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The Trump Administration Just Voted To Repeal the US Government's Net Neutrality Rules (recode.net)
The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to dismantle landmark rules regulating the businesses that connect consumers to the internet, granting broadband companies power to potentially reshape Americans' online experiences. The agency scrapped so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government will also no longer regulate high-speed internet delivery as if it were a utility, like phone services. From a report: Under the leadership of Chairman Ajit Pai -- and with only the backing of the agency's Republican members -- the repeal newly frees telecom companies from federal regulation, unravels a signature accomplishment of the Obama administration and shifts the responsibility of overseeing the web to another federal agency that some critics see as too weak to be effective. In practice, it means the U.S. government no longer will have rules on its books that require internet providers to treat all web traffic equally. The likes of AT&T and Verizon will be limited in some ways -- they can face penalties if they try to undermine their rivals, for example -- but they won't be subject to preemptive, bright-line restrictions on how they manage their networks. Meanwhile, the FCC's repeal will open the door for broadband providers to charge third parties, like tech giants, for faster delivery of their web content.
Free to be slaves! But your guns TOTALLY keep the Queen of England at bay.. keke
No one is crying for Facebook and Google. It's a much bigger threat to small businesses than to the tech giants.
Google and Facebook will be fine. They may end up having to pay fees to the ISPs, but they have plenty of money and they'll be fine. The victims will be consumers and any new start-ups that can't afford the ISP fees needed to break into the market while they're still small and trying to grow.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Using Title II, a near-100 year old law to govern the Internet, was the wrong solution to this problem.
To be clear:
The two Democrats on the FCC — Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel — voted to keep the rules in place.
And who appointed Ajit Pai? Trump. He is part of the Trump administration.
Nobody is crying for Netflix, either. This is about small businesses who won't have such an easy time paying the fees that ISPs could charge. It's a completely unnecessary barrier to entry that prevents competition and innovation.
That's like saying the DOJ is "separate". Technically yes but Trump could have prevented this, except in reality he wanted net neutrality repealed.
And poor (insert local business) that doesn't have the money to pay for the premium internet pipe.
Gee, I wonder who appoints FCC commissioners? Guess we'll never know!
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Poor us, who will see Netflix have to raise their rates as cable tv providers attempt to kill their competition with unwarranted fees
Wait a second. Netflix doesn't pay for their own internet access?
See I see it as this, I pay for a connection to the internet, Netflix pays for a connection to the internet. Nobody else should be charging either of us extra to talk to each other as fast as any other website on the internet.
Yeah all on party lines with a FCC chief in charge appointed by Trump. You can't coat this any other way if you're a Trump supporter. Republicans will vote for monopolists over the people every time and are for corruption and big money. The democrats all voted against it.
http://saveie6.com/
Republicans (in office) constantly complain about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because its single director has too much power, no external accountability and isn't subject to Congressional oversight (ie. control) and should either be abolished or changed to be run by a board of Commissioners, like the FCC.
Funny how they don't complain about the FCC behaving much the same way, even considering the FCC *has* a board of Commissioners and *is* subject to Congressional oversight. Maybe it's because the FCC is protecting corporations, not consumers - exactly like Republicans (in office) want.
I say "in office" because it seems many Representatives are doing what is in their best interest, regardless of what their constituents, who may also be Republicans, want. Sometimes, it seems the masses are more reasonable and responsible than their elected officials - sometimes.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It is mind boggling that you have government control on one side by granting potentially abusive monopolies, and at the same time you remove any consumer protective regulation so that these monopolies can be as abusive as they want... Sure, the US has a decent GDP/capita, but that really is no excuse to have up to 10x the telco cost compared to other developed countries (and/or depending the location get stuck with circa 2000 internet speeds).
Well, OK, the fact that it is happening is not mind-boggling - just follow the money... The lack of realization/resistance from the people is the stranger and scarier aspect.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
If you voted for a candidate solely because the other side made you feel butthurt, who's the real snowflake?
This country would be much better off if more people voted with their brain, rather than their ego.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
To be clear:
The two Democrats on the FCC — Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel — voted to keep the rules in place.
And who appointed Ajit Pai? Trump. He is part of the Trump administration.
He was appointed by Obama in 2012.
If it is such a non-issue, why would they bother reversing such a law? And why do big ISP put money into bribing (lobbying) for such a change?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
They are going to charge Netflix you idiot so they can make it an unattractive option. Either it will be slow or have to raise prices.
I could go on, but it's all about extracting the maximum amount of $$$ from already paying customers.
Shouldn't the flag icon in the title be at half mast?
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
For the first 5 years, yes and Trump renewed his appointment for another 5 years. He was part of Obama's administration now he is Trump's administration. It is and was Trump's administration who repealed NN. It was Obama's administration who installed NN.
Just like if you were working for Pepsi, if Coke purchased them, you are no longer working for Pepsi, you are employed by Coke. This is no different. Ajit, is working for Trump, not Obama.
IF a gas pump was rigged like any of ISP meters then there will be big fines.
Ahh, more regulations that hurt small businesses and need to go away. Once gone, competition will keep the gas stations honest and by not having to worry about stupid regulations like needing to check the accuracy of their gas pumps, those poor oil companies might finally be able to turn a profit. Small businesses like Exxon need all the help they can get.
While about it, we can remove some of those other business killing regulations such as having to install non-leaky tanks. The threat of losing their gasoline to leaks will make sure the tanks don't leak too much and the most wonderful part is that if anyones water gets gasoline in it, well they can buy bottled water at the gas station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
If it is such a non-issue, why would they bother reversing such a law? And why do big ISP put money into bribing (lobbying) for such a change?
Now we wait for the other shoe to drop.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
I personally do not think much will change, if anything... there is little practical downside to the choice of the FCC, and so much fear mongering from the other side of things that it greatly strains credulity.
In the next 1-2 years? Sure. There's no way they're going to go full corporate dictator at the outset. The first thing they'll do is start negotiating with the big content providers, while fending off the inevitable legal challenges. They'll also need to go full throttle on getting friendly Congresspeople (mostly Rs) reelected next year.
After that? I think we can expect to see a lot more zero rating packages and more investment in their own content services. Data caps will be pushed down to make these services and zero rating more attractive. Further down the line, they'll be extending their "partnerships" with more and more edge providers.
Eventually, they'll have enough deals that cover just enough of what people use that they can start throttling down anything else while most people will neither care nor notice. It may not happen in a year or two, but watch for *this* to happen. It won't at the outset.
You really think they've been pushing and spending this much because they *don't* expect to maximize their revenue and control?
Not reallt, this will only affect US consumers. Luckily, Internet will hardly notice.
839*929
He absolutely knows what it is - he isn't stupid. What he says and what he believes are unlikely to be the same thing.
Which means he's evil.
Do you have ESP?
The cap isn't the issue (ok, it's another issue that is related). How much traffic you can get from a source (like Netflix or Vimeo) toward your cap is now something that can be manipulated. So you might be below your cap but unable to access Netflix. Did you opt in to that?
Well, then the Bush Tax cuts and the Patriot Act are Obama's because he renewed them.
To be fair though, Trump appointed him Chairman... presumably for a reason.
Using the term "Restore Internet freedom" is the dead give away that this is bad news for regular folks. Very much along the lines of terms "PATRIOT Act" and "Homeland Security". This is straight out, old school Soviet propaganda style terminology, and I've never understood why Americans are ok with it.
Just wanted to add that there's evidence Comcast did this on purpose in order to put Netflix in a bind. (Customers have alternative choices with Netflix, but not as many with Comcast.) They wanted to force Netflix to either agree to their demands to have their service unusable. Basically, mafia-style "this is a nice store you've got here, it'd be a shame if something happened to it" tactics from an ISP that holds a monopoly in many areas.
And now these tactics are legal again.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Conservatives also claimed that Obama was born in Kenya and there's a secret pedophilia ring under a pizza parlor.
I wouldn't put much stock in what conservatives claim.
You are welcome on my lawn.
No, the founding principle of "the internet" was "let's make sure our missile research people in the DoD can get data moved around between them and some universities who are working on our strategic deterrent against the soviets."
Pretty much everything else has been private companies investing billions of dollars to get their own networks to talk to other people's networks. There is no "the internet" anyway. Just a lot of individual networks with a wide range of agreements between private parties who carry traffic across each others' infrastructure at great expense to the people who own them. Those peering arrangements are not some mandatory unicorn utopia of equality of service across all networks. Never has been.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
If it is such a non-issue, why would they bother reversing such a law?
Among other reasons, BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER A LAW. If you think it SHOULD be a law, rather than an Obama-era edict to apply a decades old telephone framework to modern networking, then you should be delighted this is gone, and seeking to get some actual legislation in place. Something that reflects an era after rotary dial phones.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
The ISP's have no reason to censor
Sorry, are you seriously trying to say that Comcast, Time Warner, etc (The majority of ISPs are also TV providers) have no reason at all to want to censor Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu? They have no reason to try and get people to switch back (or slow down) people from getting out from under their $250+ cable bills?
Wow.
Somehow, even with recent national events, I'm still surprised at conservative's ability to blame everything bad on Obama and democrats.
I probably shouldn't be angry that net neutrality is going away, I should really just be surprised it managed to last this long if nerds on slashdot are unable to work out how we got here.
Don't worry. Already they're trying to pretend that it's all Obama's fault.