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Cable Companies Duped Community Groups Into Fighting Net Neutrality
walterbyrd (182728) writes Last week, it transpired that the big cable companies were bankrolling fake consumer groups like Broadband for America and The American Consumer Institute. These 'independent consumer advocacy groups' are, in truth, nothing of the sort, and instead represent the interests of its benefactors, in the fight against net neutrality. If that wasn't bad enough, VICE is now reporting that several of the real community groups (and an Ohio bed-and-breakfast) that were signed up as supporters of Broadband for America were either duped into joining, or were signed up to the cause without their consent or knowledge.
I guess these were the same people who signed petitions against DHMO
Otherwise, who's the dupe?
STOP THE INSANITY! remember that one?
where the fuck is the alacarte programming options? you bribed the fcc into allowing you to encrypt all video signals and go all-digital.. so now that every customer must have a company-provided receiver, recorder, or cable card... you no longer have ANY EXCUSE for not offering what customers demand -- the ability to pick-and-choose each individual channel or network they want and to only pay for those and not the hundreds of others which are pure junk and would never stand on their own if their existence depended upon viewer choice.
(satellite companies have nothing standing in THEIR way, either, for offering alacarte programming)
other things that are known to happen in american democracy with seemingly little if any recourse:
Oil company dupes community groups into fighting EPA regulations
Major food company dupes citizens into fighting a tax on soda
Cigarette company dupes consumers into thinking smoking is a right, not a crippling addiction
President dupes country into fighting country with no WMD's
Good people go to bed earlier.
1. Get paid to lobby
2. Invent supporters
3. Profit!
It goes to show that America is filled with IDIOTS
No wonder they elected Obama TWICE !!
I think that bringing broadband to America would be pretty cool. I've heard good things about it...very slowly... from parts of the world that do have it, and it seems like we really ought to as well.
I'm just confused about why Comcast, of all people, would be in charge of operating such an initiative, given their apparent opposition to good internet connections...
People weren't duped. What happened was that paid shills posed as communities fighting those things
Yawn !!
Are you telling us that it was the PAID SHILLS who elected Obama TWICE ??
More investigative journalism is the shot in the arm that America needs right now and maybe Snowden did a good thing.
Sue them! They are asking for a Class Action and a "media circus" exposure. Don't be lenient with these deceiving bastards.
I get the sarcasm in that, but I had already stated this when /. first reported this about a week ago, that Cable Companies were already doing this. Government/politicians do this this all the time, PAC groups, censorship groups, ect ect, however those groups were created with the intent of creating propaganda to change laws and re-enforcement of laws, or simply for sabotage.
This is as low as one can get, those groups should be destroyed for backstabbing the public they claimed to support. I don't want to hear any bullshit about them being duped into supporting anti-neutrality, it should be pretty simple to figure out any funding trying to convince your group to oppose net neutrality, is a dead giveaway someone sinister wants your support.
Then again these monopolies maybe leaking this out as a PR spin, they figure people that believe in these groups and support them will scatter and lose interest in making sure net neutrality becomes a reality.
And of course the shit for brain press/media seem only interested in discrediting anyone to make a buck or gain an extra ratings point themselves. I find it very odd VICE reports this at a time when Congress and the FCC are about to make a decision on what needs to be done, instead of this getting leaked when FCC rumors and talks began.
Do you work for the cable company?
This is about net neutrality, not broadband access. Hence the word 'duped' in the title.
I know Comcast would never do anything sneaky, shitty, or otherwise underhanded; so this must be either a huge misunderstanding or what's really the best for us all. Comcast knows best!
I've posted on slashdot regularly for 5 years now, and first was very suprised about the new look of Slashdot Beta. Now I'm accustomed to it and I really would miss it when Dice abandons Beta. I have asked all my friends who also have been on slashdot for a long time. They share my thoughts, and they also like the new comment system.
I believe that the opposers of slashdot beta are only a tiny minority of the users fearing change. When humanity had followed their strategy, we would still live on trees. I think now is the time for progress and to turn off non-beta slashdot.
You can help this (real) grass roots movement by copying this post into every story.
Oh, right, of course ... corporations are people with free speech, and entitled to actively lie to us.
Right, that totally makes sense.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Google and Netflix fund many of the NGOs that claim to be for freedom, privacy and -- surprise, surprise-- net neutrality. This is a battle between billionaires and the cable companies aren't the only billionaires in the game.
Now, it's just a way to eavesdrop on us, track all we do and where we go. I know there are many smart nerds out there still fighting the good fight for freedom, but it seems it's not enough to hold back the ones who think controlling the populace through technology is their God given right as Masters Of The Universe.
Don't forget, fox news sued for their right-to-knowingly-lie and won in court.....
I really, really want to be against net neutrality, because free market and such, but when I look at Time Warner and Comcast, they are the best argument *for* net neutrality. I guess it comes down to who I trust more, the government, or the cable companies.... and it's kind of a tie at zero... Now if the FCC would decide that the infrastructure could be used by startups, allowing for actual competition, then we might get somewhere.
oblig. FoxTrot
Don't feel bad for these "Community Groups" they have shown time and time again that they can be bought very cheaply. Lets remember that the NAACP gave Donald Sterling two awards after sizable contributions from him.
I had to check if my HOA had been duped too, because this is just the type of thing they would do. They're not on the list, but if anyone else is interested they should check the list themselves to see if any groups they're members of are on it.
Sounds like a criminal conspiracy
To learn that "Broadband for America" and "American Consumer Institute" were in fact bankrolled by industry, instead of being a tight-knit community of volunteers taking time after their kids' soccer and little league games.
No there will be even more buracracy and obfuscation in our legal system.
When someone on the street asks me to sign a petition, the answer is always no. It doesn't matter how worthy the stated cause is:
- Free, nutritious school lunches for whales
- Not grinding minorities into paste at the border
- Municipal high-speed internet
You don't know what you are really signing until you read the fine print, and the fine print under the fine print.
Isn't this some kind of slanderous attribution? at least in the case where folks weren't even aware they were listed as a supporter... there ought to be some form of retribution for behavior like this.
Is there more to this story that doesn't make it fraud?
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
Use of a name like that has risk. Doesn't comcast risk a class-action suit by those whose names were falsely named?
it's the only thing the cable & satellite companies will understand - basically cut the cord and buy your content à la cart on DVD, blu-ray, or a streaming service.
I set up a Mac mini DVR at the end of 2012 for off-the-air content - based on my last scan there's 115 channels available via antenna here in Houston. Once I got everything working (my HDTV predates HDMI so I had to get a solution to convert HDMI to Component Video) I then cancelled DirecTV in January of 2013. I buy cable series on blu-ray and iTunes, as well as watch some series on Amazon via my PS3. I've saved over $2000 since then (what I used to pay DirecTV less content purchases).
I'm using the prior generation of these networked HDTV tuners. Since they're networked I can watch live TV on my MacBook Pro as well as on my iPhone and iPad.
more info in my DVR Project blog entries.
This reminds me of something one of my friends told me about signing up for facebook in the early days.
He had created an account, and started following a few famous actors and such, then lost interest in it for a while because nobody really used it yet.
Later, when it became popular, he decided to log in again. In his news feed was the strangest stuff being posted by one of the actors he was following.
The profile was called "The Tony Danza". He had thought he was following the profile of the actor at the time, when in reality "The Tony Danza" is a sex move. http://www.urbandictionary.com...