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Poll Says No Voter Support for Net Neutrality
Giants2.0 writes "A survey conducted by the Commerce Committee says that Americans don't know what net neutrality is, and they don't want it. Ars Technica reports that only 7% of respondents had ever heard of net neutrality, but the report questions the fairness of the survey, which was crafted by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to assess support for the current version of the Telecommunications Act of 2006. The survey suggested to respondents that net neutrality would prevent ISPs from selling faster service or security products, both of which are not true." From the article: "The very brief net neutrality description used by the pollsters is somewhat misleading insofar as it suggests that net neutrality would bar Internet Service Providers from selling faster service than is available today. Strict net neutrality does not concern itself with ultimate transfer speeds available to subscribers, but instead focuses on how different kinds of Internet traffic could be shaped by ISPs for anti-competitive purposes. For instance, strict net neutrality would not prevent an ISP from selling extremely fast 35Mbps connections, but it would prevent ISPs from privileging traffic for their own services for competitive advantage, or degrading the traffic of competing services."
But I'd rather use the power of my wallet to walk away from an ISP than turn the internet into an even bigger federal disaster area. Our wild west wonderland is being turned into a political wasteland by the feds. Any net neutrality bill will probably empower net nannies, do-gooders, and moralizers to get their agendas and probably fund a bridge in Alaska.
A more obvious conclusion is that once again, America's population has been lied to by its own leadership. Not just during the polling, but also in the presentation of the results, there is untruth.
Why is the government funding a poll on an issue with lobbying constiuents on both sides, seemingly in favor of big business donors? Is this really an appropriate use of our tax dollars? Reminds me of the taxpayer monies spent to back the No Child Left Behind act. Who lost their job for misappropriating government funds in that scandal? Ummmm, no one.
Where's the outrage from the hypocrites on the right about wasteful government spending? I don't think Republicans stand for anything except their tee time these days.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Americans are stupid, ignorant jackasses who only care about the next idiotic "reality" TV show or who wore what to the Oscars. These are the same fucknuts who were duped into electing Bush twice despite a record of utter and abject failure. Hell, most of 'em probably can't even spell "net neutrality."
Not intended as a troll or a flame, just an expression of frustration. Jesus, Canada is looking better and better by the day.
Exactly how is this a troll? I have been deliberately downvoted to bury my comment, possibly because of my link? Although I did provide full disclosure, so clearly someone has their panties in a wad.
Anyone who doesn't believe that ten companies own nearly all the media in the US is quite simply ignorant. Anyone who doesn't believe that those ten companies control the news such that their outlets don't report on news unfavorable to them is incredibly naive.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Ah, net neutrality. Just what America needs, more government meddling in the affairs of private enterprise. Net neutrality is just one of the recent schemes to edge America ever closer to socialism/communism. For those of you still hung up on the idea that Communism = Utopia, I refer you to the gargantuan failure known as the U.S.S.R. I am confident that these abuses many of you have imagined will never happen, but if they do, then it might be time for government intervention. For the government to intervene now is reminiscent of "The Minority Report".