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Ajit Pai Taunts Net Neutrality Critics. Mark Hamill Taunts Ajit Pai (mashable.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Just days before voting to repeal net neutrality regulations, FCC chairman Ajit Pai introduced a comedy video at the annual gathering of the Federal Communications Bar Association -- and it offered its own self-disparaging version of Pai's tenure as a Verizon attorney in 2003. "We want to brainwash and groom a Verizon puppet to install as FCC chairman," says a real-world Verizon executive appearing in the videotaped skit. "That sounds awesome," Pai responds.

And the day of the vote Pai also appeared in another trying-to-be-funny video on the conservative site The Daily Caller demonstrating "seven things you can still do on the internet after net neutrality." In the first image he's holding a fidget spinner and dressed as Santa Claus, and the unmistakably patronizing video reminds critics that they can still upload photos of their meals to Instagram and "post photos of cute animals, like puppies." He also demonstrated that net neutrality critics can still stay part of their favorite fan communities -- by showing himself holding a light saber. And this unexpectedly drew the wrath of Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, who responded on Twitter by calling him "Ajit 'Aren't I Precious?' Pai."

Hamill also added that "you are profoundly unworthy 2 wield a lightsaber. A Jedi acts selflessly for the common man, NOT lie 2 enrich giant corporations." When U.S. Senator Ted Cruz responded -- likening government overreach to Darth Vader and urging Hamill to "reject the dark side" -- Hamill responded again, complaining that the Senator was "smarm-splaining." Hamill also added, "you'd have more credibility if you spelled my name correctly. I mean IT'S RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU! Maybe you're just distracted from watching porn at the office again."

The Houston Chronicle reports that the newest meme on Twitter is now Pai's over-sized coffee mug stamped with the logo for Reese's Peanut Butter cups, "which he occasionally sipped from during the widely-criticized reversal." The Dangerous Minds site notes that some angry net neutrality supporters have even taken their complaints to Reese's Facebook page, adding "Perhaps these protester's pleas to the candy company are simply a misguided hope that someone, ANYONE will listen to their frustration."

"Clearly, the FCC wasn't listening to the estimated 83% of Americans who support net neutrality."

346 comments

  1. Really? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let the Intertube Memes begin! This will not be pretty! Well, it will be pretty funny...

    I do, however, wonder if there might be legal ramifications in any lawsuits brought on the Net Neutrality issue? An impartial judge might look dimly on this buffoonery...

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Really? by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Was anybody actually surprised by the vote?

      It was crystal clear which way it was going to go as soon as Trump announced it. All the protesting and wailing was just background noise.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Really? by geekmux · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Was anybody actually surprised by the vote?

      It was crystal clear which way it was going to go as soon as Trump announced it. All the protesting and wailing was just background noise.

      If the leaders of a democracy are going to treat its citizens as mere background noise, then we no longer hold the status of a democracy, and should stop trying to proclaim we are.

    3. Re:Really? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The US isn't a democracy, it's a representative Republic.

      http://thefederalistpapers.org...

      It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity. â" Speech in New York, urging ratification of the U.S. Constitution (1788-06-21)

      I'm not even American, and even I know that.

      You vote for a President and the President appoints people like Pai. Now, admittedly you can make a case that appointing bureaucrats who can then make rules on the fly is something that people like Hamilton may well have had some issues with. However he definitely wasn't a fan of direct democracy, Classical Athens style.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    4. Re:Really? by BlueStrat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the leaders of a democracy are going to treat its citizens as mere background noise...

      The US is not a democracy, full stop.

      The US is a representative republic. And they *did* listen to the people, the people who elected their party and president to represent them with this internet deregulation as one of the campaign promises prior to the election. Elections have consequences, particularly for contentious executive-branch Agency/Dept./Bureau/etc administrative unilateral fiats. Same thing as with Executive Orders. What one administration can do, another can undo.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    5. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you want to be technically correct about all this ... the USA is a democratically-elected, federal & presidential, representative constitutional republic. Let's actually parse everything so we can be clear on all this:

      Democratically-elected: The reason why this is the case is explained further along. Except for the President which is done by the electoral college, the members of the Congress, as well as one's state and local governments (state Senate, Mayor, etc.) are done as a democracy.
      Federal: We have a federal government and the US for all intents and purposes is a Federation of States.
      Presidential: The head of the state, as opposed to a monarchy.
      Representative: This does hand-in-hand with Democratically-elected, we are a representative democracy and all Western democracies are practically such (due to sheer population sizes), we DEMOCRATICALLY (you know, like a Democracy) elected representatives to address concerns.
      Constitutional: Obviously, the a constitution of sorts that binds the government to the will of the people, govern by the rule of law.
      Republic: This means "of a public matter" for the country, not beholden to concerns of a select few elites.

      You want to split hairs on the term democracy. Get it right, most modern countries that have elections to leadership are known as representative DEMOCRACIES .

      I am American (since we're throwing one's nationalities around) and I know exactly the form of government here. It's much more than a nuanced "representative Republic" as outlined.

    6. Re:Really? by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      You are right it's an Idiocracy.

      --
      sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
    7. Re: Really? by scienceandreason · · Score: 0, Troll

      Why is almost everyone supportive of Net Neutrality? You know thatâ(TM)s just the name of a bill that was slipped into the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act - silently nationalizing the internet - reclassifying internet providers from title 1 (private) entities to title 2 (public utility) communications? This does everything but preserve net neutrality. This bill makes it so that ISPs need to get a liscense (which costs a lot of money) and fill out a shit ton of paperwork - this prevents innovation and creates quasi government monopolies which smaller companies have a very hard time competing with (larger companies have an easier time dealing with regulatory burdens). Not to mention the government can threaten to revoke the license arbitrarily if the ISP does something they donâ(TM)t like. Youâ(TM)ll end up praising this guy.

    8. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      I've said this a million times. There are TWO kinds of net neutrality.

      Type 1: The idea that the Internet should be an even playing field for everybody. No censorship, no throttling. This is the kind we all wanted, everybody thought they were getting.

      Type 2: Mr. Obama and the FCC cooked up the idea of getting government control over the Internet in order to apply censorship. They granted themselves an authority, completely usurping the legislative branch of government. mr Obama called this plan "Net Neutrality", same name but completely different meaning. This is what we actually got.

      It's true that both type 1 and type 2 results in no throttling by corporations, but type 2 (what we actually got) also results in censorship. We didn't have censorship and throttling before 2015, but now we have whole web sites removed from DNS, and censorship of Facebook, Youtube, and news stories, all while the big corporations continue to do whatever they like.

      Type 2, "Net Neutrality" needs eliminated, and type 1 needs implemented. We need Congress to pass a law saying all data is just data and it's content may not be subject to throttling or censorship. This won't take a 300 page document, and will accomplish type 1 Net neutrality., the real thing.

    9. Re: Really? by dog77 · · Score: 0

      Pai was originally appointed by Barack Obama as a Republican representative on the fcc.

    10. Re: Really? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      So?

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    11. Re:Really? by easyTree · · Score: 3, Insightful

      not beholden to concerns of a select few elites.

      Would you characterise the recent FCC behaviour as consistent with this?

    12. Re:Really? by Samurai+Nigel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This would be accurate if the gerrymandering that put these people into office weren't so disgustingly abundant. The representatives that are "elected by the people" are nowhere near an accurate representation of the will of the people.

    13. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We don't vote based on mob rule.

    14. Re:Really? by Freischutz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the leaders of a democracy are going to treat its citizens as mere background noise...

      The US is not a democracy, full stop.

      The US is a representative republic. And they *did* listen to the people, the people who elected their party and president to represent them with this internet deregulation as one of the campaign promises prior to the election. Elections have consequences, particularly for contentious executive-branch Agency/Dept./Bureau/etc administrative unilateral fiats. Same thing as with Executive Orders. What one administration can do, another can undo.

      Strat

      Bollocks, republic and democracy are not mutually exclusive things. The USA is a democratic republic, or more specifically a federal republic with features of a representative democracy where where elected individuals represent the citizen body in government. If you require further proof read the writings of the founding fathers, the federalist papers and a whole mountain of other literature on the subject although most of us don't need to do more than note the fact that every two years you guys go out and directly elect congress critters and senators that are supposed to represent you in the US congress. Furthermore every four years you also directly elect a bunch of people that in turn elect a president on your behalf. That last bit is a quite strange arrangement to be sure but most of the rest of your process of choosing your leaders makes the US a republic with a form of representative democracy even if it has some esoteric features. What the US isn't is a pure direct democracy but then very few countries practice pure direct democracy except maybe certain parts of Switzerland where all the oath brothers and oath sisters (aka. the citizenry) assemble in public places all over each canton (since even the Appenzellers have finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the modern age and now allow women to vote) and the entire citizenry then votes on legislation without any representatives acting as intermediaries. Obviously such a system would have been rather hard to coordinate in the US of the 18th century so, unsurprisingly, the founding fathers of your country went the representative way. The problem the USA has, like many other countries with representative democratic systems, is that not only have your democratically elected representatives come to believe that they are elected by you, the people, to serve the interests of the oligarchs who stuff their pockets full of money, they have convinced large portions of the electorate of this as well. In my estimation and that of many Americans this is a process that is in dire need of begin reversed and Ajit Pai is just one living breathing and smugly grinning example of why.

    15. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are full of shit. Who are you trying to fool? No body believes you because you are wrong AND obviously a shill or troll.

    16. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they *did* listen to the people, the people who elected their party and president

      46% of them anyway...

    17. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because you don't agree with something, doesn't mean democracy is dead. It just means you were on the losing side and whine a lot.

    18. Re:Really? by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

      You're confused about what "Representative Government" means. It's suppose to represent the will of the people, not the will of corporate sucking civil servants.

    19. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When 80-90% agree on something across all socio-political lines and the government does the opposite, you can be sure that it had nothing to do with democracy.

    20. Re:Really? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      I wish people would stop getting their knowledge of constitutional law from Internet Libertarians and Sid Meier's Civilization.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    21. Re:Really? by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 1

      If the leaders of a democracy

      Uh, oh, you did it now. You summoned the retards.

      Let's just knock them all out in one post:

      democracy: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

      democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

      democracy: A democracy is a country in which power is held by elected representatives.

      democracy: government in which the people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives; rule by the ruled

      The word "republic" is a bland word that means nothing more than the government is a public thing subject to laws. There many totalitarian governments that can accurately be described as republics that cannot be called democracies, yet all democracies are necessarily republics. You could make an exception with constitutional monarchies with elected representatives, though without supreme power being in the hands of the people, it runs afoul of most definitions of democracies.

      A lot of dumb people have built a weird religion around Federalist #10, which is ironic, considering that these poorly educated conspiracy theorists whipped into a frenzy by populist demagogues are precisely the sort of people Madison was worried about. And for all of that whining about mob rule, it was the electoral college that gave us the stupidest person to ever hold the office of President.

    22. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just incase anyone else was wondering, Pai was not appointed chairman by Obama.

    23. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've failed to show how title 2 facilitates censorship. At all. The daily stormer is just as screwed today as it was last week.

    24. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope someone puts a bullet into Ajit Pai's bulbous, ugly head. I would laugh and point.

    25. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is basically what you get when you enable unelected bureaucrats to make policy and effectively law. People have been warning this country for years that doing end runs around the constitution and around the proper legislative process are going to come back around to bite us in the ass. But every election, the new president and party in power creates some other overreach or exception to the process to push their agenda through without having to do all that icky compromising that democracy entails. And their side cheers while the other side goes ballistic, and then they swap places and do the same thing all over again. Well this is the end result. This is what we get for giving away the keys to power to unelected, unrepresentative people. If you want to stop seeing the government ignore democratic procedures, then we need to stop cheerleading ignoring democratic procedures when ignoring them suits our interest. Net Neutrality was implemented with a proclamation from an unelected bureaucrat, and it was repealed the same way. If you want to protect it, put it into law like it should have been in the first place.

    26. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True, but he was required to appoint a Republican for that seat, and Pai was the most highly recommended by Mitch McConnell. Has Obama been able to appoint anyone regardless of party, it would definitely not have been Pai. It's not his fault the rules are what they are or that Republicans are what they are.

    27. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the only think clear is your desire to scapegoat the scary lack man for everything.

    28. Re:Really? by BlueStrat · · Score: 0

      The US is a representative republic.

      Bollocks, republic and democracy are not mutually exclusive things. The USA is a democratic republic, or more specifically a federal republic with features of a representative democracy where where elected individuals represent the citizen body in government.

      So, it's a representative republic. Right, then. o_0

      You certainly seem agitated and go to great lengths to show how you agree with my post.

      Have a Snickers. You're get whiny when you're hungry.

      https://youtu.be/gtjr8LrTAJE

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    29. Re:Really? by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      You're get whiny when you're hungry.

      Gah! You get, not you're.

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    30. Re:Really? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Representative Democracy - you elect officials regularly but they're not beholden to public opinion in between elections. E.g. almost all modern 'democracies'.

      Direct Democracy - there are no elected officials, decision are taken by the population voting directly. E.g. Classical Athens

      Now a Direct Democracy officials taking decisions that the majority disagree with is a sign the system is broken. In a Representative Democracy, that's a feature not a bug - the whole point is that officials are not beholden to public opinion other than at election. It's designed to avoid the tyranny of the majority.

      I.e. this

      If the leaders of a democracy are going to treat its citizens as mere background noise, then we no longer hold the status of a democracy, and should stop trying to proclaim we are.

      Is true in a direct democracy. It's not true in a representative democracy. "Leaders" can go against public opinion on some issues, so long as they remain popular enough to get reelected. Or in Pai's case, reappointed as FCC head.

      Funny thing is that the two things the left are complaining about - Trump winning the electoral college but not the popular vote and Pai deciding on Net Neutrality against public opinion are both examples of the US system doing exactly what it was intended to do.

      The electoral college was designed to stop candidates favoured by populous, urban, coastal areas like NYC and LA dominating the choice for Presidency. And representative democracy was designed to avoid mob rule.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    31. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Barack Obama was responsible for Pai. Can't get clearer than that.

      You shut your damn glib mouth.

      You KNOW that Obama had to appoint a Republican to the committee because of the rules. You KNOW that Trump has influence on how this situation can be handled.

      You can take your 'clearer than that' statement and shove it up your ass. You are being deliberately disingenuous, and it's unhelpful.

    32. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. It is being brought up in court as by the attorneys general of several states, as representatives of the people.

    33. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wish people would stop getting their knowledge of constitutional law from Internet Libertarians and Sid Meier's Civilization.

      That's better than getting it from "1984" and "Animal Farm" as the Left does.

    34. Re: Really? by jbengt · · Score: 2

      Barack Obama, in keeping with tradition, appointed a republican that was recommended by the Republicans, in order to not have 3 Democratic commissioners. Not sure the Republicans would still abide by that tradition.

    35. Re:Really? by jbengt · · Score: 1

      You do realize that our elected representatives are the ones who gave the power to make regulations to the bureaucrats in the first place and gave them directions on how they have to do it. Or do you think the representatives and senators should become experts in all things and codify every little decision into law themselves? That, I suspect, would turn out worse.

    36. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you know Democracy is latin for "Mob Rule"? Yes, American is ran by Mob Rule.

    37. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they *did* listen to the people, the people who elected their party and president

      46% of them anyway...

      What part of "the US is not a democracy, full stop" did you not understand?

      How the elections operate is and was no secret to either side. Both knew the electoral college vote is what mattered. It was not a surprise. If had been the reverse and HRC won the EC and DJT only the popular vote you would be saying the same and rightly so.

      To protest the process only after losing reveals an extremely biased and partisan attitude. Since your side persists in refusing to discuss or negotiate in good faith we have no choice but to simply defeat you and keep on defeating you. Again. And again. And again.

    38. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lul. I don't get how people still think this way. The big ISPs don't want competition, so you think they want to get rid of a bill that stifles competition? It makes no sense. The people against NN keep trotting out these strawmans that have no basis in reality.

    39. Re:Really? by Scroatzilla · · Score: 1

      This is one of those times when the designation "Democratic Republic" is important to consider. A bunch of sheep were actually convinced that something called "Net Neutrality," which was actually Government Regulation of the Internet, was good. As far as I remember, "the Internet as we knew it" had no regulation. So, we're going back to the ideal.

      I'd be curious to know, from an "OMG THE INTERNET IS OVER/TRUMP IS BAD" person why/how government regulation of the Internet is better than consumer choice that would result from a free (that is, unregulated) market? Hint: The government can enforce stuff (like censorship) with guns. Businesses are at the mercy of your wallet.

    40. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the USA is a democratically-elected, federal & presidential, representative constitutional republic

      read your "state of x" constitution and "voter registration" and compare to "federal ctizien" black's law dictinoary.

      see also "specie" "specie is the only constitututional money in this country", www.dict.org, bouviers

      they've been doing permanent "martial law" for 150+ years. the "constitution" ("based on english common law", "united states", www.dict.org, cia world factbook went out when "civil law" came in.

      see also "maxim" www.dict.org for common law of the land maxims.

      with only "Federal citizens" being allowed to vote, they literally only "represent themselves" at this stage, and cut "we the people" out of the loop.

      you don't even have a treasury, just IOU notes. your "states" are long gone, as are your "courts. start with www.annavonreitz.com

      it is literally all "commerce" and "admiralty courts" nowadays. they are literally no longer doing "constitutional law". one there are no longer "we the people" two the "funny money" yanks everyone into commerce anyways.

      it is literally banker/corporate/military "martial law" dictatorship at this point, and "we the people" cannot even vote.

    41. Re: Really? by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Lul. I don't get how people still think this way. The big ISPs don't want competition, so you think they want to get rid of a bill that stifles competition? It makes no sense. The people against NN keep trotting out these strawmans that have no basis in reality.

      The thing is that NN is just one of many things that came with Title II. This wasn't just a rollback of NN, this was a roll-back of a ton of other stuff. So you're both right. Yes, the big ISPs wanted to do away with all of that stuff. Yes, people wanted NN, but they probably didn't realize what else comes with Title II.

      Finally, the grandparent is completely wrong with "this prevents innovation and creates quasi government monopolies which smaller companies have a very hard time competing with." That was the norm before NN. Title II didn't really change anything one way or another with that regard.

    42. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think their point is that if a democracy can be routinely subverted by a minority to push through legislation against the will of the vast majority then it doesn't matter what the system of democracy "technically" is, only that it's practically been overridden to the point of no longer being democracy.

      The whole basis of democracy is to give a broader group of people a say (ideally a majority, or at least a near majority) as opposed to say autocracy where only one person decides. If therefore you're voting and your vote ends up with only an absolutely minority or even an individual making the calls then it's not reasonable to call it a democracy in practice.

      The UK has the same fundamental problem, it's technically a democracy, but the current government is working in an entirely undemocratic way, it is for example pushing hard Brexit, but there's no democratic mandate for that - only 52% voted for Brexit and far greater than 2% of those want soft Brexit, polls consistently favour soft Brexit, and at the last general election parties favouring soft Brexit got 54% of the vote. Yet here we are with an absolute extreme minority pushing for an extreme position, how? Because the current government bribed an otherwise irrelevant small party with £1bn to back them. Given this farcical situation you can certainly argue that technically the UK is a democracy, but you can't sensibly argue it's a functioning democracy currently - there's no place for an absolute minority to dictate the entire agenda, or for bribes to be used to secure votes in a functioning democracy.

      Similarly another obvious case in point, North Korea is "technically" a Democratic People's Republic, hence the DPRK moniker. But it's neither democratic, nor a people's republic. It's firmly an autocracy.

      You have to separate the label someone's slapped on something from what it actually is, the two aren't inherently always the same.

    43. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yawn. Whatever.

      Net neutrality is NOT dead. Long live net neutrality.

      Itâ(TM)s only dead in Murica. Fuck Yeah!

      Net neutrality is fine in almost every other advanced economy. LOL ;)

    44. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Provide examples.

    45. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Negotiate"? The same way Republicans "negotiated" with Obama, right? Try again. What you and others see as a mere difference in opinion, others (rightly) see as decisions that have far-reaching consequences that will damage more people than they help. Not a single Republican law in the past 20 years has had a net-positive effect on the public or the commons. Both parties serve corporations and have forgotten the purpose of their governing. There's nothing to negotiate; you're either helping this country, or you're hurting it.

    46. Re:Really? by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Businesses are at the mercy of your wallet.

      Only if there's:
      a) Plenty of choice
      b) No collusion

      --
      No sig today...
    47. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Negotiate"? The same way Republicans "negotiated" with Obama, right?

      Obama would never compromise on anything meaningful. "Negotiation" was all one-sided, e.g. what were Republicans going to give on, never Obama or the Democrats.

      Metaphorically, it goes something like this:

      Democrats "C'mon, let us put our dicks on your mouths!"

      Republicans: "Hell no!"

      Democrats: "OK we'll compromise, just let us put the tip of our dicks in your mouths."

      Republicans: "Still hell no!"

      Democrats: "See!? The Republicans won't compromise! They're the 'Party of No'! They're unreasonable!"

      I guess the Party of the KKK/Sen. Byrd)D), Jim Crow, and Eugenics hasn't really changed who they are deep down by very much with the passage of time, and apparently only learned how to re-brand and camouflage themselves. President Lyndon B. Johnson(D) embodied the attitude of Democrats towards African-Americans when he said "I'll have those n1gg3rs voting Democrat for the next 100 years!" when talking about how the Democrats' entitlement programs would (re)enslave them to the Democrats, only as a captive voting-bloc rather than manual labor. Pull a voting lever, tote a bail, it's all the same to a slave.

    48. Re:Really? by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      not only have your democratically elected representatives come to believe that they are elected by you, the people, to serve the interests of the oligarchs who stuff their pockets full of money, they have convinced large portions of the electorate of this as well.

      I was a bit too snarky in my first reply, you do try to put forth some points that show some independent thought. Apologies.

      Addressing something that stood out to me which I quoted above from your reply:

      None of that will change no matter which Party holds power.

      The problem is one of having ignored basic human nature and the warnings we were given. The central government is too large, too powerful, and controls far too much of society and the economy. It has immense, staggering domestic power. Any time there is that much power concentrated, those with lust for power, wealth, and control will eventually find a way to corrupt it and own it. It's inevitable because of human nature.

      The US Founders warned us multiple times in multiple ways about the dangers of a powerful central government, but people allowed themselves to be convinced that government should give them the shiny.

      The US has gone from a federation of sovereign states to a ' people's democratic republic' with non-sovereign provinces, and with it the commensurate losses of liberty, opportunity, and civil rights as government involvement and control expands in every segment of society and individual lives.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    49. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By 8.7 million LESS Republican votes for House Representatives.

    50. Re:Really? by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      The US isn't a democracy, it's a representative Republic.

      ...

      You vote for a President and the President appoints people like Pai....

      And it isn't a rePUBLIC if the PUBLIC chooses the other person by 2.86 million MORE VOTES
      That is unequal representation and not a republic

  2. Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's a retard.

    1. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Taking it easy on retards is what got us into this mess...

    2. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I don't subscribe to giving retards leeway and letting their idiocy slide. It's basically what gets us deeper and deeper into shit. In the end, all it accomplishes if you don't call a spade a spade and an idiot an idiot is that the idiot thinks he's smart. You're basically reinforcing the Dunning-Kruger effect, and instead of an idiot noticing that he is one and trying to learn something, instead you encourage him to stay the idiot that he is.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by fafalone · · Score: 2

      That comment was very insulting towards retards. Their life is hard enough without insulting them by saying Ajit Pai is one.

      Besides he's very clearly an intelligent, educated man. So his actions are far better explained by him being evil. It takes a great deal of intelligence to construct such misleading bullshit. He knows hes lying, he knows every word out of his mouth is garbage, he is just acting to make himself rich by helping ISPs fuck consumers ever harder.

    4. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, he is a piece of shit.

    5. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, voting for retards is what got you into this mess ;)

    6. Re: Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Why is everyone here so ignorant about Net Neutrality? You know thatâ(TM)s just the name of a bill that was slipped into the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act - silently nationalizing the internet - reclassifying internet providers from title 1 (private) entities to title 2 (public utility) communications? This does everything but preserve net neutrality. This bill makes it so that ISPs need to get a liscense (which costs a lot of money) and fill out a shit ton of paperwork - this prevents innovation and creates quasi government monopolies which smaller companies have a very hard time competing with (larger companies have an easier time dealing with regulatory burdens). Not to mention the government can threaten to revoke the license arbitrarily if the ISP does something they donâ(TM)t like. Youâ(TM)ll end up praising this guy once you gets your heads out of your ideological asses.

    7. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by coastwalker · · Score: 1, Insightful

      No, he is an evil piece of self serving shit.

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    8. Re: Look, take it easy on Ajit by coastwalker · · Score: 1

      Actually no one believes the lie posited by you anonymous coward. We are well aware that the ISP's want some of the revenue from Google, Netflix et al and that Net Nutrality prevented them from taking it. It they do not take it the shareholders will sack their CEO's and put someone in who does. You would have to be some kind of cretin to not understand how capitalism works and that it will definitely cost the consumer more.

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    9. Re: Look, take it easy on Ajit by scienceandreason · · Score: 2

      I tried posting that - wouldnâ(TM)t let me sign in. Net Neutrality is enabling crony capitalism. This shit is basically in the same vein as the SOPA and PIPA bills but they somehow convinced everyone that regulating the internet is great. It boggles my mind how you can hate Ajit and the FCC so much yet still want to give them the power to regulate the Internet.

    10. Re: Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not sure if shill or moron?

    11. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ajit Pai - the Martin Shkreli of the FCC.

    12. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, voting for retards is what got you into this mess ;)

      No. Having only retards for candidates is what got us into this mess.

    13. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's quite enjoyable watching Progressives expend their emotional capital like this. Between this, climate change, and all the various Trump lamentations, progressive brains will devolve to the point of only being able to breath and chew. Sad.

    14. Re: Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's all irrelevant. The next congressional elections will prove that the GOP is dying and democrats will eventually gain a majority control in both the house and the senate. The Russian loving trump supporters will all crawl back into a hole as all the shit Trump has done will be reversed, except this time it will be enacted as law instead of FCC regulation or executive orders.

    15. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it is letting the retard's puppet masters game the system like they did in the U.S 2016 presidential election.

    16. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is quite enjoyable watching dullards like yourself categorize everyone who doesn't agree with you into neat little "parties".

      You are the reason this country is turning to shit, you simpleton.

    17. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that you didn't run for President is what got us in this mess.

    18. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, voting for retards is what got you into this mess ;)

      No. Having only retards for candidates is what got us into this mess.

      Yes, Hillary had an equivalent retard-ness as Donald.

      (But her e-mails!) /s

    19. Re: Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because this bill doesn't give them that much power, it just takes some of the power away from ISPs. Why do you guys think NN means the government owns the internet? It does no such thing. Your scaremongering is laughable.

      That is what you guys aren't understanding. Republicans think all regulation == bad. Free market == good. The problem is, we don't have a free market. And NN doesn't give control over to the government. Please stop spreading that FUD.

    20. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      It's quite enjoyable watching Progressives expend their emotional capital like this.

      Trump would be dead and buried by now if temper tantrums really had any effect on life expectancy.

    21. Re:Look, take it easy on Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, letting retards vote is what got us into this mess

  3. See you in court Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is serious business. He's a distraction, and it's working perfectly... people are making fun of him, what a jackass, ignoring the issue. For those that say 'doesn't matter', if that were true, why waste so much good will and political capital on it? Right, because they actually plan to use it.

    Thankfully, e.g. EFF will likely sue this useful idiot corporate apparatchik. Hopefully... all that needs to happen is to kick it down the road until the adults take back congress.

    1. Re:See you in court Ajit by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Congress? Do you mean actually passing a law and not just using a bureaucratic agency to 'write policy' on the matter? I think you'll find a lot of people who oppose the sort of 'Net Neutrality' that Obama implemented with his phone and pen would be alright if it was arrived at via a democratic process, like, uh, having Congress pass a law.

    2. Re:See you in court Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Congress already did when they allowed the FCC to regulate telecommunication services. And who cares about the 14% of people who opposed the Obama administration's FCC using the existing law to regulate another telecommunications service - something it should have been doing from the beginning?

    3. Re: See you in court Ajit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, sorry no idea what you're complaining about... looks like Obama hate, which is stupid and irrelevant.

      Specifically, I meant that congress will likely need to replace the 3-2 Republican-Democrat split on the FCC once the adults take control again.

    4. Re: See you in court Ajit by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      So you are saying that the whole problem is the result of the Democrats not being in control.

      Hmmm, that's a nice way of reducing a complex problem.

      But as you said 'looks like Obama hate' so just replace it with your flavor of dogma. Everything fine now!

  4. Uh... by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mark Hamill seems to forget that, in the Star Wars universe, the light sabre lost to the politicians scheming... Palpatines manoeuvres in the senate got him far further than wielding a light sabre ever did.

    1. Re:Uh... by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 0

      Most Star Wars "fans" seem to want to forget all the political stuff. You can see their reasoning when they talk about how the prequels were crap because they were too complicated. They want the simple good vs evil, swords and blasters story that the first one was about because politics hurts their heads. They want things spoon fed to them because working things out on their own way too difficult for "nerds" like them.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    2. Re:Uh... by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      Mark Hamill seems to forget that, in the Star Wars universe, the light sabre lost to the politicians scheming... Palpatines manoeuvres in the senate got him far further than wielding a light sabre ever did.

      Pity then that he could not maneuver his way out of getting thrown down a reactor shaft.

    3. Re:Uh... by Cederic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Are you shitting me? People dislike the prequels because they're shit.

      Fuck, it's possible to enjoy lighty-up sword fights and blasters while also coping perfectly well with deep rich political films. The prequels sure as fuck weren't the latter and didn't deliver very well on the former.

      Where the hell were the politics in some kid flitting about in a computer-game-turned-boring-as-fuck-film-chase-scene pod race? Contrived as shit.

      The star wars films have never been terribly well written or exemplars of the acting profession, but they were at least fun. Until the prequels.

    4. Re:Uh... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      In the end, though, he was tossed into the reactor by his former pupil. Maybe Ajit one day notices just how he was used and tosses his masters down the drain, preferably shortly before he himself croaks, much like Vader did.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Uh... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Nah, we just want a cool fantasy action story, if we want political bickering, watching scheming assholes trying to destroy a Republic while amassing wealth and power for themselves and their cronies, we could watch C-SPAN instead.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Uh... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Now THAT would be an event I'd gladly pay to see. Ajit? You available?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Uh... by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      Now THAT would be an event I'd gladly pay to see. Ajit? You available?

      I'm not so sure, if Ajit fell down a reactor shaft there would probably just be a loud farting noise followed by the overwhelming stink of skunk perfume instead of the awesome flash of plasma they got out of Palpatine.

    8. Re:Uh... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      As long as we're rid of him, who cares?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re:Uh... by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 0

      They tend to keep bringing up the Plunkett reviews, which has the running theme of "why are you showing me complex politics and not the simple good vs evil story"

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    10. Re:Uh... by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      As long as we're rid of him, who cares?

      Good point, I could get used to the stink.

    11. Re:Uh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a hack. You're trying to insert something, when, as already pointed out, it's clear they are fucking atrociously terrible movies. Not a star wars fan at all, hell, even the first 3 were fucking terrible movies. Go rewatch them sometime.

      Perhaps what you're saying is an *element* of the whole, but it certainly isn't the whole. Also, the political stuff in those first 3 from what I remember, suffered from the same thing everything else did - it was also done terribly. So you could say it's because no one wants to hear the political stuff, or you could say no one wants to watch a terribly done film.

      Hack it up however you want, I guess.

    12. Re:Uh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... the keyboard is mightier than the light sabre.

    13. Re:Uh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since when do reactors have shafts? Every one I've seen is very well shielded.

      Also, what is with all these shafts in the SW universe, The Death Star (both of them) was full of them, Cloud City, StarKiller Base (I'm sure there were some in the prequels, or maybe that is another reason they sucked, nobody fell down a long shaft)

    14. Re:Uh... by dev-in-seattle · · Score: 1

      I have never heard of the plunkett reviews. The 3 prequel star wars movies were terrible. The acting was wooden, the dialogue was ridiculous, the fantastic sense of wonder and adventure that were in the 'original 3' star wars movies was gone. It was like they were created by a factory without any sense of emotinal connection to humans. I blame it on Lucas somehow believing he was the greatest director or story teller or something. Other evidence of his losing his grasp was the stupid and damaging changes he made to star wars. Han shooting first changing was one thing, the stupid negative flourishes he added made the movie worse. His artistic trajectory reminds me so much of Larry Niven. I loved his early known space series, but he became later some kind of truth telling fascist who thought the world was going all wrong, he lost all nuance and connection to individuals.

    15. Re:Uh... by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      See? Like I said. Don't like all that nasty dirty politics stuff. Just want the simplistic stories of your childhood over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    16. Re:Uh... by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      See? Like I said. Don't like all that nasty dirty politics stuff.

      Dirty politics is fine when it's treated with intelligence. The Star Wars prequels didn't treat anything with real intelligence.
      Complexity does not equal smarter does not equal better.

    17. Re:Uh... by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      maybe that is another reason they sucked, nobody fell down a long shaft)

      End of episode one, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fighting Darth Maul inside that... I guess it was a power plant? With shields that opened and closed if you waited 15 seconds or something. But yeah, they sliced Maul in half and he fell down the reactor shaft.

    18. Re:Uh... by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      It's a Star Wars movie. It was the right level for a Star Wars movie.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    19. Re:Uh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > You can see their reasoning when they talk about how the prequels were crap because they were too complicated.

      There was nothing complicated about the prequels. However, there were plenty of bland and forgettable characters delivering uninteresting nonsense and acting in utterly nonsensical ways. Literally no part of the story of The Phantom Menace makes the tiniest bit of sense.

      Why is the Trade Federation taking orders from some creepy dipshit in a cloak?

      If Sidious' goal is to use the Trade Federation to create some kind of crisis in the senate concerning Naboo, why attempt to kill off the Jedi who have come to mediate over the dispute instead of letting them return to the senate?

      If they need the queen to "make the invasion legal" then why are they sending her away moments after taking the castle?

      What good is this blockade if it's so easily circumvented?

      Why does Qui-Gon just take it as fact that the first junk dealer he comes across is the only one in possession of a T-14 hyperdrive and/or its respective parts?

      Actually, why do all Jedi dress the same as a guy who was hiding out on a desert planet for a few decades? That's really weird, isn't it?

      How much free time does a slave like Anakin have that he can build a droid and a pod racer? And what does his mother *do*?

    20. Re:Uh... by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      "The acting was wooden, the dialogue was ridiculous"

      They're SUPPOSED to be.

      The Star Wars series is a homage to 1930s space opera, with all of its bad stereotypes.

      Remember that the first question the actors asked when given the scripts for episode IV was whether they should camp it up. Lucas' answer was "play it as it's written"

    21. Re:Uh... by dev-in-seattle · · Score: 1

      I don't think Lucas really understood the campyness possibility inherent in his script. But regardless of whether he made it terrible / "like a 1930s Saturday serial" on purpose (I am skeptical, that was Raiders of the Lost Arc! and it wasn't terrible), his 'edits' on the original star wars movie actively hurt it! There's no doubt his changes made it less artistic and interesting.

    22. Re:Uh... by dev-in-seattle · · Score: 1

      I'm all for discussion of politics, esp. if they can manage the trick of making it in interesting in a movie. But star wars never seemed to have much complexity in any of their movies. The 3 prequels were just pointless exercises. I'd love to understand what I am missing.

  5. Re: Ajit Pai > Mark Hamil by sTERNKERN · · Score: 1, Troll

    It always makes me wonder how it could feel like being an indifferent moron like you and the likes of you. Living under a rock, poking and yelling at everyone, calling them names and feeling good about it. It must feel awesome to have such a self confidence.

  6. Still by Orgasmatron · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I just checked my watch, and the public input was still not a popularity contest. Considering the slander campaign waged across nearly the entire internet for the last few months, I'm surprised that only 83% of those polled were opposed to restoring the open internet. When you are bombarded with messages that some action is going to unleash biblical plagues, knock the moon out of orbit and give birth to the antichrist, it is hard to publicly support it - even if you don't particularly believe the nonsense.

    Oh, and the mug memes are (mostly) not making fun of Ajit. Reee!

    --
    See that "Preview" button?
    1. Re:Still by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      restoring the open internet

      Show of hands: How many of you believe that Ajit Pai's crusade to end Net Neutrality is about "restoring the open internet"?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well there are people who simple copy/pasta republican newsletter garbage on the topic. They don't really seem to understand what they are saying other then replaying party line rhetoric.

      It's super simple... this would be fine if most people had a choice in providers. Most do people do not and it is a government granted monopoly. Let everyone compete on equal ground and they can shape traffic however they want. That's not what we have.

    3. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With all of the changes lately.

      Comcast is taking every opportunity to set it itself up for a lot of earnings.

      My question really becomes... are they getting a percentage or a one time bribe? I don't think they realized just how much they handed over while fucking every citizen over.

      I know what I'm going to do on my last days if I get a terminal illness. Won't be lying in bed.

    4. Re:Still by cold+fjord · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Could you list the terrible things occurring in 2015 that both forced the hand of government to enact "net neutrality" and why it precludes returning to the regulatory environment of 2015?

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    5. Re:Still by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      A Vice Admiral and a Princess will soon be lecturing the net about supporting NN.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re:Still by Xenx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Aside from the whole Comcast/Netflix mess or Comcast screwing with peer-to-peer traffic? Do we need more? I'm way too lazy and tired to bother looking for more examples.

    7. Re:Still by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Could you list the terrible things occurring in 2015 that both forced the hand of government to enact "net neutrality" and why it precludes returning to the regulatory environment of 2015?

      You want them in chronological order? I mean, you could have just googled it for yourself. https://www.freepress.net/blog...

      Here we go, and when this is over I expect you to apologize to the entire class for being such a dumbass...

      MADISON RIVER: In 2005, North Carolina ISP Madison River Communications blocked the voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) service Vonage. Vonage filed a complaint with the FCC after receiving a slew of customer complaints. The FCC stepped in to sanction Madison River and prevent further blocking, but it lacks the authority to stop this kind of abuse today.

      COMCAST: In 2005, the nation’s largest ISP, Comcast, began secretly blocking peer-to-peer technologies that its customers were using over its network. Users of services like BitTorrent and Gnutella were unable to connect to these services. 2007 investigations from the Associated Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others confirmed that Comcast was indeed blocking or slowing file-sharing applications without disclosing this fact to its customers.

      TELUS: In 2005, Canada’s second-largest telecommunications company, Telus, began blocking access to a server that hosted a website supporting a labor strike against the company. Researchers at Harvard and the University of Toronto found that this action resulted in Telus blocking an additional 766 unrelated sites.

      AT&T: From 2007–2009, AT&T forced Apple to block Skype and other competing VOIP phone services on the iPhone. The wireless provider wanted to prevent iPhone users from using any application that would allow them to make calls on such “over-the-top” voice services. The Google Voice app received similar treatment from carriers like AT&T when it came on the scene in 2009.

      WINDSTREAM: In 2010, Windstream Communications, a DSL provider with more than 1 million customers at the time, copped to hijacking user-search queries made using the Google toolbar within Firefox. Users who believed they had set the browser to the search engine of their choice were redirected to Windstream’s own search portal and results.

      MetroPCS: In 2011, MetroPCS, at the time one of the top-five U.S. wireless carriers, announced plans to block streaming video over its 4G network from all sources except YouTube. MetroPCS then threw its weight behind Verizon’s court challenge against the FCC’s 2010 open internet ruling, hoping that rejection of the agency’s authority would allow the company to continue its anti-consumer practices.

      PAXFIRE: In 2011, the Electronic Frontier Foundation found that several small ISPs were redirecting search queries via the vendor Paxfire. The ISPs identified in the initial Electronic Frontier Foundation report included Cavalier, Cogent, Frontier, Fuse, DirecPC, RCN and Wide Open West. Paxfire would intercept a person’s search request at Bing and Yahoo and redirect it to another page. By skipping over the search service’s results, the participating ISPs would collect referral fees for delivering users to select websites.

      AT&T, SPRINT and VERIZON: From 2011–2013, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon blocked Google Wallet, a mobile-payment system that competed with a similar service called Isis, which all three companies had a stake in developing.

      VERIZON: In 2012, the FCC caught Verizon Wireless blocking people from using tethering applications on their phones. Verizon had asked Google to remove 11 free tethering applications from the Android marketplace. These applications allowed users to circumvent Verizon’s $20 tethering fee and turn their smartphones into Wi-Fi hot spots. By blocking those applications, Ve

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    8. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      1. Net neutrality is older than the decision to reclassify the ISPs as Title II.
      2. ISPs fought against net neutrality from the beginning and in US Court of Appeals decision 11-1355 (January 14 2014) they managed to win - it was decided that net neutrality is unenforcable as long as the ISPs are classified as Title I.
      3. To make sure that net neutrality can be properly enforced, ISPs were reclassified to Title II in 2015.

      The terrible thing occuring? In 2014 you had to use a VPN to watch Netflix in HD. ( https://www.goldenfrog.com/blog/why-netflix-speeds-are-10x-faster-when-using-vyprvpn )

    9. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a smear campaign.

      Some people will go with the Kool-Aid, others calmly understand there was nothing wrong with the internet in 2015.

    10. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All of these incidence were handled without the net neutrality regulations just removed.

      Most of those examples are cellphone services which were not impacted by net neutrality regulations.

      So why do we need net neutrality again?

    11. Re:Still by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How about making sure they don't think about doing shit like that in the first place?

      I swear, you libertarian types seem to think that everything will magically even out, and that none of the things that happened to real people in real time ever occurred if it worked out mathematically in the end. And that's only in some magical ideal world where things ever work out mathematically.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    12. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not a single one of these is cellular (non-data) related. They're mostly phone companies blocking internet data services. I guess the free market, anti government oversight view is that people would vote with their wallets and change to the services that allow them to do the stuff they want to do, but I think that's where the whole concept falls down. These industries can and have made it too hard to do that, and too complicated and time consuming to argue against it. Corporations will end up with the 'sinister oversight' the conservatives are trying to disarm the government of. The difference being, with a government, there's at least a hope it can act in the interests of the people.

    13. Re:Still by x0ra · · Score: 1, Troll

      Curiously, when the same argument is being used to deny entry from terrorist exporting countries, all the liberal shill are against "taking preventive measure"...

    14. Re:Still by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 2

      Those got handled by the FCC stepping in, but they lost the power to do that in 2014 when Verizon successfully challenged their 2010 Open Internet order and got the courts to tell them that to be able to enforce net neutrality, they need to class ISPs under Title 2 and not Title 1 like they had previously done. The Obama era regulation that Pai just revoked was this Title 2 classification and it's what Pai means when he says that net neutrality hasn't technically gone anywhere. It's just become unenforceable.

      In all seriousness, this is like removing the bans on asbestos and/or lead paint and expecting the companies who would start making these things to do so responsibly. Knowing what's happened in the past it's just bound to go badly wrong...

      --
      "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
    15. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No those actions were handled with prior versions of Net Neutrality dating back to 2006, such as the 2010 Open Internet rules struck down in Jan of 2014 which prompted the FCC to try another rewrite that was the Net Neutrality rules they just voted to remove.

      You are correct about the cell issues where the market was able to correct, but in the ISP business a free market does not exist in much of the country and so it cannot correct.

    16. Re:Still by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Why do we need the second amendment? As long as no state wants to make a law against gun ownership, there's really no reason for it.

      And no, as long as no ISP wants to implement any blocks or traffic shaping shenanigans to squeeze more money out of their customers, there is no need for net neutrality.

      Both these things exist for the reason that governments want to regulate which people can have what guns to use them when and how, as much as ISPs want to regulate which customers can use which traffic when and how.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    17. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Curiously, when the same argument is being used to deny entry from terrorist exporting countries, all the liberal shill are against "taking preventive measure"...

      Show me a country that doesn't have terrorism. See, that's the problem with the "deny entry" part. "Taking preventive measures" means having more extensive checks when there's more terrorism in certain countries. That's precisely what we do. It's not to prevent all terrorism but to at least be aware of it. It also can be worked around by terrorist just going to another country first and then coming to the US. That's the other major argument about determinism and how a simple ban is not a solution.

      Consider, the whole point about net neutrality is to set in law the rules so that when companies are caught doing such things, it's not an argument to be made that such activities might well be legal. Instead, it's an argument that their activities don't qualify, which is harder to argue. Imagine if we had to actually argue that terrorism is a crime. That's the real comparison you'd have to be making because in the end we can stop asshole terrorists killing people and we can't stop asshole companies deciding to fuck over people for a dime. It's the after-the-fact law we're here to codify (and regulation as applicable) to try, in some small way, fix things when it happens.

    18. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't believe in teh gods, but you sure believe in whining.

    19. Re:Still by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      Because the actual laws that were proposed clearly don't have that effect. That's why people are against it.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    20. Re:Still by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      Ah. The defense of someone with no argument.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    21. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd believe it if he encouraged municipal broadband or otherwise set the stakes to bring more competition to ISP's. I'm lucky enough to have a choice of 4-5 ISP's, most get 1 maybe 2.

    22. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The terrible thing occuring? In 2014 you had to use a VPN to watch Netflix in HD

      Was that because Netflix was throttling their own users and blaming ISPs?

    23. Re:Still by h4x0t · · Score: 1

      #1 reason to get Youtube Red is that they allow you to play audio when the youtube app is running in the background. The content sucks.

    24. Re:Still by hey! · · Score: 1

      Well, are we to construe it as SingleSpeak or DoubleSpeak?

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    25. Re:Still by hey! · · Score: 1

      It's interesting that you bring up cell phone service, because that's what they ISPs want to do -- be like cell carriers used to be before Apple forced them to open their networks, selling packages of network applications. Cell phones before the iPhone had cameras, but hardly anyone used them because the only way to get them off was to subscribe to the carrier's "picture mail" service.

      Anti-net neutrality is all a bout monetizing user choices, which means that Internet service provider choices will become more difficult. Do I want to give up Hulu to get access to Netflix? Service offerings will start to look like Cable TV packages, simplifying choices we haven't had to make up until now.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    26. Re:Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, first off, none of these occurred in 2015, so you get a fail for that...second, you're citing Telus, a Canadian phone company, that wouldn't be covered by FCC legislation. Third, every single example you gave was handled by existing rules already in place and does not prove a need for the Net Neutrality legislation that was introduced in 2015. Finally, given that you're such a HUGE proponent of a free and open internet, how do you feel about Google and Facebook selectively censoring content, as they are doing right now, and have been doing the entire time your precious Net Neutrality legislation was in place?

    27. Re: Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've never heard cool aid used to bring people in touch with reality.

      We had no problems in 2015 because in 2010 the FCC stepped in and regulated the isps. In 2015, the reclassified the isps to title 2 in response to Verizon's successful suit that they couldn't be regulated in this manner while under title 1.

      I'm curious how much you're being paid to spread these lies.

    28. Re:Still by dev-in-seattle · · Score: 1

      We didn't block people from countries where there are lots of terrorists, like saudia arabia, that are business partners with our country, and trump. That's a big reason why people saw the muslim ban as a mistake.

    29. Re:Still by Scroatzilla · · Score: 1

      It's funny that this is marked "Insightful" while only ambiguously citing two big companies, with absolutely no specific context.

      Netflix attempted a non-government, business-friendly solution by offering a hardware solution to offset their disproportionate bandwidth use because so many people loved Netflix. Comcast, because they did not want to compete with a new and ultimately better technology (because Netflix's on-demand programming was way better than Comcast's "pay us $200 per month for this crappy package, only 2% of which you will watch,") leaned on the government to regulate the market.

      That is corporatism at its worst. The "insight" here is that "Net Neutrality" is an ironic name for a corporatist, corrupt government regulation.

    30. Re: Still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This smoke screen is getting old

      But but Facebook but but google. Lay off it already. We don't HAVE to use Facebook or google. We HAVE to use our ISPs because most of us have one or two choices.

    31. Re:Still by Xenx · · Score: 1

      People on /. obviously have access to the internet and are capable of searching "Comcast throttle Netflix" or "Comcast Netflix net neutrality" or "Comcast peer-to-peer" on their own. I don't need to hand hold them and reiterate what is said in all the articles. Plus, if anyone on here wasn't familiar with the issues.. they would be better served looking it up and making their own judgements.

    32. Re:Still by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Netflix attempted a non-government, business-friendly solution by offering a hardware solution to offset their disproportionate bandwidth use because so many people loved Netflix.

      They did not have "disproportionate bandwidth use." They PAID for their bandwidth. Comcast's users pay for their bandwidth. This is how it's worked since the dawn of the Internet, and it's worked well. Comcast was rent seeking because they've ensured their users don't have elsewhere to go, so they can stop carriages traveling on the road and demand "tolls" that have nothing to do with the roads.

      If you don't want your users streaming 4k from Netflix, then don't promise them "unlimited bandwidth" while working behind the scenes to slow down their access to competitors to your own services.

    33. Re:Still by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      how do you feel about Google and Facebook selectively censoring content

      Stop that bullshit right now. They have no bearing on the Net Neutrality conversation.

    34. Re:Still by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      The terrible thing occuring? In 2014 you had to use a VPN to watch Netflix in HD

      Was that because Netflix was throttling their own users and blaming ISPs?

      No, you're quite wrong about that, but thanks for playing.

    35. Re:Still by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      "All of these incidence were handled without the net neutrality regulations just removed."

      Yes, by litigation and regulatory intervention., which takes time.

      In a properly open and free market, Net Neutrality rules aren't needed because customers will vote with their feet/wallets when companies start restricting content to block competition or favour their own services.

      Unfortunately across vast tracts of the USA, you have regulated and protected monopoly broadband provision which is anything but an "open and free market". Customers tend to have a choice of one broadband ISP or nothing at all.

      You lot do rave on about your freedoms, but the reality is that you don't have many.

  7. Ajit Pai will pay someday. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The internet does not forget an asshole like that. He will be repaid someday.

    1. Re:Ajit Pai will pay someday. by x0ra · · Score: 1

      ... by an exec position at a big ISP (btw, I'm anti-NN). At the same time, you'll serve fries to his kids.

    2. Re:Ajit Pai will pay someday. by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      If I know it's his kids, I'll make sure to add a healthy dose of E621. Or was that E605? I'm really bad with numbers...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Ajit Pai will pay someday. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was these kinds of posts which made the vintage Slashdot such a cool place...

  8. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    You can use a belt loop as "bump stock" to acquire automatic fire. Should be ban belt loops on pants too?

    My god man think of the pants. And the ass showing. There are too many plumber cracks showing as it is.

  9. Re:Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ajit has a future as a mover and a shaker.

    translated: Ajit has a future as a corporate stooge.

  10. Re: Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    It always makes me wonder how it could feel like being an indifferent moron like you and the likes of you. Living under a rock, poking and yelling at everyone, calling them names and feeling good about it. It must feel awesome to have such a self confidence.

    Can you imagine believing "I'm against Net Neutrality 'cause it triggers the libs" is a cogent political opinion?

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  11. Tell us more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >A Jedi acts selflessly for the common man, NOT lie 2 enrich giant corporations.

    Meanwhile in other news, the new Star Wars opened to a 500 zillion dollar weekend for Disney.

    1. Re: Tell us more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By being pro nn, he's trying to be for the common Man.

      You also think he got 500 zillion of the opening box office?

    2. Re: Tell us more by x0ra · · Score: 1

      He probably got a few millions for his 5s appearances in the last sequel...

  12. Don't forget... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All those lightsabers meant shit when the might of the whole galaxy was against the Jedi and they got killed off one by one until only Ben, Yoda, and Luke remained, with Leia as an untrained force sensitive backup (as alluded in Empire and stated in RotJ.) Or you know there were dozens to hundreds in hiding if you believe the forked (and Lucas/Mouse stated non-canon) extended Universe fiction, which provides far more depth to the universe than much of the post prequel universe, and definitely any of the later TV shows/Sequels did.

    1. Re: Don't forget... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Omg... it's just a shitty movie series to sell kids toys. It isn't that important. In fact, it isn't important at all. Let it go.

    2. Re:Don't forget... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      the might of the whole galaxy was against the Jedi and they got killed off one by one

      You say that like it was a bad thing. Look, the Jedi had NOTHING TO OFFER the people of the galaxy. The Empire brought peace and order. Building the Death Star created a Keynesian expansion that provided prosperity for trillions of people. Life was good. Then the Jedi destroyed all of that, killed the emperor, and the galactic economy collapsed. Soon people were reduced to scavenging the wreckage left behind by the golden age of empire. Of course the people turned against the Jedi. Can you blame them?

    3. Re:Don't forget... by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      That doesn't explain the fall of the Republic, which is what I took that comment to be talking about.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    4. Re:Don't forget... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      http://www.weeklystandard.com/...

      Lucas wants the Empire to stand for evil, so he tells us that the Emperor and Darth Vader have gone over to the Dark Side and dresses them in black.

      But look closer. When Palpatine is still a senator, he says, "The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good." At one point he laments that "the bureaucrats are in charge now."

      Palpatine believes that the political order must be manipulated to produce peace and stability. When he mutters, "There is no civility, there is only politics," we see that at heart, he's an esoteric Straussian.

      Make no mistake, as emperor, Palpatine is a dictator--but a relatively benign one, like Pinochet. It's a dictatorship people can do business with. They collect taxes and patrol the skies. They try to stop organized crime (in the form of the smuggling rings run by the Hutts). The Empire has virtually no effect on the daily life of the average, law-abiding citizen.

      Also, unlike the divine-right Jedi, the Empire is a meritocracy. The Empire runs academies throughout the galaxy (Han Solo begins his career at an Imperial academy), and those who show promise are promoted, often rapidly. In The Empire Strikes Back Captain Piett is quickly promoted to admiral when his predecessor falls down on the job.

      And while it's a small point, the Empire's manners and decorum speak well of it. When Darth Vader is forced to employ bounty hunters to track down Han Solo, he refuses to address them by name. Even Boba Fett, the greatest of all trackers, is referred to icily as "bounty hunter." And yet Fett understands the protocol. When he captures Solo, he calls him "Captain Solo." (Whether this is in deference to Han's former rank in the Imperial starfleet, or simply because Han owns and pilots his own ship, we don't know. I suspect it's the former.)

      But the most compelling evidence that the Empire isn't evil comes in The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader is battling Luke Skywalker. After an exhausting fight, Vader is poised to finish Luke off, but he stays his hand. He tries to convert Luke to the Dark Side with this simple plea: "There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you. . . . Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy." It is here we find the real controlling impulse for the Dark Side and the Empire. The Empire doesn't want slaves or destruction or "evil." It wants order.

      None of which is to say that the Empire isn't sometimes brutal. In Episode IV, Imperial stormtroopers kill Luke's aunt and uncle and Grand Moff Tarkin orders the destruction of an entire planet, Alderaan. But viewed in context, these acts are less brutal than they initially appear. Poor Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen reach a grisly end, but only after they aid the rebellion by hiding Luke and harboring two fugitive droids. They aren't given due process, but they are traitors.

      The destruction of Alderaan is often cited as ipso facto proof of the Empire's "evilness" because it seems like mass murder--planeticide, even. As Tarkin prepares to fire the Death Star, Princess Leia implores him to spare the planet, saying, "Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons." Her plea is important, if true.

      But the audience has no reason to believe that Leia is telling the truth. In Episode IV, every bit of information she gives the Empire is willfully untrue. In the opening, she tells Darth Vader that she is on a diplomatic mission of mercy, when in fact she is on a spy mission, trying to deliver schematics of the Death Star to the Rebel Alliance. When asked where the Alliance is headquartered, she lies again.

      Leia's lies are perfectly defensible--she thinks she's serving the greater good--but they make her wholly unreliable on the question of whether or not Alderaan really is

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    5. Re:Don't forget... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      What fell the republic was infighting, petty bickering and not realizing a looming danger that was pretty good at playing with the fears and using them to take power out of hands more than willing to hand it over.

      Reminds me of something, if I could only remember what...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Don't forget... by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      By the way Skywalker pulls an Obi Wan and becomes a force ghost, Kylo Ren cuts Snoke in half and puppet Yoda shows up.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    7. Re:Don't forget... by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Found Ajit's slashdot account.

    8. Re:Don't forget... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any article that considers Pinochet a benign dictator should be treated with suspicion.

    9. Re:Don't forget... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it's almost like the whole thing was written to be tongue in cheek or to troll the "BUSH=PALPATINE" idiot left or something.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    10. Re:Don't forget... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, though its more like you are a deluded RWNJ BREXSHITTER.

    11. Re:Don't forget... by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      But look closer. When Palpatine is still a senator, he says, "The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good." At one point he laments that "the bureaucrats are in charge now."

      Of course, we're getting all this from a master of manipulation and true evil. He will absolutely twist the truth to convince you of a version of reality that may not be accurate.

      A truly benevolent king -can- be the most beneficial type of government, and a truly evil dictator can be the worst. Which would you rather have -- the current Congress, or an evil dictatorship? For God's sake, you'd better not say the latter, even in jest.

      In The Empire Strikes Back Captain Piett is quickly promoted to admiral when his predecessor falls down on the job.

      Now I'm thinking that you or the grandparent are credibly promoting a parody without getting the joke.

    12. Re:Don't forget... by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      By the way Skywalker pulls an Obi Wan and becomes a force ghost, Kylo Ren cuts Snoke in half and puppet Yoda shows up.

      What do you get from being a dickweed? Seriously, I've always wondered why people do this.

  13. Clown show by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If there was any remaining doubt, it has now been erased: Ajit Pai is not only incompetent, in the pocket of some of the biggest of all big businesses, against the will of the people, and morally corrupt, he's also a complete clown. (And I mean clown in the most disrespectful way possible, not in the fun loving, flower-squirting, balloon-bending sense.) I can't believe something as important as the FCC is in this moron's hands. You can debate the merits/follies of an outsider/village idiot like Trump all day, but Ajit Pai's nonsense is indefensible.

    --
    This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
    1. Re:Clown show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think I'd call Pai incompetent. Earnestly trying to do right by the American people, and failing, that is incompetence. Actively trying to screw us over, and succeeding, that's something else, but not incompetence. You can only consider him incompetent if you think this shitshow isn't intentional.

    2. Re:Clown show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL Yep, you certainly are

    3. Re:Clown show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actively trying to screw us over, and succeeding, that's something else, but not incompetence.

      I think the word you're looking for is malice.

    4. Re:Clown show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Actively trying to screw us over, and succeeding, that's something else..."

      He is at best a useful idiot. But I agree with you, this is highly unlikely to be what is going on here, and he is instead what you see is a purposeful distraction from the seriousness of the situation.

      Look at them make fools of themselves, Idiots!!!! Um, no.

    5. Re:Clown show by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Dude, that's unfair, ok. Hardworking people should not be offended like this, it's anything but easy to be put into such a position with huge responsibility, where you can ruin a life in mere minutes if you're not good, causing a traumatic experience that may last a lifetime.

      You have any idea how long you have to study and learn if you really want to be good as a clown? And you compare this buffoon with people who dedicate their life to creating joy, wonder and entertainment.

      On behalf of all clowns on the planet I expect an apology. No clown, not even Pennywise, deserves being named in one breath with this waste of precious oxygen.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Clown show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's not incompetent. He's malicious. Learn the distinction.

    7. Re:Clown show by houghi · · Score: 1

      I would say tht he is EXTREMELY competent to be able to get this done against the will of everybody. Does not mean that I agree with what he does, be he does it well. He does what he was paid to do (by the companies).

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    8. Re:Clown show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Ajit Pai is not only incompetent, in the pocket of some of the biggest of all big businesses

      As opposed to being in the pocket of tiny companies like Netflix, Google or Facebook?

      I'm sorry but your selective outrage is hilarious. It's funny how nobody stopped to wonder how we got hammered with a perfectly coordinated media campaign to "save the internet" complete with catchy phrases, "star power" and all the sht that blinds the ignorant masses.

      Hell, it felt like the Hillary campaign all over again!! (that's not a good thing, btw).

  14. Better approach: by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Informative

    Call your representatives and tell them what you want. Congress can pass a law to ensure net neutrality but they have to know it matters to voters. Also, if they won't support it then you need to get involved politically. If your preferred political party does not support net neutrality then you may want to reexamine why you are aligning yourself with them.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Better approach: by x0ra · · Score: 2

      you'd be better off petitioning your local government to open the local loop to competition. not everything has to be done at the federal level...

    2. Re:Better approach: by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 2

      The only problem with this is that the republicans are rather firmly in the pocket of telecom companies (and the democrats as well to a lesser, yet still significant extent) so any national level net neutrality laws have not only a Trump veto to contend with, they also have a snowball's chance in hell passing the necessary votes required to even end up on Trump's desk. For it to stand any kind of chance the republicans need to get absolutely murdered in the next elections, which I doubt seeing how the democrats have to get their act together after the disaster that was the 2016 presidential election, and Trump either being impeached and replaced or put in a position where he has to make a deal with the democrats where he refrains from using his veto on this.

      --
      "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
    3. Re:Better approach: by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Don't forget to attach a bigger check than Comcast to that call.

      You don't expect a blowjob from a ho for free, do you? Then why do you expect a law from a ho in Congress?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Better approach: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is so cute that you believe the federal government actually represents its constituents.

    5. Re:Better approach: by geekmux · · Score: 4, Insightful

      you'd be better off petitioning your local government to open the local loop to competition. not everything has to be done at the federal level...

      100 million Americans have but one provider to choose from. Google is struggling to compete.

      Petitioning at the local government level is akin to pissing in a strong wind with your mouth wide open.

    6. Re:Better approach: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... the disaster that was the 2016 presidential election ...

      The Democrats only lost because of 4 states, so logic dictates they need to try harder in those 4 states. A policy or two to buy voters, a bit of time for Republicans corrupt something and fuck-up everything; then the Democrats will be in control again. With the recent landslide in Alabama, the Democrats might not do that much, more's the pity.

      ... want to reexamine why you are aligning yourself ...

      It doesn't matter who is "absolutely murdered in the next elections", when US voters think their choices are the party who admires wealth from arduous work (Democrats), or the party who admires wealth from screwing-over the working class (Republicans). The 40% swing in Alabama could have put an independent senator in power but the 5 independent candidates got 1% of the vote: The voters don't even try to punish those politicians fixated on the wealthy.

    7. Re:Better approach: by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      Call your representatives and tell them what you want. Congress can pass a law to ensure net neutrality but they have to know it matters to voters. Also, if they won't support it then you need to get involved politically. If your preferred political party does not support net neutrality then you may want to reexamine why you are aligning yourself with them.

      Call your representative? Get a million angry voters together, head down to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and shout with one voice, "Give us a net neutrality law you corrupt skunk!", then head over to the senate building and repeat the exercise except the last word should be in the plural. Democracy works best when the politicians are scared stiff of the electorate.

    8. Re:Better approach: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be sure to wear those pussy hats when you start chanting. Then you will be taken seriously.

    9. Re:Better approach: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And a day later, the state legislature will outlaw such "corrupt practices".
      Just as they have outlawed local city/county owned broadband.

    10. Re:Better approach: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or why you are aligned to a party in the first place.

    11. Re:Better approach: by Scroatzilla · · Score: 1

      >> Congress can pass a law

      The first and biggest mistake of your argument.

    12. Re:Better approach: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you'd be better off petitioning your local government to open the local loop to competition. not everything has to be done at the federal level...

      read the "state of x" constitution, and "voter registration". compare to black's law dictionary "federal citizen"

      noone has ran actual states at any level for a LONG time. they are doing "genocide on paper" of "we the people". only "federal citizens" can vote in any "state of x" for a LONG time.

      they literally only "represent themselves" at this stage. federal citizens voting for other federal citizens, "we the people" are barred from voting at any level.

    13. Re:Better approach: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My political party is the "Me, Myself, and I" party and we agree with net neutrality.

  15. Internet regulation by cold+fjord · · Score: 0, Troll

    So, internet regulation is now back to what it was from circa 1980 - 2015? The horror .... the horror ....

    The Internet Had Already Lost Its Neutrality

    . . . the major problem with the FCC’s move: It forced ISPs into an 80-year-old framework designed for the telephone monopolies of a much different era. Those regulations were more concerned about things like controlling market power than, say, promoting innovation. And while the advocates for net neutrality stressed the benefits for competition among content providers, the critics asked what would happen to competition among ISPs, since heavy-handed regulation often acts as a barrier to entry for new startups, which can’t afford to negotiate the regulatory apparatus. Those of us old enough to remember the telephone service looked like in the 1970s, before the FCC unwound a little -- which is to say, pretty much like the service our parents had when they were children, down to the astronomical prices for long distance calls, and the chunky plastic rotary telephones -- can see why critics were concerned about giving the FCC that kind of power to block innovation.

    Federal meddling can't improve the Internet.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    1. Re:Internet regulation by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So, internet regulation is now back to what it was from circa 1980 - 2015? The horror .... the horror ....

      Yeah, they have been doing some really shady shit.

      . . . the major problem with the FCC’s move: It forced ISPs into an 80-year-old framework designed for the telephone monopolies of a much different era. Those regulations were more concerned about things like controlling market power than, say, promoting innovation.

      Except this is exactly the issue we are worried about. How is it a much different era? Did companies stop being greedy? Did they stop consolidating to control massive swaths of customers? How is this era any different?

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:Internet regulation by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Except this is exactly the issue we are worried about. How is it a much different era? Did companies stop being greedy? Did they stop consolidating to control massive swaths of customers? How is this era any different?

      It is different because no internet company is in the position of AT&T and the Bell System, not even close.

      Bell System - Nationwide monopoly

      . . . As a result of this vertical monopoly, by 1940 the Bell System effectively owned most telephone service in the United States, from local and long-distance service to the telephones themselves. This allowed Bell to prohibit its customers from connecting phones not made or sold by Bell to the system without paying fees. For example, if a customer desired a type of phone not leased by the local Bell monopoly, he or she had to purchase the phone at cost, give it to the phone company, then pay a 're-wiring' charge and a monthly lease fee in order to use it. . . .

      In 1949, the United States Department of Justice alleged in an antitrust lawsuit that AT&T and the Bell System operating companies were using their near-monopoly in telecommunications to attempt to establish unfair advantage in related technologies. The outcome was a 1956 consent decree limiting AT&T to 85% of the United States' national telephone network and certain government contracts, and from continuing to hold interests in Canada and the Caribbean.

      The internet and the legacy phone system may make use of related technologies, but the business, competitive environment, uses, and innovation are very different.

      If you are only worried about "greedy companies" and aren't concerned about the stifling effects of government regulation then you don't worry enough about enough things.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    3. Re:Internet regulation by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The internet and the legacy phone system may make use of related technologies, but the business, competitive environment, uses, and innovation are very different.

      Let's take this argument back 80 years.

      The telephone and the legacy power pole system may make use of related technologies, but the business, competitive environment, uses, and innovation are very different.

      What business does a telephone company have caring about how I use my telephone? I paid for it, so but out!
      What business does an Internet Service Provider have caring about I my Internet service? I paid for it, so but out!

      If you are only worried about "greedy companies" and aren't concerned about the stifling effects of government regulation then you don't worry enough about enough things.

      Please, inform me of the stifling effects net neutrality because there literally are none. The people that claim there are list things that are not related to net neutrality which is to say they have no argument or don't understand what net neutrality means.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    4. Re:Internet regulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Like constricting competitor's streaming media downloads? Yup, they have. Now it will be legal. The fear is - at least among the few who actually have a brain - that the various pricing schemes imposed by the oligiopolistic vertically integrated "content providers" will make the internet just another kind of cable where you have to subscribe to a "package" of content in order to get the small fraction of what's provided that you actually want. The problem is restricting pricing is a great way to entrench the current "winners" and eliminate innovation. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I don't believe the government is competent to pick commercial winners and losers, but I also don't want an industry (the Web) restricted by only a few providers. The government seems to be both picking the winners and allowing massive industry consolidation. Worst of both worlds. But then again competent government is an oxymoron.

    5. Re:Internet regulation by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It is different because no internet company is in the position of AT&T and the Bell System, not even close.

      Yeah they are. In fact, nearly every ISP is in exactly the same position as the original AT&T.

      The part you're missing is that when it comes to consumer impact, it doesn't matter if there's a better ISP in a city a hundred miles away. You still live in your town, and you're not going to pack up, sell your house, and move to another city just to get better Internet service. You're stuck with what is available in your geographical area.

      The reason they broke up the Bell system and, in the process, massively regulated the resulting smaller companies, is that geographical monopolies are fundamentally bad, and it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference how big the geographical area is. The critical part of the AT&T breakup was not splitting up the nationwide monopoly on end-user access, but rather splitting the long-distance provider from the end-user access provider, eliminating any real opportunity for the latter (which were regional monopolies) to limit which long-distance carrier you could use. We have almost the exact same problem now, with ISPs also being cable providers and voice telephone providers that can (and often do) unfairly compete with other streaming video and voice providers that operate over the Internet.

      As for the equipment thing... well, Comcast won't provide static IP blocks without renting a Comcast Business Gateway from them. So we've kind of gotten back to that problem, too.

      In other words, in every way other than the nationwide aspect, we've been at the exact same point that led to the breakup of AT&T for at least half a decade, if not longer. And as I said earlier, it doesn't matter if an ISP has a monopoly only in your town, in the county, or in an entire region. Unless your house has wheels, you're not going to move it to the next town over, the next county over, or the next state over just to get a better ISP. So anybody claiming that regional wire-line monopolies are somehow different from national wire-line monopolies in any meaningful way is kidding him/herself.

      Just saying.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    6. Re:Internet regulation by Freischutz · · Score: 2

      So, internet regulation is now back to what it was from circa 1980 - 2015? The horror .... the horror ....

      Yeah, they have been doing some really shady shit.

      . . . the major problem with the FCC’s move: It forced ISPs into an 80-year-old framework designed for the telephone monopolies of a much different era. Those regulations were more concerned about things like controlling market power than, say, promoting innovation.

      Except this is exactly the issue we are worried about. How is it a much different era? Did companies stop being greedy? Did they stop consolidating to control massive swaths of customers? How is this era any different?

      I don't think companies stopped being greedy. What is different is that the idea the internet should be a level playing field has breathed it's last breath because Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and the rest of the big players who used to fight for net neutrality realised they can afford to pay the extortionists their pound of flesh, that given the utterly corrupt nature of the Trump administration they have to and finally that the real threat is not the extortionists, it is scrappy startups with a better business model and product than them. These startups will from now on be competing at an even greater disadvantage because people have now accepted that is both normal and desirable for the extortionists to ensure that the bandwidth of smaller players is limited and their customer's connections are regularly interrupted by 'technical problems' unless they pay a ransom. The death of net neutrality will work to the advantage of both the extortionists who will now get their regular infusion of mafia style protection payments and the established big players. So in future expect any upcoming competitor who threatens somebody like Google for example and starts to chew up their dominant market share to die a death of a million connection error messages because Google felt threatened and and crapppified their service by pulling the protection money strings so that Google can eventually buy up the corpse and its patents and technology with it. Just ask Eric Schmidt, he'll be the first to tell you how proud he is to call this: "capitalism working as intended" (... and to hell with Adam Smith).

    7. Re:Internet regulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Without Net Neutrality there is no room for innovation as the corporations will starve ANY competition. We all knew they would do it and they proved again and again that our fears were valid. If you prove not to be trustworthy, any and all freedoms will be revoked. Every toddler learns the rules, yet somehow corporations complain about it.
      How people are not able to figure this out is beyond me.

    8. Re:Internet regulation by x0ra · · Score: 1

      How would NN bring back FM app on your dumbphone ?

    9. Re:Internet regulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >But then again competent government is an oxymoron.
      speak for your own misgoverned country.

    10. Re:Internet regulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you really think the internet is going to continue to be just "wires" everywhere?

      More and more, the most commonly used internet is mobile broadband.

      In the country, a lot of times people with satellite internet tend to use their mobile internet just as often and connect to their phone on their laptop as a wifi hotspot.

      Just saying, things are changing rapidly. And they will continue to change rapidly.

    11. Re:Internet regulation by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Funny thing is when AT&T was a monopoly and regulated under common carrier status I remember everyone complaining they were too slow in deploying DSL. Because it turns out a regulated monopoly has no incentive to deploy new technology.

      Meanwhile in the UK BT have a monopoly on lines but local loop unbundling means you have multiple choices of DSL provider. And in the UK you don't local government imposed monopolies on cable and fibre.

      Which is the real regulatory problem. Of course Pai won't do anything about those. As Louis Rossmann pointed out, if you're going to get rid of NN regulation you should also do something to make it easier for people to set up competing ISPs

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    12. Re:Internet regulation by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      And when they change enough that we have a dozen or more ISPs for each household, perhaps we won't need Net Neutrality regulations. Until then, though, mobile broadband isn't ready to take on home usage. My household uses about 500GB of data per month (mostly for streaming videos from Netflix/Hulu/YouTube). Verizon's Unlimited plan reduces speeds if you go above 22GB. Their non-unlimited data plans max out at 100GB which, IIRC was around $700 a month. Having an option that would give me 20% of the data I need for over 10 times the cost is not real competition.

      My only real ISP option is Charter. If they messed around with my access to various sites, I'd be forced to either keep paying them or go without Internet. I have no real ISP choice.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    13. Re:Internet regulation by mark-t · · Score: 1

      The thing you need to be explaining is why the internet even got innovated in the first place when there originally wasn't any net neutrality.

    14. Re:Internet regulation by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      More and more, the most commonly used internet is mobile broadband.

      Well, that's half true. Mobile broadband has the disadvantage of being expensive and not working with computers unless you pay $$$ for a wireless hotspot feature that still doesn't work because there's too much multipath interference in your apartment downtown in a major city, and won't penetrate the walls with a strong enough signal at your parents' house in the country.

      Mobile broadband is the most commonly used, but only because people tend to do lots of minor, trivial stuff with it while they're out and about. Serious Internet use is still almost entirely wired (or at best, Wi-Fi to a wired connection) and will be for the foreseeable future, because cellular wireless just can't handle the bandwidth needs of dense urban areas or the building penetration needs of low-density rural areas.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    15. Re:Internet regulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BS. AT&T were broken up because they were large enough that the IRS couldn't audit them. The political landscape has changed, though, and that wouldn't happen today.,

    16. Re:Internet regulation by Holi · · Score: 1

      We have been asked to list why the reasons why Net Neutrality came about. So, since you brought it up, please list all these "stifling effects of government regulation" in regards to Net Neutrality that your side likes to keep mentioning.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    17. Re:Internet regulation by Holi · · Score: 1

      How is this in any way relevant to the conversation?

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    18. Re:Internet regulation by Scroatzilla · · Score: 1

      >> What business does *the government" have caring about how I use my *internet*?

      FTFY

    19. Re:Internet regulation by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      More and more, the most commonly used internet is mobile broadband.

      That's not broadband. It's not even close. It's shit. And it's always going to be shit.

  16. Slashdot's finest hour by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    It's never a better day than when Slashdot decides to cover Twitter fights.

    I can't wait till we get the posts about Little Billy's pranks in the 2nd grade computer labs!

  17. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You can use a belt loop as "bump stock" to acquire automatic fire. Should be ban belt loops on pants too?

    People don't use belt loops to kill dozens upon dozens of innocent civilians. You could use a screwdriver to kill too, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't carry swords and machetes around in public all day. Playing a semantics game doesn't mean your position or opinion isn't patently wrong.

    --
    This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
  18. Re:Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 1

    translated: Ajit has a future as a corporate stooge.

    And the future is right now.

    --
    This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
  19. Re:Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hi Ajit, enjoying life?

  20. If Ajit sees himself as one of the Jedi.... by Drakonblayde · · Score: 1

    ... won't someone please go all Darth Vader on his ass?

    1. Re:If Ajit sees himself as one of the Jedi.... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      If he is a Jedi, I think it's time to execute Order 66.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  21. Wrong Comparison by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ajit Pai is not only incompetent... he's also a complete clown.

    Exactly. So people are getting their Star Wars analogy wrong when they compare him to Darth Vader. This guy is Jar-jar Binks.

    1. Re:Wrong Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is Darth Binks to you.

    2. Re:Wrong Comparison by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

      Jar Jar binks was more competent.

      (and the real Phantom Menace until backlash made Lucas balk in fear from revealing his "Monkey God").

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    3. Re:Wrong Comparison by prefec2 · · Score: 1

      Jar-Jar was a mess, but he worked for the good guys. While Ajit Pai works for the dark side or Jabba the Hutt. I am not so sure which. It also might be Spaceballs. They polluted their home planet, sniff perri air, and try to steal the atmosphere of another planet.

    4. Re:Wrong Comparison by x0ra · · Score: 1

      Your lifestyle is based on the decision made by those people. Think about it when you'll get your next mocha frappe latte at Starbucks...

    5. Re:Wrong Comparison by prefec2 · · Score: 1

      I would never go to such frivolous place which sells bad coffee. I'd rather have a real milk+coffee mixture without 100 toppings. Toppings is something for pizza not coffee. Such places are for people who do not need to make any decisions at their workplace. They get some sense of having their life in control from answering 10 questions before they get their coffee.

      Anyway, I do not understand what you mean by "those people". Jar-Jar or Jabba the Hutt? Or do you refer to the US government?

    6. Re:Wrong Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it's like Spaceballs, then there's no way that he works for Jabba the Hutt. The Spaceballs parody equivalent was Pizza the Hut.

      Wait a minute.

      Pizza... Pai... OH MY GOD.

    7. Re:Wrong Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, Salacious Crumb it is, then.

  22. grade school antics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How far and how fast we have fallen. No wonder why the kardashians are so popular.

  23. Re: Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, the unfortunate truth is that studies have shown that the more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to be unhappy.

  24. Re:Freedom from NN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Are you retarded? Removing NN makes it even hard for a competitor to Google to emerge since Alphabet can easily pay for "fast lanes" for it's properties, and negotiate for better terms due to Android than any Youtube competitor could.

  25. Re:"83% of Americans who support net neutrality" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's the whole idea behind boiling down expansive documents and policies to two high-impact words!

  26. Re: Freedom from NN by fj3k · · Score: 2

    Additionally, repealing NN will also result in cures for cancer being discovered, a reduction in fatal road accidents, and pigs being able to fly. I can provide evidence if you can.

    --
    Two men claimed to have walked into a bar. Only one had the bruises to prove it.
  27. That 83%? by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Until it translates into votes, it doesn't mean squat.

    *Sweep the House*

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:That 83%? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      #BLUEMIDTERM

      #IMPEACHTHEORANGE

    2. Re:That 83%? by WheezyJoe · · Score: 1

      THIS. Show up in 2018 (and any local elections along the way), demand from your candidate laws to reverse Ajit Pai's FCC or else vote for the guy who will. Otherwise, sit and spin on the monetized, content-monitored, multi-tiered toll-road Internet you deserve.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
    3. Re:That 83%? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The swamp just got "swampier". Guess it's time to drain the swamp again already.

  28. Re:Freedom from NN by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Search engines that don't derank for US party political reasons.

    Actually, now google can pay to ensure that competing search engines always have a slower connection or do not connect at all.

    News sites that don't ban and remove news.

    Actually, now big news sites can pay to ensure that smaller sites have long loading times or even inject ads.

    SJW social media that is not banning accounts and reporting users to their governments.

    Actually, now SJW social media can pay to keep a competing site from ever connecting.

    NN provided political cover for a lot of net censorship.

    Reads like you don't understand the first thing about what NN really means.

    With the NN rules removed new networks and services can emerge.

    With the NN rules removed, new networks and services will have to be able to spend as much money as the giants they are competing against.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  29. Re:Freedom from NN by AHuxley · · Score: 0

    AC Re "NN makes it even hard for a competitor to" you have had years for the NN rules to show some positive results.

    Hows that NN freedom of speech going?
    Freedom after speech on the NN supporting brands?
    All the new search engines? New social media under the NN rules?
    Municipal broadband with the NN rules in place?
    NN protected network monopolists and enforced party political SJW censorship for years.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  30. Re:Lamestream media by Narcocide · · Score: 1

    Or maybe it's a wakeup call that you should be heeding.

  31. Re:Freedom from NN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, I can tell you one thing for sure shit like Hatreon, Gab, etc. are all going to be throttled to fucking hell, so much for your alternative nazi internet.

  32. Re:Freedom from NN by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The removal of NN will allow new brands to emerge.

    Boy, do you have that backwards.

    Search engines that don't derank for US party political reasons.

    Nope. Without NN, your ISP can redirect your search requests to their own search engine without even having to tell users that they're doing it. You might not even know that you're getting a substandard experience. Big search engines can, of course, afford to pay those ISPs to avoid that, but those new brands you're hoping will emerge? They won't have the money to do so, so they'll be stillborn.

    And the same problem exists with all of your other ill-informed beliefs about net neutrality. Repealing net neutrality doesn't create opportunities for new Internet companies to emerge. In point of fact, the repeal of net neutrality does the exact opposite, providing new ways for existing large companies to become entrenched in ways that keep new players from being able to enter the field at all.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  33. Re: Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fight the Future.

  34. University networks will become desirable again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember back in the 90s when home internet totally sucked, and only universities had big bandwidth, so you always felt privileged to be able to get on their networks? That is going to be coming back. Want to access MIT OCW? Throttled. Want to access JSTOR? Throttled. Want to download a Debian ISO? Throttled. Glad I work at a college, and so will be able to enjoy relatively unmolested non-profit internet.

  35. Re: Freedom from NN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uhh what?

    ISPs never banned any websites even without NN, so i hope you can clarify your position...

    Hosting providers have, but website owners can host themselves or have huge number of providers who don't give a crap what they host.

  36. LOL THE LEFT!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They thought the interstellar object "Oumuamua" could be an alien ship!! I love it!

  37. Who Cares? by Jarwulf · · Score: 0

    I find it funny that so many people are so passionately for no ISPs as Internet Gatekeepers at point A when we're full steam ahead for Google/Facebook/Twitter etc as Internet Gatekeepers at point B, (y'know organizations which collectively wield more and more power and without whom said internet is more and more useless and have been acting like gatekeepers far more often and for far more political reasons) with the full support of many of these same people.

    1. Re:Who Cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, we've gone full circle and we're back to AOL (Facebook) and Compuserv (Google) for the masses.

    2. Re:Who Cares? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I know how to use the internet without Google, without Facebook, without Twitter.

      How do I do it without an ISP?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Who Cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know how to use the internet without Google, without Facebook, without Twitter.

      How do I do it without an ISP?

      With Comcast XFINITY® of course

  38. Re:Lamestream media by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

    Being a contrarian and disagreeing simply because veryone else thinks something doesn't make you smart.

    There are more flat-earthers than there are Einsteins out there and you don't fall into the latter category.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  39. Wiley Rein by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ajit Pai and that dumb Trump judicial nominee who couldnâ(TM)t answer basic legal questions (if you didnâ(TM)t know, Youtube it) came up through the same right wing feeder law firm Wiley Rein.

    1. Re:Wiley Rein by x0ra · · Score: 1

      Ajit Pai was actually appointed by Obama...

    2. Re:Wiley Rein by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      He was made commissioner by Obama, but Trump made him chairman. At least according to the FCC.

      So no, Obama did not put him into the position where he could make this decision. But clever wording, I have to give you that. It's actually true enough to not make people call you a liar but omits enough to make people think that Obama is to blame for this asshole being where he is.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Wiley Rein by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only reason I hesitate to call this a lie is that there is a real possibility that these people actually believe this talking point. Critical thinking is not their strong point. It is evidence that somebody is actively inventing these deceptive lies. There are just too many of these carefully deceptive talking points circulating. What amazes me most, though, is that so few of these propaganda victims wake up and realise how badly they have been duped.

    4. Re: Wiley Rein by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bush brought him in. Looking it up.

  40. Uh wrong but don't let that stop you ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "your ISP can redirect your search requests to their own search engine"

    Please explain how with https that they can do that.

    Don't worry, I'll wait ... /And you have a 5 digit slashdot id too. Disgraceful!

    1. Re:Uh wrong but don't let that stop you ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I'm not the parent, but they hijack the DNS requests.

      Your answer: Oh, but you can just use [Google|OpenDNS|Run my own] DNS!

      Except they'll hijack them at the UDP layer.

      Your answer: What about DANE or DNSCrypt!?

      Well, when your ISP can perform deep packet inspection on everything you do, they can manipulate it as they see fit. See an encrypted connection? Flood it with garbage until the user turns it off. Not exactly rocket science to do, and I'm sure these attacks already exist in the wild.

      I'm not even American, and I know how fucking stupid dissolving Net Neutrality is. Your country is run by corporations that distort perceptions every single day. Without Net Neutrality there is no oversight, and no recourse when shit hits the fan.

    2. Re:Uh wrong but don't let that stop you ... by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 1

      Not sure about how exactly it was done, but that's pretty much what happened in 2011 and the EFF's investigation into the matter found that the ISPs Cavalier, Cogent, Frontier, Fuse, DirecPC, RCN and Wide Open West all took part in it.

      --
      "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
    3. Re:Uh wrong but don't let that stop you ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By insisting you install a certificate on your device that allows them to decrypt and then re-encrpyt your https traffic. Comcast already tries to trick customers into doing this by suggesting you install a custom profile on your iDevice for, you know, 'enhanced security'.

  41. The present Us government by prefec2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Trump - the Emperor
    Pence - the Emperor's left hand and a religious fundamentalist => no religious freedom
    Scott Pruitt - EPA dismantling agent => no healthy environment and no protection from dangerous and harmful substances in our food and water
    Ajit Pai - FCC dismantling agent => no net neutrality => no freedom in communication and information
    Steven T. Mnuchin - Give it to the rich => no state, no security

    This is not drain the swamp of corruption. This is more like drain all remaining habitats and screw the population so they sit all in a dessert.

    1. Re:The present Us government by x0ra · · Score: 1

      Pence - the Emperor's left hand and a religious fundamentalist => no religious freedom

      The left has not been very pro-religious freedom either, at least, not unless you're trying to promote a regressive religion responsible of the death of tens of thousands in the past 20 years.

    2. Re:The present Us government by prefec2 · · Score: 1

      What do you mean by "promote a regressive religion"? Which religion is that? And which religion is responsible for which deaths? Any ideology and religion can be used to promote murder. Regardless of the real content of the ideology and religion. Examples are Socialism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Patriotism, and Liberalism. While Socialism aims to give workers/employees control over the companies they work in (so there is private property, but its distribution is different) and they decide democratically over what to do also considering minority rights. However, the true implementation was quite the opposite. In Christianity, the key element is peace and forgiveness, help others even if they are your enemies, in short be nice to each other. Unfortunately, people have burned books (just recently) in the name of Christianity, they waged war, burnt people etc. Islam is also a peace loving religion (it literally means peace). they even have rules to be nice to other religions. However, reality is quite different. They even massacre other Muslims for being not faithful enough or following the wrong teachings. Buddhism is a religion people associate with peace and mindfulness, but in Myanmar they use the religion to sanction murder of minorities (not very Buddhist). Same shit with Liberalism. Usually it should give everyone freedom as long as the freedom of others is not in conflict. In the epoch of enlightenment, western society came up with three elements: Freedom (Liberty), fraternity, egality. They only work together. If you choose one other the other, it will end in some sort of tyranny. Total liberty also called libertarian ends up in fascism as it negates egality.

    3. Re:The present Us government by bigdavex · · Score: 1

      Trump is Jabba the Hutt who was elected chancellor in an alternative Star Wars timeline.

      --
      -Dave
    4. Re:The present Us government by hey! · · Score: 1

      Colonize the swamp.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    5. Re:The present Us government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so they sit all in a dessert

      So what kind of Pai would you like to sit in? Or do you prefer cake? Just remember, cake is only in celebration of your victory candescence.

    6. Re:The present Us government by WheezyJoe · · Score: 1

      Don't forget Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan... not sure how they fit into some Star Wars analogy, but they sure keep all those Congress-critters in goose-step behind the Dear orange-haired Leader. People so easily forget, Congress has the ultimate power in the U.S... they can shut down a president, cut off his money supply, and even kick him out of office, and there's nothing the president can do about it. But McConnell and Ryan are happy the way things are going.
      Ryan's up for re-election next year. Anyone from a district in Wisconsin be so kind as so make him go away?
      I mean, if all else fails, vote him out.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
    7. Re:The present Us government by Scroatzilla · · Score: 1

      >> Pai - FCC dismantling agent => no net neutrality => no freedom in communication and information

      Okay, so the GOVERNMENT gives you freedom? Getting rid of Government Regulation is anti-freedom? I don't really think you understand what freedom actually is. "Give the government more power so we can be free!" would be a relatively crappy bumper sticker.

    8. Re: The present Us government by prefec2 · · Score: 1

      There are good and bag government regulations. Therefore, not all protect me. However, let say I live in a country with general health care, I have not to attach resources to this issue and I have not to bother whether I can afford the insurance. Therefore, I can concentrate on other things. If there are laws which make the town safer (e.g., social stuff which limits the need to rob people) I can enjoy walking home at night. That is very liberating.

  42. Something interesting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filing/10713215418126

    Ajit impersonated the President, this is a felony with a very hefty punishment, and the FCC interfering with investigation is an admission of guilt.

  43. I don't believe in getting violent. by Chas · · Score: 1

    But Pai's idiotic and abrasive antics from a position of power are starting to push my "Fuck you motherfucker!" button.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:I don't believe in getting violent. by x0ra · · Score: 1

      Come and get us.

    2. Re:I don't believe in getting violent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Starting to? This guy is garbage, and I am sucker punching his ass if I am ever fortunate enough to meet him.

    3. Re:I don't believe in getting violent. by Chas · · Score: 1

      Starting to? This guy is garbage, and I am sucker punching his ass if I am ever fortunate enough to meet him.

      I am notoriously forgiving and long-suffering...

      --


      Chas - The one, the only.
      THANK GOD!!!
    4. Re:I don't believe in getting violent. by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      You know he is an Attorney, right? How do you think that will play out?

    5. Re:I don't believe in getting violent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's an attorney as well? I am punching him twice.

    6. Re:I don't believe in getting violent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It only took one look at his eminently punchable face to give me a visceral feeling of disgust, and when he opened his mouth that feeling was vindicated.

  44. The Heart of the Tiger... by DMJC · · Score: 1

    Kicks ass on twitter!

  45. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If anything the bump stocks saved lives. Had the shooter just fired rapid aimed shots the number of casualties would have been much higher. He was shooting into a massed crowd yet we heard of many shots hitting the stage and equipment. This is because bump fire allows you to fire rapidly but gives very poor accuracy and very poor control allowing the muzzle to rise off the target.

    Bump stocks are a gimmick, a gimmick that the idiot shooter thought would make him deadlier but in fact did just the opposite (thank God!).

    Get a real hobby where you actually understand what you are even talking about.

  46. Eventually it will hit him by scdeimos · · Score: 1

    Right now he's letting donor money do the thinking for him.

    One day he'll call up Comcast for internet support. He'll play his "Don't you know who I am?" card and the operator will reply, in an Indian accent, "No, sir. We treat all of our customers equally."

  47. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In this case, I think you're wrong. There's no indication that the shooter ran out of bullets, which means that the only question here is whether he was able to kill more people per minute by spraying bullets into a crowd vs carefully aiming and firing at people. Remember, he was several hundred yards away from the crowd - "carefully aimed" bullets would probably have not hit their targets anyway.

  48. Tarrists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean like Las Vegas festival shooting of late?

    Oh, wait...

    1. Re:Tarrists by wed128 · · Score: 1

      Nice straw man.

      Just because not everyone dies of smoking related health problems, doesn't mean that it's a good idea to start smoking.

    2. Re:Tarrists by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      It's not a straw man. We whine and fret about people from other countries, while we do absolutely nothing about the mass shootings that actually happen here from our own home-grown terries because... of freedom? Or something? Can't get rid of bump stocks or automatic weapons, that somehow infringes on mah freedoms.

  49. So what? by mnt · · Score: 0

    An actor dropping some tweets to some politician is slashdot worthy?

    gaaawd :(

  50. Re:Lamestream media by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Because for a change something that's bad for us is also bad for them. Don't worry, it won't last, this is basically the odd one out, next week we will get to hear again how being screwed over is good for us.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  51. Re:Freedom from NN by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Shill or stupid?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  52. In this case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    it is good the FCC ignored 85% of the citizens because those "citizens" were/are ignorant what NN was really about. Lets boil NN down;

    Prior to 2015 the FCC had no control over the Internet. It was "free and unregulated".

    There. Can't be any clearer. If anyone disagrees then your a fucking idiot and have ulterior motives to support NN and none of those motives are good for the individual.

  53. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by shaitand · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "The main difference between semi-auto and a bump stock in a large crowd of people is how fast you run out of ammo. Lethality is about the same overall."

    No, no it is not. Unless you assume an unarmed crowd who just stand still. In either case, bump stocks are not the point.

    The shooting in Vegas was a tragedy, of that there can be no doubt, but the shooting related death toll in the US is rather insignificant compared to any leading cause of death and certainly is nothing compared to the lives saved because an invading power knows how costly a ground invasion of the heavily armed US would be. The patriots whose blood renews the tree of liberty? Who said they would all be soldiers? Have we really become a nation of cowards who tuck tail and sell out the freedoms so many of our troops have died for just to get a slight gain in our social agendas or at the first indication there is some kind of civilian risk or price for those rights?

  54. Magical evenings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well in the end everything does even out, usually starting with magically, but when magic is systematically stomped with jackboots, and it usually gets to that when heavyweights have their cocks in the fight, then the evening out ends with night of torches and pitchforks.

    1. Re:Magical evenings by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

      Yes, you would have us reinvent the wheel over and over again.

      Environmental regulations? Fuck that. We'll just pollute and then let the market tell us it's bad to have no clean drinking water. And who cares how many people get sick and die along the way. As long as it evens out in the end and we'll magically discover we should clean our water.

      Meanwhile, we'll export this stupid idea to new places and let their market figure out that they shouldn't pollute their water.

      Why, we should never learn from our mistakes and get some progress. We should always start from scratch with the same mistakes every time and hope it all works out in the end.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
  55. Re:Freedom from NN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Worse, the small companies won't even know they're not reaching their potential customers. The big difference that the internet makes is that you don't need to "get your show picked up by a network" for users to be able to see it. You pay for your internet connection and that's all it takes for anyone to see your show. Well, no more. Now you need to go back to the cable companies and pay to be available through their networks. (I'm using "show" as an analogy. It is of course much worse than just entertainment: Imagine if you could only get access to stores and libraries by buying bundles from your cable provider. You don't need a lot of imagination, because that's where we're headed.)

  56. Re: Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by shaitand · · Score: 1

    The cure for that is massive piles of money, cocaine, and smoking hot gold digging coke whores... just ask Charlie. I'm sure in the middle of that Ajit will stop every now and then and feel about having fucked over everyone else for his unhappy life.

  57. Somebody is begging for a bullet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mr Pai is really asking for it.

    I don't think I have ever seen someone more deserving.

  58. its not a joke if its true by aod7br7932 · · Score: 1

    Its not funny when people is robbed. He learned from the pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... Both sound as ridiculous as infamous.

  59. Luke felt the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    of Cruz which mightily smacked Luke down and rightfully so. This is put even so a simpleton can understand what NN was about;

    https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/942460828242063361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftherightscoop.com%2Fluke-skywalker-turns-to-dark-side-of-net-neutrality-and-ted-cruz-strikes-him-down%2F

  60. You lost nerds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get over it. And stop using entertainers and clowns as your defenders. You lefties have become a colossal joke.

  61. *whoosh* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He didn't forget. It was a bad change with terrible implications, just like now.

    Just because some plan is successful doesn't make it any good.

  62. We did tell them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But our comments were ignored in favor of fake comments from dead people.

  63. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by tburkhol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...the shooting related death toll in the US is rather insignificant compared to any leading cause of death and certainly is nothing compared to the lives saved because an invading power knows how costly a ground invasion of the heavily armed US would be.

    Are you seriously suggesting that the reason Mexico hasn't invaded is that they're more afraid of civilians with hunting rifles than the Army's tanks and the Air Force's bombers?

  64. Re: Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The government has no business regulating firearms. The government is a monopoly on force. James Madison understood this and detailed the need for the second amendment in Federalist paper 45 saying that the only way to check the power of this monopoly is to ensure the people have the same weaponry as the military. The second amendment isnâ(TM)t about hunting.

  65. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by shaitand · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "Are you seriously suggesting that the reason Mexico hasn't invaded"

    At one time, sure. But lets not pretend that invading US soil requires being a border country or that the Political, Economic, and Military disposition of other nations today is particularly relevant when talking about a policy that applies in perpetuity into the future. In another couple hundred years we could be to Mexico what Mexico is to us today... again.

    "is that they're more afraid of civilians with hunting rifles than the Army's tanks and the Air Force's bombers"

    I certainly would be considering it certainly wasn't tanks, bombers, and battleships that resulted in our losing in Vietnam and Iraq. A hunting rifle is a poor counterpart to a proper 50 cal sniper weapon but keep perspective and remember it is dramatically superior to anything used by a sniper on either side in WWII. You might be able to roll your tanks in and say you've taken a city but would they get you to patrol the streets knowing there is a sniper in every other house? Not the the Constitution limits arms to civilians to hunting rifles.

    Thanks to the right to bear arms and our seemingly perpetual wars there are millions of armed and trained former soldiers amongst our civilian population at any moment, a good chunk of them with some form of actual combat experience. Those "gun nuts" people like to talk about, those are largely former military, veterans, police, and people who are in clubs and training with former military, veterans, and police. That asshat NRA guy touting private hunting farm rights only represents their common interest in protecting the 2nd amendment. Sure some of these people are poor and they hunt because they are hungry (certainly applied to all the poachers I knew when I was young) but the second amendment isn't about hunting and it isn't about beating tanks and bombers, it's about enemies, both foreign and domestic not being able to safely walk the streets without riding in a tank and about making sure federal power was kept in check by being denied access to ground forces that could be used against the states without requesting them from the states and a formal congressional declaration of war.

  66. Youâ(TM)ll end up praising Pai by scienceandreason · · Score: 1

    Net Neutrality is just the name of a bill that was slipped into the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act - silently nationalizing the internet - reclassifying internet providers from title 1 (private) entities to title 2 (public utility) communications? This does everything but preserve net neutrality. This bill makes it so that ISPs need to get a liscense (which costs a lot of money) and fill out a shit ton of paperwork - this prevents innovation and creates quasi government monopolies which smaller companies have a very hard time competing with (larger companies have an easier time dealing with regulatory burdens). Not to mention the government can threaten to revoke the license arbitrarily if the ISP does something they donâ(TM)t like. Youâ(TM)ll end up praising this guy.

    1. Re:Youâ(TM)ll end up praising Pai by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      You said this already idiot. Also, learn to spell.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
  67. Re: Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by scienceandreason · · Score: 0

    The government has no business regulating firearms. The government is a monopoly on force. James Madison understood this and detailed the need for the second amendment in Federalist paper 45 saying that the only way to check the power of this monopoly is to ensure the people have the same weaponry as the military. The second amendment isnâ(TM)t about hunting.

  68. Re: Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by coastwalker · · Score: 1

    Sadly it must be true that people are completely controlled by fear based hateful propaganda. Otherwise large portions of the population would not believe that exterminating or deporting Wogs / Latinos / BLM / Muslims would actualy improve the lives of anyone. They would have been repelled by Trumps silent support for Nazi's and voted for someone else. The thing is that politics is now completely controlled by emotional propaganda and that there is actually almost no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans except who you hate the most.

    --
    Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
  69. Finally, a proper heir to the throne! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ajit is preening himself for the next presidential election!

    All hail!

  70. -o- by easyTree · · Score: 1

    Clearly, the FCC wasn't listening to the estimated 83% of Americans who support net neutrality

    That's unfair; they listened to the 'people' who *matter*. What's wrong with you people?

  71. Sigh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's all they think we use the web for, huh? These people are reprehensible.

  72. Allow me to translate that headline by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    83% of Americans want free sh*t. Why do people listen to celebrities anyway? Mark Hamill doesn't know squat about technology or business. He's been milking his residual checks for 40 years.

  73. Re:What Mess? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Something that people never consider is that "Net Neutrality" is an explicit Federal regulation of the internet.

    It places the Internet under Federal control.

    Regulation is not the same as control. For instance, saying you may only drive on the right side of the road is not controlling use of roads nor where they go, only that traffic must stay right. Similarly with the Net Neutrality legislation in concept - it isn't regulating where it goes nor what it can carry, but only saying that everything must be treated equally. You can't charge the ACME brick load for driving down your network pipe and let the provider's brick load drive down free.

  74. We need a public user-ban registry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's time to think up a way of denying service to the likes of Pai. Some sort of dox-based registry with a public API. It would of course require closely controlled management, so it was kept small, and only for the the truly deserving worst offenders. Since they are so fond of lack of freedom, the collective should help them by denying service to them. You want a Google account ? Too bad. Facebook ? Nah. Snapchat, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube, Netflix, Amazon, Whatsapp ? Nope. If you're the likes of Mr Pai then you can take a long lonely hike in the internet wilderness. To add some extra incentive it could include immediate family members.

  75. Re: Ajit Pai Mark Hamil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sadly it must be true that people are completely controlled by fear based hateful propaganda. ... They would have been repelled by Trumps silent support for Nazi's and voted for someone else.

    A) You're discounting the other side of the question - Hillary. The dislike for Hillary cannot be understated. There are people, likely a large number, that voted against Hillary.

    B) Trump's overt Nazi support didn't come out until after the election, although it was implicitly stated prior to for anyone paying attention. Unfortunately item (A) so distracted people that they overlooked all else.

    C) Look at the AL election. I'll bet if you asked any of those Roy Moore supporters whether they'd ever consider voting for a pedophile, 99% would be shocked and say NEVER! And then you have a choice between a pedophile and that evil vile baby stealing party of hippie family destroying demon worshippers that they've sworn to fight to their dying day, because they've been told that since at least the 90s. Fortunately 56% of voters said no to pedophiles.

  76. Start shunning - use tech and facial recognition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every one of these people have family. The ones running for office have supporters who have family. And because of the "war on terror" facial recognition was pushed down to handhelds.

    So use it.

    You can't discriminate based on race, sex, age and other factors. Nothing stopping you from deciding to shun based on software saying "this person is the child/cousin/big donor tied to cause X you care about". Or saying to them straight up "your dad is an ass - how do YOU feel about his being an ass?" Nothing stopping you from saying "I note you are Y. Thanks for your support on cause X."

  77. Re: What Mess? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a shit ton of difference between a search engine (of which there are many) blocking content, and an ISP (of which most US households have access to one or two at most) blocking or throttling content.

    Open up the market so customers can pick and choose ISPs like they choose search engines, and your argument is valid. 'Til then, it ain't worth the paper I wipe my ass with.

  78. Re:Freedom from NN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    seems like much of that would be a solid case for anti-competitive behavior. which is still against the law. which i am sure you knew that.

  79. ... critics. Disc. Not a native english speaker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I frequently get confused by the way adjectives or similar are used in english.
    In this instance, does "Net Neutrality critics" refers to people critic of the Net Neutrality (That's the meaning I get from this three word sentence alone), or people pro-Net Neutrality who are critics or criticizing situations (that's a meaning I kind of get from the context of the sentences where it is sometimes used)?

  80. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your sentence doesn't make sense: " You could use a screwdriver to kill too, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't carry swords and machetes around in public all day"

    broken down, you're saying:

    1. you can use a screwdriver to kill

    2. people shouldn't carry swords and machetes around in public all day

    3. (1) doesn't mean (2)

    So ultimately, your sentence says people SHOULD carry swords/machetes.

  81. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    standard semi-auto AR-15s can fire 5 rounds per second. same rifle with a bump stock will fire around 8 rounds a second. Firing with a bump stock decreases accuracy significantly. Both can be emptied faster than they can be reloaded. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd9y8hHMUag

  82. 99% of the 83% by robkeeney · · Score: 1

    99% of the "estimated 83% of Americans who support net neutrality" haven't the faintest idea of what it actually means. The extreme reactions I've seen from it's supporters ("The internet is literally dead!") has really turned me off.

  83. What Senator Cruz doesn't get by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Senator Cruz says the Internet did just fine until the previous Net Neutrality rules were adopted. I don't think that's entirely true. It seems to me that the technology to undermine Net Neutrality, something similar to deep packet inspection, was only discovered in 2009 by one of the "fathers of the Internet":

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/a-radical-new-router

    "In 1999, I founded Caspian Networks to develop large terabit flow routers, which I planned to sell to the carriers that maintain the Internet’s core infrastructure. That market, however, proved hard to crack—the carriers seem satisfied with overprovisioning, as well as techniques like traffic caching and compression, which ameliorate congestion without addressing the roots of the problem.

    Flow management can solve this capacity crunch. The concept of data flow might be more easily understood in the case of a voice or video stream, but it applies to all traffic over the Internet"

    Network types: Is this accurate?

    1. Re:What Senator Cruz doesn't get by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Senator Cruz says the Internet did just fine until the previous Net Neutrality rules were adopted

      Well, kinda. See, before 2014, ISPs were regulated under Title I. Then Verizon sued and had the courts rule they couldn't have Title I apply to them. So the FCC reregulated them under Title II in 2015. That's what was just undone.

      So, the fact that before 2014 things were okay is really irrelevant.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
  84. you ignoramous, the GOP picked him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Law requires a party split on the FCC and senate approval.

    IF Obama actually picked Pai, the GOP would have rejected him. It was easier to just let them pick the evil bastard. So technically, Obama appointed and they approved but they picked the crook.

  85. Re:Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by ThurstonMoore · · Score: 1

    I thought you might know what you were talking about until you called a magazine a clip.

  86. Re: Forget net neutrality; ban bump stocks by ThurstonMoore · · Score: 1

    You really think firearms are going to put you on even ground with the US military?

  87. Pity. by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

    Hamill also added that "you are profoundly unworthy 2 wield a lightsaber. A Jedi acts selflessly for the common man, NOT lie 2 enrich giant corporations."

    That poor son of a bitch. He's come to believe that the movies he was in were reality.

  88. Re:Start shunning - use tech and facial recognitio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you meet the son or cousin of some massive political donor and shun then instead of network with them then you are an extremely stupid mother fucker.

  89. Google's struggles are self-inflicted by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 1

    100 million Americans have but one provider to choose from. Google is struggling to compete.

    I can assure you that Google's struggles are self-inflicted here. Google is available in my metro area with the biggest ever possible catch - unless you live within the city limits, and as best I can tell 90% of metro area residents do not, you can't get Google. My county has more than double the population of the city center but none of us can get Google because none of the county is within city limits in our metro area. Sadly, those who live in the city limits are basically the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich. The first group can't afford Google - period. The 2nd group doesn't care what it costs because they can afford to pay for internet and TV with anybody, so they have no compelling reason to move to Google. Google did this to make things simpler for themselves, but maybe if they had studied demographics better they might have done something differently. I'd love to switch to Google if I could, but Google didn't want the business of anybody in my county. Again, we're more than double the population of the city center but Google doesn't want our money.

  90. Re:What Mess? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reasonable regulation of corporations isn't "socialism."

    It's what used to be called "democracy."

  91. Totally LAME move by Hamill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actors who played iconic characters are not supposed to reference their characters to make political statements; that is about as WEAK as it gets. Washed up, Hamill.

  92. Shilling troll accuses informative poster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hypocrisy, much?

    Classic Alinsky.

    1. Re:Shilling troll accuses informative poster by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      The top poster wasn't informed. He was trolling from far FAR right wing fantasy land, starting with his "Obama and the FCC cooked up the idea of getting government control over the Internet in order to apply censorship." What bullshit site did he pick this from?

  93. Why, just look at ancient Athens! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Peloponnesian War and total meltdown of Athenian society shows what democracy gets you.

    1. Re:Why, just look at ancient Athens! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the only argument you have against a form of government is an example pulled from your ass centuries ago, perhaps it's time to re-examine the true causes of that downfall and consider the many years of advancement that have occurred since then.

      I don't have any skin in this; no form of government is effective, because after a certain size, human groups become uncontrollable without the threat of death.

  94. SorosBots apoplectic at Pai trolling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In one of the greatest political troll moments of all time.

  95. Politicians should stay out of acting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But that's wishful thinking, that politics could be about more than perception management.

  96. Given your mention of his rank in the Imperial... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Navy, I assume you must be including non-canon sources in your canon discussion.

    If that is the case, then the EU, especially the West End Games Adventure Journals, and novels that exploited/continued characters based off them had quite a lot of details for what the Empire was like to people and planets who traded with it, including how they dealt with financial deals over what they decided was 'Top Secret Technology'. Hint: Unless they were 'True Believers' in the Imperial cause, they would corral them for use in R&D interment camps, oftentimes blowing up their underlings or otherwise destroying their business in order to ensure they had to work for the Empire on the most favorable terms necessary.

  97. Re:Lamestream media by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    Why do you think every piece of online "journalism" thinks the net neutrality repeal is bad? Maybe it's because they're feeding you a line of bullshit?

    Maybe it's because the only ones who benefit here are Comcast, Verizon, and other ISPs with a local monopoly who engage in rent-seeking. Literally EVERYONE else is screwed over in that system. That's why there's such outcry, because it's just an abuse of their position as a trust.

  98. Re:Freedom from NN by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    Thank you for intentionally shitting on the discussion by bringing up an entirely different subject and pretending it's what everyone else means when we're talking about Net Neutrality.

  99. Re:Freedom from NN by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    seems like much of that would be a solid case for anti-competitive behavior. which is still against the law. which i am sure you knew that.

    The federal government doesn't have the balls to initiate anti-trust actions anymore. That's a dead end.