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100 US Mayors Sign Pledge To Defend Net Neutrality Against Crooked ISPs (gizmodo.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the checks-and-balances dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: More than 100 U.S. mayors have signed a pledge to hold internet service providers accountable for net neutrality violations, despite the FCC's vote to repeal the regulations late last year. The pledge, initiated by Mayors Bill de Blasio of New York City, Steve Adler of Austin, and Ted Wheeler of Portland, promises that cities will refuse to do business with ISPs that violate net neutrality standards. The mayors, brought together by a coalition of open internet advocates, including Free Press, Demand Progress, and Daily Kos, have accused FCC Chairman Ajit Pai of caving to corporate interests by giving companies such as AT&T and Verizon the power to "block, throttle and slow access to sites and services at will." A complete list of the cities taking the pledge is available on the campaign's website. At time of writing, nearly 80,000 letters have been sent urging mayors across the country to participate.

4 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. And probably not a single one... by DeplorableCodeMonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Has pledged to open up their jurisdiction to unlimited local competition. They'll grant the franchises and then "hold them accountable" instead of giving the people a chance to vote with their feet and easily switch to a competitor.

    1. Re:And probably not a single one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Has pledged to open up their jurisdiction to unlimited local competition.

      You are right, none of them did. Because that's already the law. Its been federal law since 1992 when the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act outlawed the granting of exclusive franchises.

      The problem isn't with the government (sorry delusional libertarians!) its with natural monopolies caused by high costs to enter the market (a cable planet is expensive AF) and collusion between competitors who have secret agreements to stay out of each other's territories. - sometimes they don't even bother to keep it a secret.

  2. Re:We need global dark fiber. by Alain+Williams · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wish the United States had a healthy government.

    You have the best government that money can buy.

  3. Re: what if the feds make a law by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sorry, you lost everyone with the "fascist" slur. It just shows people you aren't serious.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!