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White House Responds To Net Neutrality Petition
bostonidealist writes "The White House has officially responded to a We The People petition created on January 15, 2014, which urged the President to 'direct the FCC to classify ISPs as "common carriers"' after the D.C. U.S. Court of Appeals 'struck down the Federal Communications Commission's open internet rules.' The White House statement says, 'absent net neutrality, the Internet could turn into a high-priced private toll road that would be inaccessible to the next generation of visionaries,' but notes, 'The FCC is an independent agency. Chairman Wheeler has publicly pledged to use the full authority granted by Congress to maintain a robust, free and open Internet — a principle that this White House vigorously supports.'"
I love how Obama signs 100 executive orders a day ordering various federal agencies to implement his radical agenda, but he can't be bothered to ask the Cable and Telecom Monopolist he appointed to chair the FCC to do anything.
Fucking ridiculous.
http://change.gov/agenda/ethic...
"I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists â" and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president."
-- Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA
November 10, 2007
This is fucking insipid. But as long as it adds to the mirage that Your Government Cares, then let the show go on right?
-nch? Now there are indeed laws by which the FCC must operate. There is for example a law or are laws that define what a common carrier is. So how about hurling metric boatloads of attorneys, engineers, sociologists or what have you, at the FCC, to convince them that ISPs are really common carriers? At one time an ISP was arguably an information provider, say when they all provided Usenet feeds. But it has been more than ten years since I've been able to get a feed from any ISP. I don't even get my email from my ISP anymore. I get connectivity, that's it. I don't even use their DNS. So from my point of view at least, as well as those of many common types of Internet users, the ISPs are common carriers now, even if they weren't before.
Please mail me URLs of software employers.
It's been nice to visit you for quite a few years, but the website has changed in ways I do not like, and since soylentnews is up I will delete my account. Good luck to the remaining founders in their next endeavour.
Okay? Good for you, I guess?
The FCC is no more "independent" than the IRS.
Note the recent scheme the FCC was going to try, putting bureaucrats in the newsrooms of broadcasters to "study" the reporting of news. Which got quickly withdrawn soon as word got out.
That would have been putting a Regime "political officer" into newsrooms to threaten the LICENSES of broadcasters who don't "praise and worship" Pharaoh.
Corporatism != Free Market
They chose to blow smoke up our ass instead of respond.
Comcast sent us more campaign donations than you did.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Correct. It is an independent regulatory agency.
"So how about hurling metric boatloads of attorneys, engineers, sociologists or what have you, at the FCC, to convince them that ISPs are really common carriers?"
How about that? have you sent them a letter? have you contact local experts to get them to send a letter? organize anything?
Or do you just complain until someone else does all the work?
And yes, logically they are common carriers.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Namesake law poised to further destroy the American's productive capacity? We'll just kick that can down the road another two years; fuck the low wage workers with crappy healthcare. Obummer doesn't hesitate to executive order whatever race baiting nonsense he wants into existence.
Do something about the government sanctioned monopolies looming over the Internet? Oh no. The FCC is "independent" and we don't have the authority.
Just so long as the oldsters get their bennies these statists can do anything, or cop-out on anything, and they're guaranteed their positions of power. The AARP base is bought and paid for with whatever printed, borrowed or taxed monies are demanded.
Has one of these petitions done anything other than get a watered down, neutered response from the WH? I mean people really, the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave doesn't give a shit about petitions. He does care about giving you the impression that he cares, but he really doesn't. If he did he'd already be directing his Cronies in Congress to put legislation through and ask for it on his desk in 30 days. But no, "The FCC is an independent..." bullshit. The FCC is an appointed group mostly made of of Industry insiders who don't have your interests at heart, but the monopolistic practices that keep their customers, the Carriers and Broadcasters, firmly entrenched in this country. Independent my ass, just look at Tom Wheeler's resume and tell us he's impartial. Yeah, just what we need at the FCC, somebody up to his ass with industry connections and a vulture capitalist too. I wonder how much money he'll make while at the FCC or afterwards when he's rewarded with a posh do-nothing job at Comcast or Verizon?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Block the proposed buyout and merger of Time Warner Cable by Comcast.
Created: Feb 13, 2014
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/block-proposed-buyout-and-merger-time-warner-cable-comcast/KHvv2Rfm
Will Comcast and Verizon crush Netflix?
By Benzinga Feb 24, 2012 6:01PM
http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=1852e69e-b124-402e-a8b2-ada5c6ec853d
Except that tax dollars aren't being spent on petitions.
"If You Like Your Internet, You Can Keep It"
All your internets are belong to Fort Meade, anyway...
"uh, how much money do you have to contribute for us to listen to you?"
That is ALL they care about. ( well, that and destroying the country as fast as possible before time runs out )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I've lost count the number of times this administration has promised that the "intent" of what they want is vastly different than the law they just passed. I have double plus confidence in the future admins carrying the torch of the spirit of these laws.
This Government Petition Website built and maintained by a generous grant from Comcast, Inc?
Oh I get it. Obama programmed, maintains, and develops the Petition interface during his weeks off in Hawaii. Got it!
I'm surprised how well SoylentNews has taken off...
The red is a little hard on my eyes, but with a little more work, there's no more reason to stick around here and wait for BETA to ruin the site.
The website isn't part of the white house site? Is the white house website being paid for by something other then tax dollars?
-nch?
Now there are indeed laws by which the FCC must operate. There is for example a law or are laws that define what a common carrier is.
So how about hurling metric boatloads of attorneys, engineers, sociologists or what have you, at the FCC, to convince them that ISPs are really common carriers?
Or, much simpler- How about if when Obama gets a petition like this from 100K+ people, instead of just passing the buck *entirely*, he picks up the phone. If he were doing a better job as president he would have used his stature to get an on-the-record answer from the FCC Chairman that *he appointed*, as to *why* he hasn't classified ISPs as common carriers. The answer he gets might be totally obvious B.S., or it might be educationally insightful. Then quote that answer as his answer to the petition, instead of just passing the buck and effectively saying 'no comment' with a lot of words. Oh wait, maybe he did, the answer was total B.S. and Obama realizes that by passing along the information to the public, it would make him look really bad for appointing the guy in the first place.
In what way is the FCC independent? Are they a fourth branch of government? Are they a part of the judiciary or legislative branch? I'm pretty sure they're constitutionally part of the executive branch.
...saying something they had already put on the record. He has a great issue that the public is passionate about but Obama folds every hand he is dealt.
Is there anything better than clicking through Microsoft ads on Slashdot?
... that is, should he have chosen to sign the laws, the laws passed without his signature while Congress was in recess, or the congress overrode his veto.
Strictly speaking, President Obama cannot just declare that ISPs are Common Carriers. I expect the law says that the FCC determines that, and FDR or some such signed the law that established the FCC, at the time the Common Carrier status was to regulate the phone companies.
However the president does have a lot of power, as I said, to present evidence to the FCC during hearings, to write friend of the court briefs, to petition the courts and so on.
But I'm pretty sure he could not just sign an executive order.
Were that the case, that an executive order could just overturn a law, we'd see a lot more executive orders than we presently do.
Please mail me URLs of software employers.
Anyone who signed this petition knew we'd get the typical PR response that's devoid of any content--that's not what we were seeking in the first place. The benefit from these petitions is that (1) it may draw public attention to this issue and get a mention in the mainstream media and (2) they cost each individual about 5 seconds of time and a mouse click. And that's what we may get, so there may be at least some measure of victory in this.
If the vast majority of Americans knew how badly they were getting fleeced by the telecoms compared to other first world countries, they would be more concerned. Unfortunately the media has no incentive to cover such issues because (1) real journalism isn't as profitable as entertainment and news outlets are no longer required to cover issues of public importance (see e.g. the Fairness Doctrine) or (2) it conflicts with the propaganda.
I'm surprised how well SoylentNews has taken off...
The red is a little hard on my eyes, but with a little more work, there's no more reason to stick around here and wait for BETA to ruin the site.
I agree. However, I've still modded you down as this is off-topic. Let's be civil about this. Dice management is driving /. into the ground. But we don't have to make others suffer for the sins of Dice.
... on North Vietnam, it was always willing to pass the funding bills for it.
To defund the FCC would require that Congress leave it out of the budget resolution, or reduce the funding provided by the resolution.
That's not something a White House petition would affect.
Please mail me URLs of software employers.
What now? Is there going to be any change?
Just wait until Hilary gets elected. Jesus, what a monster she is.
But sadly, still better than anything the Republicans have. And the third parties have no chance.
I love how Obama signs 100 executive orders a day ordering various federal agencies to implement his radical agenda
Obama has only signed 170 executive orders since 2009.
That's less than Bush and Clinton btw.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
This thread is going to be full of whining. Lots of blame. Lots of arguing. Lots of links to sources.... but no action.
Wolf-PAC.com. Go. sign up. DO SOMETHING. I drove an hour today to get to my state capitol, visited my state rep, and asked him to sponsor legislation to call for an article V convention to FIX the problem. The problem isn't and R or a D next to someone's name. It's that money buys influence. It's that our reps are elected almost completely based on who raises the most money. And that isn't their fault. It's YOURS.
You vote based on partisan hackery and don't bother to educate yourselves. You're all fired up to argue on the internet, but can't be bother to call your damn rep and tell them what's on your mind. And to boot, you vote based on made up knee jerk reactions. They're playing you like a fiddle. Ok, mostly the Right here, I really do have to show my bias. :D Really, a Muslim? A secret Muslim? F'ing stupid... but the laziness crosses party lines.
Fix your brain, get off your ass, and go FIX IT. Stop whining on the internet. Stop arguing uselessly with random strangers on the internet. It wasn't even that hard to call my rep, get a meeting, and start working on a solution.
Sorry, I'm a little frustrated by all the stupid arguing. Also, the stupidity. Go. wolf-pac.com. Sign up. Work with the people in your state (many of whom are in the OTHER party, and you'll hang out with them and discover they're actually quite intelligent and put a lot of thought into their beliefs).
You just mentioned every political position. How many are in positions of power because there former lobbyist?
Bush appointed or his entire administration where lobbyist sympathizers, but political parties aside, there all doing this. And its just a joke that people cannot tell the difference, and want to argue siding with Republican or Democrat.
Many of the positions filled are either close friends of, or former lobbyists, even former employees of monopolistic companies that all have something to gain from being in there new positions. And they always say the same dead beat thing, "because of my experience in my former job I am qualified to rid or deal with these abuses". The enitre system regardless of the political party have screwed over anyone and everyone, and the only thing I keep reading is about the good things they had done, which usually turns out to be BS, or the things they failed to do, while always being reminded who is buying them off..
^^ That dude is dead on.
People that argue against different presidents based on spending should be shunned.
First, the conversation devolves into uber-lameness where different jackasses start trotting out more shitty numbers out their ass.
Conversations with things like "But as a percent of GDP divided by the number of years, adjusted for inflation." are fucking lame. Use real reasons to make an argument --- even if the argument is wrong, anything is better than a nerd numbers fight.
For fucks sake!
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
The funny thing is -- considering how we just print more money --- is that the Arabs and Chinese are eager too take our funny money as payment for oil or electronics.
250 million Chinese toil away in factoriies for some greenbacks hastily printed in the USA with numbers like "$100" or "$1000" on them.
Quite a racket we are running --- let us hope it lasts!
American: "Can I buy a tanker of your oil for this suitcase of paper --- I mean dollars?"
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
But let's better wait 'til their masters have spoken before we assume that this statement stands.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You'll get farther writing your congressmen.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
I love how all the Slashdot Libertarians who are all about Internet Corporate Freedom (that is, against any laws the actually protect consumers from selective throttling and other anti-neutrality bullshit) are suddenly in favor of net neutrality now that the Obama administration has said that they're not going to do anything about it.
Well, not all of you, but definitely those of you who are simple minded enough to become caught up in party politics as though it makes a difference in the outcome of anything decided in Washington.
And you poor sad bastards who actually believe that the whitehouse petitions are anything more than pacifiers to quiet your whining, did you actually believe that any substantive changes would come about as a result of you signing a petition? Seriously? Change doesn't happen in Washington unless someone in the government personally wants it, is bribed to change it, or is forced to as part of an attempt to cover up some other malfeasance.
The petitions are a way for the American government to stuff a cock-shaped pacifier in your mouths while the government goes ahead and does what it wants irregardless of your wishes.
Bread and circuses, people. Bread and circuses.
Signifying nothing...
rand paul would be a better president than hillary any day of the week so no, its not better than anything the republicans have
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Net neutrality is integral to a culture that relies so heavily on digital technology, which is why it's important to keep up with the issue. For anyone who needs a refresher, here's a great mockumentary to bring you up to speed: www.theinternetmustgo.com/
the people responsible for the fraud that put us in this mess. So those same people are free to do it again and again.
He is responsible for the Executive branch.....which has the obligation to pursue these criminals on behalf of the people. Instead he is busy driving the getaway car.
The internet should be a common utility and not controlled by a handful of greedy companies. The ruling is against the consumer and empowers the troll's greed. To get data across the bridge (internet), we must feed the fearsome trolls even more (ATT, Verizon, Comcast etc..) or be subject to pain (slow or disrupted service).. Greed sucks!
And yes, logically they are common carriers.
Logically, they're anything they want to be as long as it maximizes profitability.
Oh, right, you're thinking of ISPs as service providers. That's a common misconception.
They're for-profit businesses. Given a choice between common-carrier (utility) status and information-provider status, which one makes more money? Because that's what they have always lobbied for, and will continue to do so.
Your first mistake is thinking that the 'net exists for the good of the individual or the community. It exists for the primary and overarching good of the providing corporations. Never forget that, because tactics and decisions based on any assumption than absolute reality are doomed... because they're fighting on a battlefield which doesn't exist.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Rand Paul lacks the intellectual capacity to tie his own shoes, let alone be the most powerful elected leader of the free world.
And let's not even get started on his racism, fundamental dishonesty ("hey, the professional association won't accept me, so I'll start my own!"), and near-complete lack of empathy.
No way would I EVER vote for him.
He is just so used to passing the buck, though. Why would he change now. Hope and change and kool aid and all that!
Pretty typical response from a democratic government. Of course, they couldn't do anything without congress, which is not friendly atm.
The quality of discourse in America has gotten so poor. All we get from people are memed arguments and broadsides. One way to look through the false dichotomy of government vs. business, one which suits the sham of political discourse wanted by the Duopoly, is to realize tow things. 1) The same group of very rich people support both political parties and have for a long time. The National Committees have published their biggest donations for each national election for many years now, and the donors are the same group of people. 2) Americans are mostly naive about politics and economics and the intimate connection of the two. In particular they are naive about the role of corruption in both politics and business. They are often victims of selective attention and public relations to conceal corruption in private business while disclosure force the same abuses of power into the open when they occur in government, so they get a biased view of the problem. One way to resolve this is to look at the backgrounds of the people who lead in the country. You find that they are pretty much the same sorts of people whit lots of amition and that through their careers they migrate from roles in business and government freely, and most of them are very wealthy. So, avuse of power is a universal human trait, every one of us if we are fortunate to get the power will tend to abuse it some way. The person who uses power morally is rare or is eliminated by those who don't. So I assume that people are seeing a biased sample of behavior and since those that aspire to wealth and business success are going to se it in even a more biased way. I think that the solution is more disclosure but there needs to be much more disclosure about internal business strategy than there is now, and I don't really care if business people claim that this hurts their competitive advantage when they abuse power even more than our elected officials.
If government and business bias the flow of Information on the Internet than they do already, a case can be made that net -neutrality is already a moot issue with the biasing of information flow in social media, which is not a government decision, then people who want more freedom of expresion will turn to alternative technology which is harder to control, mainly abandoning the Internet and looking for technology that allows for ephemeral networks that are hard to track and spy on. The spies are both government and business, and the same group of power mongers, interchangable thieves, from business or government. Take your standard politics and shove it; that does not address the problem.