factor then it's gonna get waved right through.

 

[Nimcha]

It's a bit funny, people actually wanting government to regulate the internet for once.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Well, fuck everything.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

...Goddamnit I knew the big businesses were corrupt, I fuckin' knew it! Well, I'm not gonna stand for this! Viva la revolucion!

 

[Nikolaz72]

Well, the E.U signed Net Neutrality into law so I suppose a lot of business will just start moving outside the U.S...

Good riddance too, our customer service is way better. It will end up being beneficial towards consumers in the end if U.S goes full retard.

 

[Random Argument Man]

All I can say as someone who is not an American citizen is that I hope every single American user of this website does everything they can to make their voices heard on this subject, and don't even wait for the official review period. And then, once you've made your voice heard, tell everyone else you know to do the same.

Checked your profile. It says canadian. (Like me)

We're also in deep shit. http://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/blog/canada-wont-escape-the-fccs-gutting-of-net-neutrality?utm_source=motherboarfb

In other words, I guess we can make an effort to counter this too!

 

[shintakie10]

Now, if I were a Comcast CEO I would call up Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, and tell him I've got a couple hundred million reasons why he should dedicate some to telling his watchers to go support FCC's plan. It's the channel with the most technophobic viewers who have no idea what all this entails and the most viewers who will support corporate interests regardless of whether or not it steps on their own throats.

Fox dedicates a few hours on a slow news day. They've got 24 hours to fill so it wont be hard to find time. They go on how these new rules will support free market, compare everyone against the rules with Hitler, and close it off with the clincher by implying that Obama would be against these rules and so all REAL Americans should be endorsing them. There, you now have enough people flooding the public comments with endorsement of the new plan that the numbers for and against are close enough that the FCC are free to do what they want.

Comcast. If you're reading this. I can be a completely amoral, unfeeling, money hungry piece of s**t bastard who can play the public like a fiddle. I'll be the best damn CEO you've ever had. Call me.

Interestingly enough, when the original net neutrality laws were struck down in court everyone was against the idea on the news. Fox business analysts, Fox regular analysts, hell I think Papa Bear himself got in on the action talking about how this was a fuck terrible idea.

Even the slimiest business person not related to Comcast realizes that no one wants a world where Comcast can dictate what can and can not be viewed on the internet.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Well, never thought I would use this expression in earnest being an atheist but:

God Damn all of those involved to Hell. Straight to Hell, for eternal torture.
(which in their case would likely equate to serving free food to the poor at a soup kitchen)

Time to perform the Ultimate Canadian act of Anger and Defience!!!

I am going to write SUCH a letter to my MP!

All I can say as someone who is not an American citizen is that I hope every single American user of this website does everything they can to make their voices heard on this subject, and don't even wait for the official review period. And then, once you've made your voice heard, tell everyone else you know to do the same.

Checked your profile. It says canadian. (Like me)

We're also in deep shit. http://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/blog/canada-wont-escape-the-fccs-gutting-of-net-neutrality?utm_source=motherboarfb

In other words, I guess we can make an effort to counter this too!

Good, let us all vote this to death faster than a Quebecois Referendum!

(And then when our spineless Govt. just does whatever America does, we storm Ottawa. We know the Mounties just let people through anyways, not like we need to worry about security)

[edit] Americans, this is a good time for y'all to brandish those guns you value so much. Wave them in the direction of the people trying to steal your freedoms, and your Moneys. After all, isn't that the point?

 

[RossaLincoln]

Why don't you explain how it is that we've come to expect brazen cowardice from the Obama administration?

I admit that was, kind of, something of a cheap shot on my part. However - and I say this as a two-time Obama voter, someone probably so far to the left of many people here I only show up in peripheral vision, and someone who is at least able to recognize that at least from my perspective, things would have been a lot worse under McCain - I think it's fair to note that the Obama administration is absurdly risk-averse even when there's no damned reason for it to be. After the election, no action was taken to acknowledge the fact that a certain Connecticut Senator had spent 2008 calling Obama a communist and actively campaigning for the other party and yet was still allowed to retain his seniority in the senate and to caucus with the Democrats, and of course he became a constant source of betrayal. The Health Care debate was particularly frustrating. Yes, the ACA makes things objectively better than they were before, but any concepts that weren't already part of republican health care proposals were removed from the administration's proposals before they even started to negotiate with congress. Further, the administration had to be dragged, somewhat embarrassingly, into finally supporting gay rights unambiguously. And that's not even getting into the secrecy behind the Trans-Pacific Pact negotiations.

It gets difficult to believe "we did the best we could with this congress" when even when congress isn't a factor we still end up with stuff like this Net Neutrality sellout. Very frustrating.

My point being that I have grown very used to the administration kind of wimping out every time it matters. As a friend of mine put it, it's a weird thing that the victory on getting meaningful health care reform finally passed still felt like defeat when all was said and done.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Why don't you explain how it is that we've come to expect brazen cowardice from the Obama administration?

I admit that was, kind of, something of a cheap shot on my part. However - and I say this as a two-time Obama voter, someone probably so far to the left of many people here I only show up in peripheral vision, and someone who is at least able to recognize that at least from my perspective, things would have been a lot worse under McCain - I think it's fair to note that the Obama administration is absurdly risk-averse even when there's no damned reason for it to be. After the election, no action was taken to acknowledge the fact that a certain Connecticut Senator had spent 2008 calling Obama a communist and actively campaigning for the other party and yet was still allowed to retain his seniority in the senate and to caucus with the Democrats, and of course he became a constant source of betrayal. The Health Care debate was particularly frustrating. Yes, the ACA makes things objectively better than they were before, but any concepts that weren't already part of republican health care proposals were removed from the administration's proposals before they even started to negotiate with congress. Further, the administration had to be dragged, somewhat embarrassingly, into finally supporting gay rights unambiguously. And that's not even getting into the secrecy behind the Trans-Pacific Pact negotiations.

It gets difficult to believe "we did the best we could with this congress" when even when congress isn't a factor we still end up with stuff like this Net Neutrality sellout. Very frustrating.

My point being that I have grown very used to the administration kind of wimping out every time it matters. As a friend of mine put it, it's a weird thing that the victory on getting meaningful health care reform finally passed still felt like defeat when all was said and done.

Seems it's time to enact the "Aerosmith Protocol"

 

[Callate]

Just going to leave this here:

[link]https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/maintain-true-net-neutrality-protect-freedom-information-united-states/9sxxdBgy[/link]

It's a small thing, but it's a start.

And if you signed on for the U.S. to build a Death Star... really, no excuses now.

 

[Cybylt]

Just going to leave this here:

[link]https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/maintain-true-net-neutrality-protect-freedom-information-united-states/9sxxdBgy[/link]

It's a small thing, but it's a start.

And if you signed on for the U.S. to build a Death Star... really, no excuses now.

There's this one too.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

American policies always seem to trickle North eventually. To those of you who can voice your opinion to your elected officials, please do. They'll keep pushing all the buttons they can to get it passed.

 

[vallorn]

Just going to leave this here:

[link]https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/maintain-true-net-neutrality-protect-freedom-information-united-states/9sxxdBgy[/link]

It's a small thing, but it's a start.

And if you signed on for the U.S. to build a Death Star... really, no excuses now.

There's [link: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/fire-fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-cable-industry-lobbyist-decades/qv2HYJhV] this one [/link] too.

broken link. it needs to be link= not link:

Fixed version:

this one

Also voted on both of them let's get this ball rolling.

 

[SecondPrize]

Why don't you explain how it is that we've come to expect brazen cowardice from the Obama administration?

I admit that was, kind of, something of a cheap shot on my part. However - and I say this as a two-time Obama voter, someone probably so far to the left of many people here I only show up in peripheral vision, and someone who is at least able to recognize that at least from my perspective, things would have been a lot worse under McCain - I think it's fair to note that the Obama administration is absurdly risk-averse even when there's no damned reason for it to be. After the election, no action was taken to acknowledge the fact that a certain Connecticut Senator had spent 2008 calling Obama a communist and actively campaigning for the other party and yet was still allowed to retain his seniority in the senate and to caucus with the Democrats, and of course he became a constant source of betrayal. The Health Care debate was particularly frustrating. Yes, the ACA makes things objectively better than they were before, but any concepts that weren't already part of republican health care proposals were removed from the administration's proposals before they even started to negotiate with congress. Further, the administration had to be dragged, somewhat embarrassingly, into finally supporting gay rights unambiguously. And that's not even getting into the secrecy behind the Trans-Pacific Pact negotiations.

It gets difficult to believe "we did the best we could with this congress" when even when congress isn't a factor we still end up with stuff like this Net Neutrality sellout. Very frustrating.

My point being that I have grown very used to the administration kind of wimping out every time it matters. As a friend of mine put it, it's a weird thing that the victory on getting meaningful health care reform finally passed still felt like defeat when all was said and done.

Fair enough, I kind of understood why he stepped back from the health care debate, but I was pretty busy blaming that entire thing and the first two years in general on Harry Reid being unable to get shit done with 60 votes at his back.

 

[RossaLincoln]

Fair enough, I kind of understood why he stepped back from the health care debate, but I was pretty busy blaming that entire thing and the first two years in general on Harry Reid being unable to get shit done with 60 votes at his back.

Definitely some blame goes to him as well. Basically, democratic leadership is painfully risk-averse and spineless every time it counts. Also, Reid shouldn't have needed 60 votes, but his painful refusal to reform the filibuster - not to mention his willingness to play charlie brown again and again and again and never learn that the football was going to be snatched away - allowed republicans and a couple of sellout democrats to dictate terms. Idiot. Still, I blame Obama too, since all the things he did have under his control have also been painfully compromised.

 

[rednightmare]

Oh, believe me, we're aware. The shitty thing is, there is practically nothing we can do about it. Then, when the US gets screwed over by this, other countries people in power will notice and do the same to make even more money.

In another thread I already voiced my concerns that the current proposal by the EU commissar for the digital agenda is basically doing the same. It's just sneakier over here. So the EU may already be hot on the US' heels.

Could you provide a link to this thread or news about this agenda. As a European, I would like to read up on it.

 

[TechNoFear]

Not to mention that P2P / Bit Torrent data can now be legally throttled down to dial-up speeds to prevent piracy.

Someones is going to have pay for the infrastructure costs involved in the increased bandwidth because of video on demand. Its either going to be the the companies that stream or the isp's. They are not going to be able pass 100% of the cost on to the consumer, so some is going to have to take a hit on their margin. This whole net neutrality debate is being funded by corporate lobbyists acting on behalf of the streaming companies. As usual fashionable liberal opinion buys the anti corporate line while ignoring the fact the main beneficiaries are other corporations.

You make it sound like the streaming companies get free internet, rather than already having to pay an ISP / HOST for the bandwidth their customers download. (Do you not know that web hosting companies charge by the amount a site uploads?)

The ISPs want the streaming companies to pay to send the content AND for their customers to pay again to receive the content (ie pay twice for the same bandwidth).

You also fail to understand that the major reason people pay more for broadband connections is the content.

As usual fashionable liberal opinion buys the anti corporate line while ignoring the fact the main beneficiaries are other corporations.

You are ignoring that the corporations will be able to pay the extra amount for fast routing to their customers.

The big losers in this will be small business and start-ups, who cannot yet afford to pay extra, and so will not get customers (because of the degraded quality of service).

This means the next big internet start-ups will probably not be American based (or deliver content for American audiences/tastes).

 

[TechNoFear]

Non-Americans SHOULD be worried as well.
This will effect the WHOLE of the internet.

This is not about delivering content, it is about receiving content (your ISP making some of your download streams slower will not affect any of my downloads).

As such it will mostly effect American consumers and US businesses which rely on uploads (ie cloud service providers).

The biggest way non Americans will suffer is by businesses going broke because of the new charges (or loss of customers).

But as a benefit to non Americans; most new internet based start-ups will originate outside of the US and deliver content more to our tastes.