FCC Says Net Neutrality Rules Will End On June 11 (reuters.com)

The Federal Communications Commission said in a notice Thursday that landmark 2015 U.S. open-internet rules will cease on June 11. From a report: The FCC in December repealed the Obama-era "net neutrality" rules, allowing internet providers to block or slow websites as long as they disclose the practice. The FCC said the new rules will take effect 30 days from Friday. An FCC spokeswoman confirmed the new rules will take effect on June 11. A group of states and others have sued to try to block the new rules from taking effect. The revised rules were a win for internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast but are opposed by internet firms like Facebook and Alphabet.

Comments

Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't happen soon enough. This was a great call. Get government out of regulating business.

Re:Finally

[richpoore]

I hope you're right. I'm all for deregulation and hope the market can favor companies who don't throw the little guy under the bus. I hope that companies can keep companies accountable by exposing it.

Re:Finally

[Zontar The Mindless]

Enjoy your "Oh, you want to look at YouTube instead of our preferred video partner site? Sure, that's just an extra $10.95 a month."

Re:Finally

[stealth_finger]

I hope you're ready to put your money where your mouth is.

Re:Finally

[SirSlud]

Fortunately, the telecom industry has a rich history of operating as a healthy open, transparent market. Your hope is well placed and you seem to be very familiar with how the industry has acted and operated in the past.

*rolls eyes*

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

America: by corporations, for corporations. Have fun with that.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm, that is the purpose of gov't, to ensure the public good.

ISPs are the railroad or lumber barons of the 21st century.

If you think the collusion between ISPs is bad now, just wait.

Re:Finally

[Kenja]

Can't happen soon enough. This was a great call. Get government out of regulating business.

Just remember when you're paying more, for less Internet access, that this is what you wanted.

Re:Finally

[coastwalker]

Business does a crap job of providing utilities without regulation. All that happens is that the provider ensures that it becomes a monopoly and then sits back on its fat lazy ass and gouges customers.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope you're right. I'm all for deregulation and hope the market can favor companies who don't throw the little guy under the bus

And that in a nutshell is the problem with deregulation.

You are left hoping that companies don't act like assholes, when then regulation was there to prevent it in the first place.

The market can't and won't solve this problem, because all of the power lies with the companies who will basically do whatever makes them the most money.

There is no such thing as a free market, and there certainly is no such thing as the market finding optimal solutions for anything other than greedy corporations who will change the rules, lie to you, and basically eliminate any of the things which the free market people claim will happen to balance things.

Hope in one hand and shit in the other, see which fills up first. I guarantee you, it won't be the one full of hope.

Re:Finally

[penandpaper]

These rules classified an ISP to be regulated with Title 2 with exceptions (which probably won't stand up against the first lawsuit as the law says those exceptions do not exist for that classification). Nothing about them were related to "Net Neutrality". Why is Title 2 the answer?

How can TV do what you are saying with HBO even though TV falls under Title 2?

How does the NN rules being repealed stop things like "HBO/Youtube package Title 2 internet"?

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Other Liberal Claims:

Trump will start a nuclear war with NK.
Tax cuts won't help middle class.
Trump is days from being impeached for working with Russia.
Violent illegal aliens don't harm/kill US citizens and should be left alone.
Blankensail will easily win the WV GOP Primary for Senate
Trump's lawyer Cohen was wiretapped.
Cohen got payments from Russia (wrong Cohen).
NK won't trust US's word after backing out of Iran deal, and they won't release prisoners after that as well.
ACA will reduce your health insurance bill by $2500 a year, on average.
IRS did not target people based on political view, and they did nothing illegal (they admitted to illegal activity in court)

I would like to be fair and list some liberal claims that are true, but am having trouble finding them.

Re:Finally

[jbmartin6]

let the innovation and investment begin!

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Fortunately, the telecom industry has a rich history of operating as a healthy open, transparent market. Your hope is well placed and you seem to be very familiar with how the industry has acted and operated in the past.

*rolls eyes*

Do you really think Google and Facebook are more transparent than AT&T or Verizon? When Google/Facebook's entire business model is de facto lying to people to get them to sign up for "free" so they can strip-mine their privacy?

At least AT&T and Verizon actually sell a product to their users instead of selling their users as the product.

What was that about rolling eyes?

Re:Finally

[Tulsa_Time]

The states can pass laws to prevent this...

Please remember the 10th amendment.

Re:Finally

[SirSlud]

What a terrible point. Google and Facebook are for these rules, but they are lousy with user data, so therefore the telecom industry has traditionally responsibly self-governed their market and can be trusted to continue to do so? That's your point?

Google and Facebook have nothing to do with my point that the telecom industry moves to market monopolies (historically and for good reason) in an industry in which the products and services make it tantalizingly easy to engage in anti-competitive behavior.

Hell, given that Google and Facebook are far less regulated than companies in the telecom industry, they're pretty good examples of companies which might benefit from being forced to act in manners you deem more responsible. Your argument reads more like a pro-regulation argument than anti.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

How does the NN rules being repealed stop things like "HBO/Youtube package Title 2 internet"?

Because they would still be an internet service provider, and internet service providers would still be common carriers.

What it wouldn't stop is if they reverted to a pre-internet portal experience like compuserve. But then again , thats what they already offer with their on-demand experience, and people don't want it.

Re:Finally

[zifn4b]

Enjoy your "Oh, you want to look at YouTube instead of our preferred video partner site? Sure, that's just an extra $10.95 a month."

In all seriousness, you don't think that will end up right back in the Supreme Court due to class action lawsuit?

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

The states can pass laws to prevent this...

Please remember the 10th amendment.

The problem with the 10th Amendment is that whenever you mention it people act like you just raised a confederate flag over your plantation house while wearing a white suit.

Re: Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Conservative claims:

Trump will save us from a nuclear war with NK.
Tax cuts will give the middle class limos and mansions just like the rich.
Trump is not supposed to be investigated for working with Russia to launder money.
All illegal aliens harm/kill US citizens and so all immigrants and refugees should be deported
Roy Moore was a good man for the Senate who was totally not fairly treated.
Trump's lawyer Cohen was totally paying lawful hush money to white and prostitutes.
Donald got payments from Russian criminals in his underhanded real estate deals.
NK word is totally testable and Trump is believable after backing out of Iran deal, and Obama is responsible for NK not releasing prisoners captured in 2017.
ACA killed millions as they had to pay for health insurance including birth control instead of freeloading and the people with insurance will benefit by not suffering medical treatment which is the devils work.
IRS is totally the enemy of the people who hate their sovereign citizenship is denied in courts of law that they privately traveled to, and that totally not racist slavery loving Cliven Bundy isn't a freeloader whose son didn't try to forcibly seize property to steal.

I would like to be fair and list some less insane conservative claims, but am having trouble finding them.

Re:Finally

[Zontar The Mindless]

The problem is that most people referencing the 10th Amendment already have a Confederate flag flying over their house (plantation and white suit optional).

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

You haven't really thought through your world-view. The government still allows them to run cables along my property without compensating me. If the government didn't, almost nobody would have internet because the cost to negotiate with each individual residential land owner for right of way would be prohibitively expensive. They submit to regulation because regulations are what allows them to even do business at all.

Re:Finally

[Zontar The Mindless]

Enjoy your "Oh, you want to look at YouTube instead of our preferred video partner site? Sure, that's just an extra $10.95 a month."

In all seriousness, you don't think that will end up right back in the Supreme Court due to class action lawsuit?

Oh, I'd love to see that--especially if the suit were successful. But I don't see it being successful, alas, since this SCOTUS is essentially the same one that gave us that horrid Citizens United decision.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

TV is a common carrier yet can have packaging under title 2. Internet being a common carrier wouldn't be allowed to package. Why?

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because conservatives changed the definition of "Liberal", and the left no longer has any representation in the United States. "Liberals" today are just conservatives who have either been to jail or watch daytime TV (or both).

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

What a terrible point. Google and Facebook are for these rules, but they are lousy with user data, so therefore the telecom industry has traditionally responsibly self-governed their market and can be trusted to continue to do so? That's your point?

Google and Facebook have nothing to do with my point that the telecom industry moves to market monopolies (historically and for good reason) in an industry in which the products and services make it tantalizingly easy to engage in anti-competitive behavior.

Hell, given that Google and Facebook are far less regulated than companies in the telecom industry, they're pretty good examples of companies which might benefit from being forced to act in manners you deem more responsible. Your argument reads more like a pro-regulation argument than anti.

What a demonstration of terrible reading comprehension.

Your original point was that telecom industry doesn't have a history of being transparent or open.

My point was the telecom industry has a, open, obvious business model that actually involves selling a product to users, and not disingenuously selling the users as the product like Google and Facebook do.

It's hard to be less transparent then basing your entire business on lying to the general population - and I think it's more than a bit interesting that those liars seem to be the biggest proponents of "net neutrality".

Re:Finally

[The-Ixian]

Because that is always how it works, right?

"Oh, I see now the error of my ways! I was so shortsighted and now the scales are lifted from my eyes!"

I don't think so.

Even if we do end up paying more, for less Internet access, there will be some new (or old) development that will be held up as a scapegoat as to why things didn't turn out in everyone's favor. But it won't be the fault of repealing the regulation.... no, that was the right step, it is just that they damn keep screwing things up!

Re: Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't exist under a conservative regime.

They're free to impose whatever authoritarian and draconian measures they want now, it is only when a liberal left-wing government exists that the doctrine of states-rights prevails.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

The problems with regulation is:Who get to write them?
Oh yeah, politicians who are mostly owned lock, stock and barrel by the industries they are regulating.
Let's not fool ourselves. Net neutrality as set by the Obama administration when they controlled the FCC was set up to benefit the big data companies. If it benefited the consumer that was merely an accident.
The FCC under Trump is changing the rules to benefit the big ISP's. If that hurts (or helps) the consumer that will merely be an accident.
If the Dems take over again in a couple of years will the rules change to help Big Data again or will it help the big ISP/Telcom companies? That will depend on how much each side gives to the particular candidates and whether the FCC is stacked for or against Big Data or Big telcoms. What's good for the consumer will not even be considered.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

So your argument is because some big companies, who do some shitty things, want another group of companies, that have a history of doing shitty things, regulated, we shouldn't regulate anyone???

If FaceBook and Google where the ONLY people pushing NN then your argument might have merit, but I think there are a lot of other entities and individuals very vocal about wanting NN.

Re: Finally

[DewDude]

Yes. And as owner of your ISP...I'll be sure to block Fox News and Trump's Twitter feed because nothing says I can't.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

It's all Hillary's fault!

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not flamebait its a supportive opinion of getting rid of net neutrality.

Re:Finally

[smooth wombat]

Get government out of regulating business.

You mean like having an Iowa Senator get the taxpayers to subsidize ethanol producers year round?

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

You do know that regulating business is one of the core purposes of government, right?

Re:Finally

[MoaDweeb]

You do not have a 'Liberal' political party. The Democrat Party is centre-right when compared to the rest of the West.
The Republican's are well to the Right.

Re:Finally

[MachineShedFred]

It's precious that you think the ISPs aren't collecting, indexing, and selling to the highest bidder any and all metadata they can harvest about what you are passing through their network.

Your argument is completely invalidated by the fact that the ISPs are not only doing exactly what Google / Facebook are doing (less now that HTTPS is in use everywhere, but they can still get metadata), they are making you pay them for the privilege and then asking for more.

Re:Finally

[zifn4b]

Oh, I'd love to see that--especially if the suit were successful. But I don't see it being successful, alas, since this SCOTUS is essentially the same one that gave us that horrid Citizens United decision.

You might actually. It depends on if Supreme Court Justice seats are appointed during the current administration. I know Trump's not the nicest guy but he is a populist president and whether you want to admit it or not that means he is regularly giving the US Chamber of Commerce and their sponsored Super PACs the finger in a lot of cases. That is in stark contrast to the past 30-40 years where politicians were exclusively bought off and marionettes dancing on puppet strings. Sometimes I wonder if some of these memes against Trump are actually coming from the tentacles of the US Chamber of Commerce because Populism would be in direct opposition to Oligarchy.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, these guyshave pushed the Overton Window into the unknown frontiers of extreme fringe wing-nuttery. At this rate, conservatards will consider anything falling to the left of Francisco Franco as "liberal" soon.

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

Buttery males!

6/11: The Internet's day of reckoning.

[Anonymous Coward]

You heard it here first.

..opposed by internet firms like Facebook and Alph

[Anonymous Coward]

... opposed by internet firms like Facebook and Alphabet.

My first reaction to finding out something is opposed by both Facebook and Google is:

IT MUST BE GOOD!!!!

I'm prepared

[Anonymous Coward]

Since I am no longer required to treat all packets equally, I have:

-Installed noscript
-Installed uBlock origin
-Installed Pi-Hole
-Installed Restrictive Firewall
-Installed Ad-Free hostfile

I get the message, bandwidth is precious, I am doing my part to help!

Those web pages seem to load much faster!

Re:I'm prepared

[bobstreo]

Since I am no longer required to treat all packets equally, I have:

-Installed noscript
-Installed uBlock origin
-Installed Pi-Hole
-Installed Restrictive Firewall
-Installed Ad-Free hostfile

I get the message, bandwidth is precious, I am doing my part to help!

Those web pages seem to load much faster!

You forgot privacy badger from EFF.
https://www.eff.org/privacybad...

and running your browser in private mode almost always.

And tossing your cookies and cache every couple days.

Re:I'm prepared

[TFlan91]

Every couple days?! Pft, make those suckers create a new Ad profile for you on every page load. Block all cookies and caching.

Re:I'm prepared

[Anonymous Coward]

hostfile

Some legends say that APK shows up at the mention of host files. I never believed it in my youth until one day on a dare. I turn off the monitor and began chanting "Host Files best Files". After the 3rd chant the monitor flashed to life all by itself! I was greeted with a terrible horror. APK was direct messaging me through console! "Host Files are the best says $some_low_slashdot_userId/. Host Files are the best solution. Host Files are best files. ". I was horrified. I froze as a wall of oddly formatted text and P.S. messages clawed at my very soul. After a few moments the console closed and I was back to the original window. I have never been the same. I do wonder if he would appear if someone mentions host files. Only god knows and I am too terrified to try again.

Re:I'm prepared

[Anonymous Coward]

Every couple days?! Pft, make those suckers create a new Ad profile for you on every page load. Block all cookies and caching.

Cookie cleaner? Or something else?

liars touts & shills oh my

[Anonymous Coward]

just don't call them hired goons. cease fire stand down, there are mothers & children in all of our towns the world around. extrapolate along; '"All states, because they live parasitically off the population on an ongoing basis, depend on eliciting the compliance of the people in some degree; no state can survive a mass refusal to obey." Etienne de La Boetie (1530-63)' some still calling this 'weather'?

Re:Oh no...

[Anonymous Coward]

This time I would argue all sides are much more aware of the stakes. The telecoms have to know this is a pendulum that can swing back in as little as 2-3 years. So the move now is to lock down as much advantage as quickly as possible.

The past is the past

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, there's no way ISP wanting to increase their profits are going to start charging businesses based upon their bandwidth.

Not gonna happen. The big ISPs are going to do what they've always done: increase their revenues by innovation, new infrastructure, and services that people want to buy. Improving their service and customer experience. Why, I'm so exited with my AT&T 1.5 Mbps down/.25Mbps up connection! And XFinity wont' sell me anything until I realize the value of their $200/month package.

It's all for my best interest!

We all know that the ISPs have the consumer's best interests at heart.

I'm gonna to petition the Pope to have all the CEOs at AT&T, Verizon, Comcast turned into Saints.

Re:The past is the past

[zifn4b]

Not gonna happen. The big ISPs are going to do what they've always done: increase their revenues by innovation, new infrastructure, and services that people want to buy. Improving their service and customer experience.

Comcast is the best at customer service! Check this out.

Re:The past is the past

[jae471]

To be fair, Comcast may very well have the best customer service among major ISPs, which is not so much a testament to Comcast's superior relations as it is to how incredibly shitty customer service is across the industry.

Re:The past is the past

[Obfuscant]

Yeah, there's no way ISP wanting to increase their profits are going to start charging businesses based upon their bandwidth.

Pssst, ISPs already charge businesses based upon their bandwidth. Did you REALLY think that getting a "gig speed" connection to Comcast Business costs the same as getting 100MBps? And do you REALLY think that Net Neutrality has anything to do with charging more for higher bandwidth connections?

And XFinity wont' sell me anything until I realize the value of their $200/month package.

Apparently you really do think that NN has something to do with the pricing of Internet service.

Re:The past is the past

[zifn4b]

Then why aren't they #1 in JD Power and Associates awards?

Re:The past is the past

[jae471]

Mis-read the chart. My eyes jump a line when reading the customer service column. My bad.

Yes! I'm an AT&T stockholder.

[Anonymous Coward]

The share price is floundering - partly because of Trump's immoral behaviour - and I need that investment to pick up.

I hope they gouge Netflix, Hulu, CBS, and get Time Warner to cut them a break so that my investment will pay off.

If they don't do what everyone is afraid of, I'll be pretty pissed.

That's Capitalism boys!

Re:Yes! I'm an AT&T stockholder.

[110010001000]

Considering the recent revelation that AT&T paid for access to Trump via his lawyer that is pretty funny.

Bribe

[Anonymous Coward]

If I have $600,000 to bribe Trump through his lawyer, can I get net neutrality reinstated?

Re:Bribe

[Kulahan]

Someone should start a website for crowdfunded bribes

Re: Bribe

[Anonymous Coward]

Read your link:

The money was for "actual work," which included insights into Trump's thought process

Clearly he was being asked to perform an impossible task. He earned every penny of that $600k.

Re:Bribe

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone should start a website for crowdfunded bribes

Done.

Re:Bribe

[Anonymous Coward]

It's going to take more than a paltry $600K to interest him.

Re:Bribe

[Darinbob]

Yes, but you need to have an affair with the president first.

Can we cancel our Comcast service?

[Botched]

If Comcast starts slowing down our internet service, would this be justification to cancel our service contract and go with a better one (Sonic.net for example?)

Re:Can we cancel our Comcast service?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. You agreed to let them alter the terms of the deal at any time at their sole discretion. Reread your TOS.

If they say your speed is now 1 kilobit, and your bill is now $1K/month, guess what... you agreed to that.

Re: Can we cancel our Comcast service?

[Anonymous Coward]

A TOS is not a legal binding contract.

Civil War

[Anonymous Coward]

When exactly are you cowards planning on starting to fire guns?

This issue is worth toppling your government over. It is worth you guys mobbing and ripping Trump and Ajit apart physically limb from limb.

Does anything stir you anymore? Do you feel nothing is worth anything in your malaise?

My country still has NN and will not be giving it up, should they, I am prepared to start shooting.

Re:Civil War

[forkfail]

Love the way you stand boldly forth and display your valor by posting this as AC.

Re:Civil War

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this you and your posse?

Re:Civil War

[stinerman]

There isn't a critical mass of enough people to get this done. I'll doubt there is in your country either.

If any people did want to use violence to achieve their policy goals, you need a decent sized minority to go along with it. Otherwise you're just asking to be shot by a police officer.

Re:Civil War

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello there Mr. forkfail,
So glad you're here boldly displaying your opinions under your real name. How are Ms. forkfail and all the little forkfails doing?

Re:Civil War

[Powercntrl]

When exactly are you cowards planning on starting to fire guns?

Most of the "cling to their guns" crowd supported the administration which allowed this to happen. They believe that if you make businesses happy by removing regulations, the economy will prosper, and a brand new 4x4 pickup truck will miraculously appear in their driveway.

And they have the nerve to call the left "snowflakes"...

LMAO @ mental loon Zontar the Mindless

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject: It's always a pleasure showing everyone how stupid you are drug addict mentalboy https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... you piece of SHIT from a country of men w/ NO BALLS & yes, you're from Sweden shitbag!

Which you tried LYING about to me after your twisted weak ass sent me a postcard from there (like the obsessed stinking little MENTALBOY whimp w/ "depression" (lmao, whimp) & drugged up CREEP you are fucker) but too bad I saw your post about the restaurant in Stockholm recently.

* You & yours from "SWEDEN"? NO BALLS - you let your women get RAPED by muslims (whereas MY TRIBE, poles, DROVE THEM OFF when all the rest of Europe, except Lithuania, RAN)!

You pitiful little no balls worms (which is WHY You are HOW you are - you can't help it - you're DESCENDED FROM SHITBAG PUNKS!)

APK

P.S.=> Truth HURT cocksucker? Meet me in person (you 'brag' you're a 'world-traveller' (big deal, I've seen europe too) 'rich man' (not - you're just some impoverished little LOSER, no questions asked) - come meet me FACE TO FACE & talk your shit to me bitch... apk

Re:LMAO @ mental loon Zontar the Mindless

[Zontar The Mindless]

LOL. Do you really think I'm behind every (or for that matter any) AC post here that's, ahem, less than complimentary to your fine self?

And, no, I'm not *from* Sweden--I do *live* there (when I'm not elsewhere), which is not quite the same thing. And I have never said otherwise.

Hope you continue to enjoy yourself replying to people who've not said anything to you,

--Z.

Re:Oh no...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, back when isps blocked netflix and bittorrent :/ Guess you forgot about that.

In other news

[DarkRookie]

ISPs have announced that their internet packages are going up in price on the 12th.

Re:In other news

[Jason Levine]

No, the price remains the same. Wait, you want to view Netflix? That's $2 extra a month. Wait, you want to view it in HD? $5 extra a month. YouTube also? Another $3 extra. You know what? Just subscribe to our Approved Streaming Providers package ($9.99 a month extra for the first 12 months*) where you can watch all you want. Then, when you want to comment on those videos or share them with your friends, you'll want the Approved Social Media Experience ($7.99 a month extra for the first 12 months*).

* Price valid for the first 12 months. Price may increase afterwards. Taxes and fees may apply however the ISP deems they should.

Re:In other news

[whoever57]

Wait, you want to view Netflix? That's $2 extra a month. Wait, you want to view it in HD? $5 extra a month. ...

They might do that. More likely, they will go to Netflix, YouTube and others and say: "you want our customers to be able to stream your video? Then pay us $Millions". Result: Netflix and Youtube Red subscriptions increase in price.

waiting

[Anonymous Coward]

With Charter I'll knew know the differ...[waiting]....ence.

Re:Oh no...

[BlueStrat]

Yeah, back when isps blocked netflix and bittorrent :/ Guess you forgot about that.

Yes, and they didn't stop until NN came along and...oh, wait...they stopped without any NN regs.

All the horror stories trotted out by NN proponents have a fatal flaw.

All those bad things were stopped before NN was passed, and were halted by the markets and the courts without needing NN.

Strat

You just proved you're a SOYBoy (lol) then

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject SOYBoy (rotflmao) in your UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous "courageous" trolling you "not man" - LMAO!

(You know - I understand your SOYMilk & Bisphenol A "notman" SOYBoy formulas have addled your brains but that takes the cake for "illogic logic" from "your kind", lol!)

* The other poster's not I but they are making you get all "triggered" when you see your addled thinking fools nobody but your sick in the head chemically NEUTERED (lol) selves, lmao!

APK

P.S.=> Classic - one for my bookmarks... apk

Always Throttled!

[Anonymous Coward]

Netflix, Amazon, etc. have been throttled on my connection despite NN for more than 3 years. Paying for 25/5. Anything amazon or netflix is locked at 4 Mb/s total. So no multiple streams or great quality for me by default. Using a VPN I get instant full speed, only problem is finding a VPN where the IPs don't keep getting banned by Netflix and Amazon who refuse to allow access based on Billing region. I cancelled those of course.

Have to stay with this ISP because in flyover-merica internet service is fucking garbage even though I am surrounded by fiber (mostly dark backbone + some local branches) but it is all owned by CenturyLink. Best CenturyLink offers is 1.5/0.7 DSL which generally is half or a 3rd of that speed most of the time.

Gig 1/1 in my region? Maybe $5000-$10000/mo.

Thank god!

[l0ungeb0y]

About time that ISPs can charge for the right to access information you get through THEIR networks THIS IS AMERICA -- if you want free information build your own internet you fucking commie liberals

Re:Thank god!

[Altrag]

I assume you've built you own roads to drive to work? Until you've done that, you may as well STFU and stop being hypocritical.

Re: Thank god!

[Anonymous Coward]

They are already charging us to access to the pipes you fucking idiot.

Re:Thank god!

[Anonymous Coward]

you're not very good with sarcasm or satire, are you?

Re:Thank god!

[Anonymous Coward]

The government doesn't build roads. Private contractors are hired to build the roads. Guess where private contractors get there machinery to build those roads. From private industry. I'm glad government is not regulating the prices of front end loaders.

Re:Thank god!

[CyberKender]

About time that ISPs can charge for the right to access information you get through THEIR networks
THIS IS AMERICA -- if you want free information build your own internet you fucking commie liberals

About half of their infrastructure was paid by government subsidies. e.g. My/Our tax dollars. I think that makes 'their' networks half ours.

Re:Thank god!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because you provide and investment or are a stock holder doesn't mean you can automatically run the company and tell it what to do.

Re:Thank god!

[Anonymous Coward]

Weird how all the private contractors in my state are named Caltrans...

Re:Oh no...

[Humbubba]

I'll remember this come November. Ending Net Neutrality is a call to arms AFAIC.

ZOMG! Let's all run around with our hair on fire!

[Anonymous Coward]

Net Neutrality is a worthless pile of stinky garbage. Good riddance.

Re:Oh no...

[squiggleslash]

Given Netflix didn't start streaming anything until 2007, and the FCC has been enforcing Network Neutrality since 2005, I'm not sure what you're talking about.

Are you under the impression the current Title II classification was the first and only attempt to enforce neutrality? Because the only reason the FCC adopted that was because of legal challenges to the 2005 order.

It still remains unclear exactly what was going on between Netflix and Comcast anyway, with the latter adamant it never blocked or throttled anything. But it certainly was resolved at a time when the FCC was enforcing neutrality, and the eyes of legislators and government were on Comcast, ready to add more restrictions on Comcast's business if it didn't behave itself and somehow got away with it legally.

For more information on NN, Wikipedia covers the history quite well.

Re:Oh no...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, back when isps blocked netflix and bittorrent :/ Guess you forgot about that.

Yes, and they didn't stop until NN came along and...oh, wait...they stopped without any NN regs.

All the horror stories trotted out by NN proponents have a fatal flaw.

All those bad things were stopped before NN was passed, and were halted by the markets and the courts without needing NN.

Strat

They were voluntarily stopped temporarily specifically to make it look like net neutrality wasn't needed. Once the noise went away the plan was to reinstate them with no threat whatsoever.

Not this shit again

[Powercntrl]

Do you really think Google and Facebook

Take this fucking logical fallacy and shove it so far up your ass, that it re-materializes in your brain and forces you to re-evaluate it.

Absolutely nothing is forcing you to use Google or Facebook. They may abuse their positions in the industry, but you can still choose not to patronize their services. Also, anyone can easily register a domain and start their own search engine or social media business. It's not quite so easy to start a broadband ISP.

Many Americans (myself included) have one choice of landline broadband provider, and if they decide to start charging extra for Netflix, or a "premium online gaming package", cancelling service in protest would be a significantly larger sacrifice than switching to DuckDuckGo/deleting Facebook.

Hard to tell

[Anonymous Coward]

you're not very good with sarcasm or satire, are you?

In his (or her) defense, the satirical statement he responded to isn't as stupid as many of the perfectly serious statements we're hearing from this administration and its congressional shills in the nightly news, so I think anyone can be forgiven for not assuming sarcasm, irony, or satire in cases like these. The days of common sense, and reasoned discussion, are long over.

Re:ZOMG! Let's all run around with our hair on fir

[arkane1234]

Glad we now know your stance on neutrality. What's your name? I want to make sure the reward is delivered appropriately.

And the problem with voluntary regulation

[Anonymous Coward]

is who will be writing them? It sure as shit won't be the customers, will it. And you won't get a chance to "vote out" the company that's treating you shit. If your head were not up your arse, you'd be able to hold your politicans to account, but you'd prefer to whine about lefties and government interference because that's what you've been told is the "reason" why your life is fucked up.

When the next Democrat gets in power.

[Anonymous Coward]

At that point you'll see lots of ape shit flung about the place and guns being bought and waved around at the police freely, with the rightwing and most of the mainstream doing no more than saying "Well, they clearly are upset with something".

It is in the USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Because you have to go to arbitration (anything else would be anti capitalist) and the courts have already allowed ToS to be used as well as (some forms of) EULAs to bind people even if they didn't agree to them (See BNetD). Because not doing so would cause companies to make less money, which trickles down like a golden shower on the plebes like you.

Every time a website is slow

[KingTank]

...call your ISP "Heyyyy, this website is slow, can you tell me if you're throttling it?..."