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House Panel Backs 'Internet Freedom' Legislation
GovTechGuy writes "The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed legislation on Wednesday once again affirming the current management structure of the Web. In doing so, the lawmakers made one thing clear: the only government that should have its hands on the underpinnings of the Internet is the U.S. ' It affirms the importance of an Internet free from censorship and government control and codifies the existing management structure of the Internet. ... Notably, however, lawmakers dropped from the legislation the phrase “free from government control,” which had threatened to derail the April 11 markup by the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. ... [Democrats argued] it could undermine the U.S. government’s ability to enforce existing — or future — laws online.'"
nothing about freedom from corporate control or censorship. Interesting.
I'm sure there was a Reverse Robin Hood amendment or two that was added, or that will be. One of their favorite tricks is to try to stick unpalatable (to most) amendments onto spending resolutions. Although, to be fair, the Democrats have done the same. I think the House Republicans think that since they know that most of the things they pass will be stopped by the Senate and/or the President, they might as well throw as much wing-nut stuff in there as possible to sate their far right supporters. "Hey, we're trying." Unfortunately, most rational people with a decent memory will hold them accountable and once they get out of the primaries these tactics can and will be used against them. The real problem here is that somehow the Republicans have commandeered full control of a lot of state Houses and Governorships, and are using that to gerrymander districts and in some cases even attempt to change the way the electoral college votes are assigned to try to get a Republican into the White House. Their problem is that they are unable to gerrymander entire states or the entire country, which means the Senate and the White House may be out of their reach for the foreseeable future, unless some rules are changed. This is also the reason for the assault on voting rights.
And they say Americans dont get irony.
Can come up with its own protocols, build a network and tell the U.S. government where to go, and what to do upon arrival. .uh. . .
Such an effort is hindered by. .
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
The power to control the internet rests with whomever has either control over the hardware, or control over those who have control over the hardware. They can blow all the hot air they want about an internet 'free from censorship and government control' - but in the end, a lot of that internet runs on hardware that isn't located in the US. If China, or Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan, or Turkey, or any other country with a government that decides the internet needs to be censored of 'harmful' political or social content, then there is nothing the US government can do about it.
That sounds like the democrats too. They put on a big show together of fighting over things, but on most issues they are really very similar. Just find me any recent act passed by congress in which they gave up any significant amount of power.
Even when the parties aren't screwing the people over, there are lobbyists to make sure they do. Look at healthcare reform, for example: It started out as a well-intentioned plan to set up a minimal level of universal health care. By the time the lobbyists from the insurance industry were done, all it did was compel everyone to have an insurance policy and hand out mountains of money in subsidies. Not even subsidies to directly pay for medical care, but subsidies to private insurance companies.
I agree that the Republicans are, on balance, worse than the democrats... but that just means the democrats are less bad.
Sorry, Democrats. Even your congenital desire to hold up cardboard with "Commerce Clause" on it the way a rainbow-haired guy holds up John 3:16 isn't enough to override the First Amendment.
Strange bedfellows -- what do you and the John 3:16 AKA religious folk have in common? 500 word paper due to tomorrow, turn in to Madison and Monroe.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
free from government control
free from control by anyone with an IQ less than 140 and that hasn't had a minimum of 20 years of computer / networking related experience (management experience does not count)...
There, that ought to clear things right up and protect the internet from the fucktards in office today and for most of the rest of eternity...
The US goverment is the least corrupt so we let them have the net...
Our corruption isn't crazy either like religious nuts or nothin. Nope. We're just flat out for the money.
I propose we change our motto from land of the free and all that bullshit... To... "Fuck you pay me!"
It fits us here in the usa much better.
I'm waiting for the rest of the world to wise up and cut off the US from the Internet. Our "we control da wurld" attitude needs a serious slap down.
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
Which means if China decides it wants to create it's own Internet, there's nothing we can do about it.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Sometimes I do wonder if the US having all the control is such a good idea - Megaupload was shut down last January, without judicial due process. However I am pretty damn sure that I don't want countries like China to control my Internet...
The reason that the Republicans rule the House is simple. When Pelosi and her cronies ruled they stunk it up so much anything at all seemed better. The way the Democrats ran amuck with control of both Houses of Congress and the Presidency ignored one simple political reality, that elections come every 2 years. For 2 years they acted like it was all about them ignoring and ridiculing an electorate that still leans slightly to the right overall. I can't believe the ignorant fuckers didn't see the backlash coming. If the Republicans could ever pull their heads out of their asses for a minute or two the Senate would fall too. I don't see them doing it though. Maybe they'll get some glass belly buttons though, at least then they can see where they're going.
That's what the "free from government control" bit was about. Republicans wanted to sneak that nice sounding line in there so that they could kill off net neutrality. Democrats saw through their scheme and stopped it.
In the end, both Republicans and Democrats can't help being themselves - politicians. What we need are statesmen and they're always in short supply.
I am not sure what you mean by "Reverse Robin Hood". I do know that attempts by Democrats to pass "Robin Hood Taxes" are ludicrous. The idea that you can imitate Robin Hood by taking money from anyone and giving it to the government is to not understand what Robin Hood did. Robin Hood robbed from the government (usually the tax collectors) and gave the money to the people. Many people want to take money from people and give it to the government and then compare that to Robin Hood because the people they are taking money from are richer than average. That is how Robin Hood became an outlaw. He was one of the rich that weren't part of the government, so the government took what he had and called him an outlaw when he objected.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I'm still stuck with AT&T DSL at 1.5mbit because South Carolina passed a law giving them a legal monopoly on fiber services in the State.
Fuck AT&T. Fuck the US Government. Anyone who thinks the government does anything with the best interest of "we the people" in mind is a fucking blithering idiot.
In the end, both Republicans and Democrats can't help being themselves - politicians. What we need are statesmen and they're always in short supply.
The definition of "statesman" is "a dead politician". While I don't think those are in short supply, I am rarely disappointed when their numbers increase.
I'm a big fan of the U.N., but something like this absolutely is not a good idea.
Take a look at the recent ITU meetings/conferences and how they are run. Yeah, that's exactly what a U.N. controlled Internet would look like. Not a pretty sight.
For now, the U.S. is the best combination of large-enough-to-matter, and free-enough-to-be-mostly-nonevil there is. There's certainly no other country with the combination of economic/technical power that also has quite as much of a open society mindset. I'd love it if the Swedes or Norwegians or Dutch could handle it (maybe even the Finns), but they simply aren't Big League enough. And the E.U. as a whole is completely broken right now, so that's right out.
Fact is, the USA is the least-worst option. Which isn't a ringing endorsement, but sometimes, Perfect is the enemy of Good Enough.
What makes you think the Chinese private internet 'wants' to work with the real internet?
Trying to regulate any major international infrastructure with a single country in charge of almost everything is always going to be troublesome, but if I had to pick an alternative to the US, I can think of a few credible choices.
Switzerland, maybe? Their position on neutrality in international matters is promising.
Germany? They are successful economically, but also for obvious reasons very conscious of individual freedom and the dangers of centralising too much power.
The trouble I have with the US is that it tends to appoint itself the world's policeman, but primarily when doing so serves US interests. Similarly, what most of the world calls things like "human rights" that apply to all, the US tends to value as "Constitutional rights" that protect primarily US citizens. While these things are perfectly understandable and of little concern if you're actually from the US, most people on the Internet aren't, and that's always going to make for awkward relationships.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
They have opened the door. From TFA: Notably, however, lawmakers dropped from the legislation the phrase “free from government control”
Which is to say: They have deliberately opened the door for further regulation by the FCC and whatever other federal agencies care to stick their noses in.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
The way the Democrats ran amuck
The USA in your head must be very interesting. Unfortunately, it bears little resemblance to the one in the real world. Try to focus, okay?
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
I hate it when people talk about the internet as if it's a single entity. It is a machine with many well-oiled parts.
Half is software, half is hardware. China could make their own intranet, but there's no way they could ever achieve a global parallel.
End rant.
Every other country can agree to blackhole the US and take control pretty easily.
It is exactly how the internet was designed. It is based on trust between peers. (which has been abused several times in the past)
If trust falters, so will the internet as we know it.
It is already at an uneasy point in its life where the US have been abusing their powers and the rest of the world is getting annoyed at it now.
The so-called Country of Freedom is no more, and it will likely only be a matter of time before other countries just say "fuck you" and disconnect the lines.
The American economy will tank if such a thing happens. So much of exporting is based on the internet and through media deliveries on boat and plane.
To disconnect all of those avenues would be catastrophic for the US.
In fact, it would likely drive the higher up morons in to full-out war, that is how pathetic it is.
I'll see you on the illegal global links, /.
This wasn't "Internet Freedom", it's "US Control of the Internet".
DMCA? USA's fault.SOPA/PIPA? USA. And trying VERY hard to export it.
How about Abu Hamsa? How free is his speech?
No, the USA is only concerned about its interests, fuck everyone else if they get in the way.
The Internet is not the world wide web. The Internet is not the world wide web. Its much bigger than that.
'Freedom' and 'Legislation' are two mutually exclusive terms as far as I am concerned. It seems to me that if the US govt were really concerned with internet freedom they would NOT be passing laws, as the nature of a law is to forcibly limit freedoms that would otherwise exist naturally.