Slashdot Mirror


Republican's 'Net Neutrality' Proposal Called 'Bait and Switch' (techcrunch.com)

Remember that net neutrality legislation introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)? TechCrunch is calling it "half-hearted" -- and suspect. It's not going to happen, it wouldn't help if it did and Blackburn isn't someone you want writing this kind of legislation. Among other things, she thinks it's the ISPs' job to police content, and voted to kill the Broadband Privacy Rule.
In fact, Blackburn's legislation would deal a "fatal blow" to net neutrality, argues Evan Greer, campaign director at the nonprofit Fight for the Future, writing in Newsweek: Already one of Big Cable's best friends in Congress, Marsha Blackburn, who has taken more than $600,000 from the industry, is pushing for legislation that would permanently undermine the FCC's ability to enforce open internet protections. This bait and switch has been in the works for months. The telecom lobby's end game is to use the crisis they've created to ram through legislation that's branded as a compromise but amounts to a fatal blow to net neutrality... We don't need legislation that's been watered down with kool-aid.
A better solution, he suggests, is pushing Congress to overrule the FCC with a Congressional Resolution of Disapproval.

5 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Re:News flash, that's how it works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Both parties are doing this, so this isn't a Republican or Democratic thing.

    Funny that only one party seems to be trying to kill NN. And healthcare. And a host of other issues that affect people's lives in dramatic ways. But they're both the same, surely.

  2. Re:News flash, that's how it works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bad acts are always a both party thing unless it's a Democratic thing. But I have still yet to figure out why most of the things happening now are mainly being done by the ruling Republican party and it is still the fault of Democrats.

    Not that I care mind you, but I just love to see how people convince themselves their politics are correct.

  3. Re:News flash, that's how it works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bad acts are always a both party thing unless it's a Democratic thing. But I have still yet to figure out why most of the things happening now are mainly being done by the ruling Republican party and it is still the fault of Democrats.

    Not that I care mind you, but I just love to see how people convince themselves their politics are correct.

    It's easy. Republicans screamed about Obama's birth certificate for 8 years, but it's Hillary's fault. Republicans chose an unrepentant birther whose tendency towards hysterical tirades and corruption is well known, but it's Hillary's fault. Republicans vote dozens of times to repeal the ACA, but it's Hillary's fault. Trump buddies up to Russia, and denies their perfidy, but it's Hillary's fault.

    Transparent as glass, everything is always and ever will be Hillary's fault. Even the American Civil War. Hillary's fault.

  4. Re:News flash, that's how it works by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This behavior is required by law. A long time ago the Supreme Court altered corporate behavior forever with a ruling that corporations have a duty to their stockholders only, and aside from taxes, absolutely no responsibility to the community at large. They also recently decided that politicians have a duty to represent their supporters, not their constituents. Then they established that a corporate person has a Constitutional right to free speech, with a decision that redefined political bribery out of existence- at this point corruption can't be prosecuted unless someone can find a legal document where both parties agree to a quid pro quo.

    This is what happens when you use a few narrow issues like abortion and guns as litmus tests for judgeships. Since judges have lifetime appointments, Trump has wisely chosen to nominate Hitler Youth who apparently haven't even seen a single episode of Law and Order, and he is rapidly filling all the seats that Congress left empty during the Obama administration.

  5. Re:News flash, that's how it works by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This behavior is required by law. A long time ago the Supreme Court altered corporate behavior forever with a ruling that corporations have a duty to their stockholders only, and aside from taxes, absolutely no responsibility to the community at large.

    One thing, however, does not lead to the other. Corporations have a duty to follow their charter. If the charter includes a commitment to community service, then the investors know what they're getting into when they put their money into the company, and the corporation can do all the good deeds it likes. Corporations are generally designed first and foremost to maximize shareholder value, however, and this is reflected in their charters.

    Don't make excuses for corporate evil. The decision to write a charter which places shareholder value first is just that, a decision. It is a willful choice which we must not excuse.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"