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Companies Join Together to Maintain Open Internet

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fighting-for-the-right-to-be dept.

idontneedanickname writes "SiliconValley.com is carrying an article from The Mercury News about the lobbying efforts of companies such as Amazon.com, Microsoft and Walt Disney (yes, you read that right) to stop the FCC from "fundamentally altering the Internet. If that happens, they say, the Internet could evolve into a cable-TV-like system, where providers of high-speed Internet access could steer subscribers toward affiliated Internet sites. The network owners could also limit the types of devices that could be connected to their network, potentially stifling innovation." Printer friendly version of the article is online as well."

23 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. 28 days late? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This has got to be an April Fool's joke, right?

    Oh wait, I get it. It is only the companies that don't own large networks that will biatch about this.
    I'm sorry, it's just too early for me to think.

  2. You somewhat wish ... by supun · · Score: 5, Funny

    that a big black monolith would land on their T1 lines and all there IMs would start spamming, "All these private subnets are yours except the Internet, attempt no meddling there."

    --
    :w!
    1. Re:You somewhat wish ... by red_dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

      That could be a theme for a future Slashdot Poll:

      "My God! It's full of..."

      Packets!

      Spam!

      Noobs!

      Warez!

      Porn!

      --
      In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
    2. Re:You somewhat wish ... by Jester99 · · Score: 2, Funny

      PEOPLE!

      The Internet is PEOPLE!

  3. confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    3 cheers for the companies! Go capatalism? Uh... wait, where am I? Corporate pig-dogs! Marxist ideals rule here at /.! Back to your decadent western towers, and your filthy alluring women... plentiful food... mmm...

    1. Re:confused... by usotsuki · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Die, Allied Schweinhund!" Oh, wait... *g*

      -uso.
      I've been playing *way* too much Wolfenstein 3-D.

      --
      Dreams, dreams, don't doubt dreams, dreaming children's dreaming dreams. Sailor Moon SS
  4. Oh dear... by acehole · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess this statement could sum up the situation.

    "We work as a team, and we do it my way"

    --
    Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
  5. 666 by borgdows · · Score: 3, Funny

    Amazon.com
    Microsoft
    Walt Disney

    omg!! this is THE TRINITY OF EVIL!

  6. Mascots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tux, The Gnu, BSD Devil,

    and now Mickey Mouse?

    opensource heros

  7. I'm confused by arvindn · · Score: 5, Funny
    Whom to cheer for, whom to hate?

    I wish with every story the submitter or the editors would also put up the updated list of The Good Folks(TM) and The Evil Corporations(TM). It would make comment posting a whole lot simpler ;^)

    1. Re:I'm confused by evilviper · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hmmmmm... I see Bill Gates is wearing a black cowboy hat, with red pin-stripes today. He must be feeling especially evil.

      New hobby, what kind of hat would suit someone? I think Linus' hat would have every imaginable feature, such as a fan, solar panel, cellphone, etc. And to use a different device, you have to completely disasemble and re-assemble the hat. ;-)

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    2. Re:I'm confused by ryanvm · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's the point of all the dupes. The first posting is really just practice.

      I've got my prepared statement all ready for the next time this story runs.

  8. Right. by SamMichaels · · Score: 3, Funny

    Slashdot.org is carrying an article from me about the lobbying efforts of companies such as linux.org, gnu.org and fsf.org to stop Microsoft from "fundamentally altering the Internet. If that happens, they say, the Internet could evolve into a cable-TV-like system, where providers of operating systems could steer subscribers toward affiliated Internet sites. The OS owners could also limit the types of devices that could be connected to/installed into their OS, potentially stifling innovation."

    Oops. Too late :(

  9. Re:It makes sense... by Reziac · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think you got that dead on. The last thing a dictator wants, is someone else telling him how to dictate!

    --
    ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  10. You know the end is near... by LeoDV · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...when Amazon, Microsoft and Walt Disney have to unite to defend freedom.

  11. Different types of evil cancel out... by abhinavnath · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...just like electric charge. Microsoft is +10 AlwaysWinning(TM) Evil, while Amazon and Disney are both -5 OppressiveIP Evil. However note that by the Slashdot conventions, Microsoft is always twice as evil as any other company. Thus when Amazon, Disney and MS collaborate, all their evil cancels out and we can root for them.

    Note that any branch of the government, the MPAA/RIAA etc. is -20 OppressiveIP Evil, twice as evil as MS, and so we can never root for them.

    Next time RTFM ;-)

    --
    My other sig is also a .Porsche
  12. Not to worry, to paraphrase: by sammyo · · Score: 2, Funny

    The internet sees the FCC as an error and will route around it.

  13. Re:Umm, and by EdMcMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Haha! Yeah, like IE going to the "IE Update Site" almost half the times I start it.

  14. Re:Umm, and by $rtbl_this · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...like IE going to the "IE Update Site" almost half the times I start it.

    And the really sad thing is that's still not often enough to keep up with all the security updates required.

    --
    "Are you being weird, or sarcastic?" said Emma. I said I didn't know because I get the two feelings mixed up.
  15. Re:The funny thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I don't know about you, but I don't live in the US yet most of my traffic is routed through it. I've seen packets destin for the place next door travel through the US first.

  16. American Democracy - The Spectator Sport by serutan · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yay Amazon! Go Disney! Boooooo telecoms! I wonder who's gonna win? There's the snap... the telecoms try an end-around through state legislatures. Hollings (D-Disney) intercepts. Score!!! And the "voters" (ha-ha) go nuts!

    Game results tonight on InterVision, 6:00, all channels.

  17. Re:Interesting fact by garcia · · Score: 3, Funny

    this is VERY common. When @Home went to ATTBI I had several people call up complaining that the "Internet" was gone and was replaced by this "Homosexuals" website...

    They believed home.excite.com was the "Internet".

    I had other random calls where www.msn.com was set as the homepage by default. These people were concerned they would owe MSN money.

  18. Re:The funny thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You must be from Texas.