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ISP Lobbyists Pushing Telecom Act Rewrite (dslreports.com)
Karl Bode, reporting for DSLReports:Telecom lobbyists are pushing hard for a rewrite of the Telecom Act, this time with a notable eye on cutting FCC funding and overall authority. AT&T donated at least $70,000 to back Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, and clearly expects him to spearhead the rewrite and make it a priority in 2017. The push is an industry backlash to a number of consumer friendly initiatives at the FCC, including new net neutrality rules, the reclassification of ISPs under Title II, new broadband privacy rules, new cable box reform and an attempt to protect municipal broadband. AT&T's Ryan donation is the largest amount AT&T has ever donated to a single candidate, though outgoing top AT&T lobbyist Jim Cicconi has also thrown his support behind Hillary Clinton.
They're all owned by corporations and do their bidding.
Sure, get the ISPs out of government, but please also get government out of ISPs, mkay?
The more that ISPs seek to rewrite the rules in their favor, the more likely it is that the citizens will ignore those rules.
I don't claim to know any political internals, but $70,000 to get legislation that you basically write yourself passed sounds extremely low. Wouldn't this cost at least mid 6 figures? How much are the industry lobbyists and body shops paying Congress to ignore issues with the H-1B program and expand it? I'd guess there's a lot of non-reported money following behind that official $70K figure.
Industry lobbying must be the ultimate blank ticket for a Congressperson. It must be nice to just call up a lobbyist, promise to do something and get whatever your heart desires. I often joke with colleagues about "golfware" products like SAP or Oracle where the salespeople just pump the senior execs full of booze, hookers and blow until they sign the deal, but this must take stuff like that to a whole new level.
Welcome to the USA. We have the best laws money can buy.
I hope this backfires, but I expect that big business will get whatever it wants.
Doesn't a 70k donation seriously violate the maximum contribution limits?
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
AT&T alone is in the 4-15M range per year: https://www.opensecrets.org/or...
Telecom has a big lobby.
Real lawyers write in C++
Cant have that now can we? Bastards.
[Republicans are] all owned by corporations and do their bidding.
Have you been avoiding the news recently?
Google Clinton and "pay for play", or Clinton and "foundation", or Clinton and "Wikileaks". (Or just wait a week or so for that last one.)
Here's cash flowing into the Clinton Foundation from corporations benefiting from selling Uranium to Russia.
Here's cash flowing into the Clinton Foundation from corporations benefiting from selling dual use technology (private and military uses) to Russia.
Here's $17 million that disappeared from the Clinton Foundation.
We've complained for years that the political elite is owned by the corporations, and that there's no difference between having a D or R after a candidate's name.
Don't blame corruption on just the Republicans, it's not intellectually honest and distracts people from the true problems.
.
But the ISPs, God bless 'em. They are making money like crazy as they continue to purchase laws favorable to reducing competition and increasing profits.
Is not a better title for the article
Corporation pay to reduce consumer protections by attacking government oversight and control of market.
AT&T donated at least $70,000 to back Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan
Should be
AT&T bribed Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan at least $70,000
It seems the only way to change the situation is through violence, but history tells us that that's not a very good solution.
Does anyone have any thoughts?
The more that ISPs seek to rewrite the rules in their favor, the more likely it is that the citizens will ignore those rules.
I give up. How do we ignore those rules?
Start our own ISPs - and get everything seized by the government for failing to play by their rules?
Hack the infrastructure - and get busted for "stealing service" or "unauthorized access to a computer system" - and get everything seized by the government, plus a felony conviction and the resulting revocation of constitutional rights for the rest of our lives?
Did you have something else in mind? I'm really confused about what you mean.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Candidates have some limits, but PACs lost those restrictions in the suprime court ruling known as Citizens United.
And ordinary citizens shouldn't have limits for the same reasons - but didn't have the big pockets to argue that in court like the organized lobbyists do.
Campaign spending limits are a bait-and-switch. They pretend to level the playing field by cutting down the big spenders' power. But instead they block the grass-roots' influence - individually or when organizing - while leaving the rich able to circumvent them, and (by building a complex paperwork maze to navigate) give incumbent politicians a further massive advantage against upstart challengers.
What they're really about is helping those currently in power STAY in power.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Is there even remotely a chance that this insidious cycle can be broken?
Voting party lines won't fix this. This is party-agnostic.
It's time we add something to the Constitution: The separation of Commerce and State. But this will never, everty-ever happen. That relationship predates the US, it predates most of the last 2000 years, and I bet such shenanigans went on before that, too.
Citizen's United made it bloody plain these grotesque hybrid corporation/person abominations have the right to Free Speech, and money is speech. This BS needs to be overturned, it's probably Step 1.
Step 2 may be the Lobbies must be busted. Commerce went on a union-busting binge, we need to go on a lobby-busting binge.
The Soap Box is drowned in a sea of noise, the Ballot Box is broken, the Jury Box is bought and paid for, maybe it's time for the Ammo Box?
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
Sigh, I remember when Slashdot used to be a news place for Nerds and not this stupid political bull crap of pointing fingers at one another.
I remember farther back. (Note that I have two fewer digits in my I.D.)
It's always been like this. We may have a few more professional grass-roots trolls now that we have a couple orders of magnitude more eyeballs. But come politics season people's political leanings come out.
Face it: Politics IS "news for nerds" and "stuff that matters".
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Oh great, now I have this looping in my brain
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
FCC does some good for consumers and telecoms attempt to form a gang. Telecoms acting like a mafia. This kind of cooperation between Telecoms just shows that they are colluding with each other. If anything FCC should now receive more funding. They've shown they have the public's best interest at heart and I'm for that. Never thought I would say this but; good guy FCC. wow.
http://www.movetoamend.org/
How? The federal government provides defense, environmental protection, law enforcement and some healthcare services. That requires a lot of materials to be bought by the government. Then there's the local council that provides sewage, water, roads and some communications infrastructure. They make large purchases too. Who else can do this? Please don't say private enterprise can provide socialized services. They can't and the reason why is in the words themselves.
How many gun owners are in a militia? Which is what those gun owners are meant to be doing with their guns, not home defense; only a few US states explicitly allow gun use for home defense. The other issue being, the government is prepared: This is why the police have been militarized. The biggest threat to the government is militia organisations, according to the FBI, not fanatical, homicidal, unmarried Muslims.
Things are bad, but I don't think they're THAT bad. I, for one, am not going to pick up a rifle on your say-so. Another civil war is the last thing this country needs.
The Soap Box is drowned in a sea of noise, the Ballot Box is broken, the Jury Box is bought and paid for, maybe it's time for the Ammo Box?
Nope, the corporations and state own the ammo box as well. Time to think outside the boxes they've convinced you you're stuck with.
Is there even remotely a chance that this insidious cycle can be broken?
No. The very fact that abominations such as the TPP could be penned in secret and given fast-track status to be approved by congress pretty much sums it up; where the profits of international corporations takes priority over laws enacted by elected representatives and is guaranteed, and treacherous swine get on camera and with a wink and a smile to each other say how great it'll be for America.
The next move is to make sure the ammo box is no longer an option either, now that regulatory capture and mass surveillance are accomplished and a legion of propagandists are at their disposal. It'll be interesting to see at what lengths they will go to in order to disarm the peasants.
Ah yes, the Customers, the telecom lobby has it correct. Those dirty, dirty customers!
If only the customers could be forced to like the low data rates and data caps on plans. If only the customers could be sold low entry price plans with 'gotcha' pricing for data overages, international roaming, and texting. If only the customers understood how much the telecom players want to provide good service but just can't.
It's the customers who are wrong and telecom is right! Well, at least the lobbying is a certain solution, although telecom doesn't like how much that costs...
Good Grief Charlie Brown! The paperboys are getting nothing to deliver papers to poor houses, only rich ones! Why shouldn't the poor houses get the same news that they pay the same amount as the rich houses?