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Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T Want Congress To Make a Net Neutrality Law Because They Will Write It (theverge.com)
From a report on The Verge: Companies and organizations that rely on an open internet rallied on Wednesday for a "day of action" on net neutrality, and America's biggest internet service providers have responded with arrogance and contempt for their customers. Comcast's David Cohen called arguments in favor of FCC regulation "scare tactics" and "hysteria." Beyond the dismissive rhetoric, ISPs are coincidentally united today in calling for Congress to act -- and that's because they've paid handsomely to control what Congress does. There's one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on, and that's taking money from ISPs. The telecommunications industry was the most powerful lobbying force of the 20th century, and that power endures. It's no secret that lobbyists in Washington write many of the laws, and the telecom industry spends a lot of money to make sure lawmakers use them. We've already seen net neutrality legislation written by the ISPs, and it's filled with loopholes. It's not just in Congress -- companies like AT&T have deep influence over local and state broadband laws, and write those policies, too. Some pro-net neutrality advocates are also arguing today that Congress should act, and there are some good reasons for that. Laws can be stickier than the judgements of regulatory agencies, and if you want to make net neutrality the law of the land that's a job for Congress. But there's a reason the ISPs are all saying the same thing, and it's because they're very confident they will defeat the interests of consumers and constituents. They've already done it this year under the Republican-controlled government. Further reading: 10M+ web users saw yesterday's net neutrality protest -- but rules are still getting scrapped.
Imagine that, it's almost as if government regulation keeps competition out of the market by letting lobbyists influence the letter of the law.
You DID!
But we had to 'pass the bill to see what was in it'.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Comcast et al are scum, but the fact is that Congress is the proper place to implement net neutrality with the FCC's input. Then it can't be removed at the whims of whoever's running the FCC.
The internet companies are going to lobby the hell out of Congress, so we need to make sure that the other side is heard as well. I don't see that as a problem with Google and company lobbying heavily.
Do you have ESP?
Playing Devils Advocate for a moment: If I were ISPs and everyone did as you say, doing an end-run around my 'tiered walled garden', my response would be to ban all 'unauthorized' encrypted traffic, and threaten disconnection to anyone who violated the ToS that states that. I'd also ban use of Tor on the same grounds, since that's what most people would go to, to try to circumvent my ToS.
If you believe that the Internet is something totally optional, just a luxury, then your assertion that we don't need 'more government' in this case might be correct.
But even I think that the Internet is now too thoroughly integrated into everything to call it a 'luxury' anymore, not much more so than electricity, water service, and sewer service.
If the Internet is NOT a luxury, then ISPs should not be allowed to fuck us over as if it WERE a luxury. Otherwise it starts approaching the jackassery of Mylan and their gouging people for Epi Pens.
I'm serious when I say that if it came right down to it, I'd dump the Internet, and I'm fully cognizant of how much it would suck to do so. But if it came down to that, it would suck less to dump the Internet than it would to be fucked over by ISPs. If you can't get the government to step in and regulate bad behavior by private companies, then that may be the only avenue left to you to protest being fucked over.
Why don't we fix the real problem here: massive corporations. All the bad shite comes down from these massive corporations. If we limited the size of a corporation and the number of entities one corporation can "own" most of these problems would go away.
Impromptu poll:
How many of you would be willing to move to Canada where BS like "fastlane" is outlawed, if it came down to that being the only form of protest against this bullshit that was left to you?
As long as most of the influential tech companies are in the US and the data has to pass through the US to get to you it won't help.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
The mental gymnastics here are amazing. The details of obamacare were publically debated and negotiated for about a year. A third grader reading the transcript could understand that quote was taken wildly out of context. Pelosi was wrong to say that only because she assumed once the bill was passed, the outright lies from the far right about Obamacare would die down and people would understand the benefits.
Especially disturbing the right wing is pretending there's an equivalence with now. The house bill was intentionally passed with no debate before the CBO projection. The senate healthcare bill isn't even being shown to the entire republican party, let alone democrats or the public, and the goal is to pass whatever by next week.
"Yeah, this boat we are on is about to explode, but LOL, remember how they said the titanic couldn't sink!!!"
3 States just lost ALL their insurance carriers. Also, since Obamacare 1 in 5 people can no longer afford to visit the doctor. Give that a thought - the US had ~10% of people that couldn't afford medical care before ObamaCare, now we have over 20% that can no longer afford to go to the doctor.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Obamacare puts a tax on absurdly overpriced medical devices and you call that a poorly written bill.
Wealthcare makes 20 million more people uninsured, and causes a death spiral for the rest of us... no comment on the quality of the bills
Democrats spent a year hammering out the points, accepting hundreds of suggestions from republicans, in an effort to reduce the unacceptably high number of uninsured, and bring down astronomical healthcare costs and that's "Had to pass no matter what".
Republicans are pushing to have a bill in a matter of weeks and are refusing to talk to democrats. All the proposals that have come out so far will shoot the uninsured right back up and dramiatically increase healthcare costs... nothing?
Just admit you dislike democrats and want to see them fail. I can at least respect the honesty in that case. Convincing yourself what democrats did was bad, with or without a comparison to republicans? Go fuck off and die of an opiate overdose, you ignorant hypocrite.