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FCC Plans December Vote To Kill Net Neutrality Rules (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission under its Republican chairman plans to vote in December to kill the net neutrality rules passed during the Obama era, said two people briefed on the plans. Chairman Ajit Pai in April proposed gutting the rules that he blamed for depressing investment in broadband, and said he intended to "finish the job" this year. The chairman has decided to put his proposal to a vote at the FCC next month, said the people. The agency's monthly meeting is to be held Dec. 14. The people asked not to be identified because the plan hasn't been made public. It's not clear what language Pai will offer to replace the rules that passed with only Democratic votes at the FCC in 2015. He has proposed that the FCC end the designation of broadband companies such as AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. as common carriers. That would remove the legal authority that underpins the net neutrality rules. One of the people said Pai may call for vacating the rules except for portions that mandate internet service providers inform customers about their practices. The current regulations forbid broadband providers from blocking or slowing web traffic, or from charging higher fees in return for quicker passage over their networks.
Here's hoping that these decisions can be reversed completely and quickly when this absurd administration is left amidst the most shamed corners of the history books.
I'm sure Ajit Pai will sit comfortable and rich when it's all over though - happy in the thought of the damage he did to industries and people everywhere.
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... gutting the rules that he blamed for depressing investment in broadband.
Things are depressing alright, but I don't think it's in investment. But, maybe, with fewer burdensome regulations, carriers will pass any savings onto their customers. [ See, now you don't know whether to mod me informative or funny. :-) ]
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It's how the USA (currently) operates.
Yeah tha “private” infrastructure built on public lands and subsidized with public money.
Wow. "NET NEUTRALITY = WE LIVE IN VENEZUELA" seems to actually be a talking point for far right corporate cheerleaders.
It caters to that very important demographic who believe corporations are our friends, any government regulation is the enemy, and also give a flying fuck about other countries.
The proper name for that demographic BTW is "Seton Motley and also possibly Ann Coulter?"
Anyway, how applicable is Venezuela to the United States? They also has/had rampant corruption, extremely unequal distribution of wealth, an uninformed electorate, an insane leader... with a cult-like following...
uh...
hmm...
That would be a "nope." They're all on the Comcast tip and the carriers expect the best of both worlds; no common carrier obligations and no liability either.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
the internet should be a utility like electricity or water, not a commodity, make the internet as fast as practical but it should be a utility
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I remember when I got "@home" broadband; it was such a startling change from 56k dialup. Then there was 1.5Mbit asymmetric DSL, and then more cable-based broadband. I remember Napster, and downloading music 24/7 for *weeks*, and all the filesharing sites that were under the radar for a while. I remember being able to look up all sorts of stuff I never knew existed, and most of all, playing all the versions of DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D, Warcraft 2, and a plethora of other games, online, against total strangers, until the wee hours of the morning. Fun, fun, fun.
No matter. The Internet has been going to shit for a while now, and some piece of crap like Ajit Pai is dead set to pound the last nail into it's coffin. Sure, after Trump and his administration are all tossed out of office and/or convicted of some crime or other, we'll get someone else in the Whitehouse that will start to clean up the mess, but it'll take years, if not decades, to repair all the damage done to everything, all over the Country, and once the ISPs and other asshole corporations get their hooks into the Internet the way they've always wanted to, we may never be able to get things back on track again.
Well, guess when the end comes, I'll have more time to read..
for abandoning the blue collar guys to their fate while chanting 'update your skills'. They voted an administration into office who couldn't care less about them or us, but they really didn't have anything to lose. They're picking us workers apart. Putting us against each other and laughing all the way to the bank.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
maybe Google and other tech companies will put money where their mouth is and finally create their own ISP with cheap rates and real 1G speed, eliminating the pro-NN people.
...if there isn't any investment in broadband, why am I not still using DSL and an Edge-network flip phone?
Arrest the cable companies for fraud. If they tell me they're selling me X bits per second for a certain price, then break my connection to Netflix unless Netflix gives them a cut of the money I give Netflix, that's fraud.
Let's see how far they get being forced to put in blinking lights on the top of your contract, "The price we charge is not the full price we extract from your wallet. We will actually slow down your connection to Netflix unless Netflix gives us some of the money you give Netflix. That amount comes to $2.50 out of your ever-increasing Netflix payment."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.