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FCC is Hurting Consumers To Help Corporations, Mignon Clyburn Says On Exit (arstechnica.com)

Former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who left the agency this month, has taken aim at it in an interview, saying the agency has abandoned its mission to safeguard consumers and protect their privacy and speech. From her interview with ArsTechnica: "I'm an old Trekkie," Clyburn told Ars in a phone interview, while comparing the FCC's responsibility to the Star Trek fictional universe's Prime Directive. "I go back to my core, my prime directive of putting consumers first." If the FCC doesn't do all it can to bring affordable communications services to everyone in the US, "our mission will not be realized," she said. The FCC's top priority, as set out by the Communications Act, is to make sure all Americans have "affordable, efficient, and effective" access to communications services, Clyburn said. But too often, the FCC's Republican majority led by Chairman Ajit Pai is prioritizing the desires of corporations over consumers, Clyburn said. "I don't believe it's accidental that we are called regulators," she said. "Some people at the federal level try to shy away from that title. I embrace it."

Clyburn said that deregulation isn't bad in markets with robust competition, because competition itself can protect consumers. But "that is just not the case" in broadband, she said. "Let's just face it, [Internet service providers] are last-mile monopolies," she told Ars. "In an ideal world, we wouldn't need regulation. We don't live in an ideal world, all markets are not competitive, and when that is the case, that is why agencies like the FCC were constructed. We are here as a substitute for competition." Broadband regulators should strike a balance that protects consumers and promotes investment from large and small companies, she said. "If you don't regulate appropriately, things go too far one way or the other, and we either have prices that are too high or an insufficient amount of resources or applications or services to meet the needs of Americans," Clyburn said.

100 comments

  1. So under Ajit Pai, by rmdingler · · Score: 0

    The FCC is a shill for ISPs... pretty much as we suspected.

    Well, there's always regime change to look forward to.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:So under Ajit Pai, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't know why everyone unloads on the Federal government when the your local government is the source of the problem. Local imposed monopolies of the last mile. Lift that restriction and bam you have a free market. I would complain to your local city council your local township boards etc... Blaming the federal government for making government smaller is complete irony.

  2. In other news... by GerryGilmore · · Score: 1

    ...dog bites man. Film at 11.

  3. Substitute for competition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We are here as a substitute for competition.

    Surely a catalyst for competition? Or is regulating a market an alien concept in this discussion?

  4. Re:He is full of crap by Thad+Boyd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition. It isn't just contradiction.

  5. More and more regs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This guy is just full of it. More regs, more government, more abuses is what you get. This fool is just looking for a fat government paycheck and pension, that by the way few outside of government ever see. But the bureaucracy benefits from this 4 trillion dollar budget and intends to keep you in chains in order that those tax revenues keep flowing. Those in DC believe you are their slaves. You are not.

    1. Re:More and more regs by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Informative

      Guy? Who knew? Next time RTA.

    2. Re: More and more regs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too big to fail are worse. Chose the lesser of two evils.

    3. Re:More and more regs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, the former government worker is just saying these things to keep her job... that she already left.

  6. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, Ajit Pai is full of crap.

  7. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Superwhiner Kendall loves to whine about Obama while shielding the current (criminal, in fact) administration from any criticism of the BLATANT QUID PRO QUO SELLOUT AND CORRUPTION that everyone with eyes can see.

    Pity the superpartisan bitch, his life is going to come to a halt for the 12 months while Trump is put on trial and eventually taken away in chains to die in prison a traitor.

  8. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ajit Pai is? yea, we know. he is a major scumbag...

  9. Re:He is full of crap by rmdingler · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Pai was appointed to the FCC by Obama, and designated chairman by Trump, so it's not like one side of the aisle is more to blame than the other in this particular episode of "F*ck the Public".

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  10. Re:He is full of crap by Ichijo · · Score: 1

    The new FCC is the one aiming to protect privacy.

    Your link reads like somebody trying to sell you something. Oh wait, they are!

    --
    Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
  11. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh you are definitely full of crap, SuperKendall.

    Typical conservative, lie about and blame Obama for all your failures.

  12. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Buh, buh, buh, but Obama!!

    And buttery males!!

  13. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually that's horseshit, given the makeup of the panel Obama was securing a conservative to keep it equal per the norm. Trump does not appoint anyone but Trump sycophants. That's a huge difference. Trump is a traitor.

    Pai is a moron.

  14. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow! You totally convinced me with your rigorous fact-checking and logical arguments!

    Oh wait, you did the exact same thing as he did, only dumber. Great work.

  15. Less regulation will be better by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    Get rid of all the current regulation and simply force the companies to split in to wholesale and retail and regulate the price of wholesale.

    You'll then get healthy competition in the retail market due to a low entry barrier.

    1. Re:Less regulation will be better by jythie · · Score: 2

      Decades ago this is how it worked, more or less. You had a telecom that you bought you line from and an ISP you bought your service from. At the time a typical area had dozens of broadband ISPs, with new ones able to pop up fairly easily and lots of small ones filling niche needs. It was really great. But then there was too much money to be made wrapping the two parts up, and even more money if you bound up telecom, ISP, and media provider, so they got the rules changed. It would be nice if we could go back, but fighting telecoms is difficult and expensive.. they can afford better lawyers than the federal government.

    2. Re:Less regulation will be better by AHuxley · · Score: 0

      Decode the federal politics of words like "affordable, efficient, and effective".
      When one part of a city can afford a new network it won't be allowed to design a new network.
      "Affordable" - every part of the city has to pay the same low cost for any new network plan.
      "Efficient" - everyone all over a city gets the new network investment at a lower cost.
      "Effective" - poor areas of the city get new network investment even if the network costs will never be recovered.

      The result is everyone stays on the same speed paper insulated wireline under federal NN rules.
      No part of a city can invest in the new innovate networks as that would create a network divide.
      So the entire USA has to stay on todays NN approved networks until someone pays to upgrade all US cities with "free" "affordable" new networks.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Less regulation will be better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No part of a city can invest in the new innovate networks as that would create a network divide.

      So the entire USA has to stay on todays NN approved networks until someone pays to upgrade all US cities with "free" "affordable" new networks.

      Why should a "city" be investing in a private/for-profit corporate asset? My "city" should do things for the entire city with the taxes I pay, not just the slice of it I might not even live in.

      On the plus side, at least we don't have to pay anything at all for the network we don't own, don't control and don't have access to. Right! Right? Right?!??!?!

    4. Re:Less regulation will be better by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This started in New Zealand with the government forcing the incumbent telco to provide price regulated wholesale broadband to retail ISP's over their copper network - They either had to sell services to ISP's or allow the ISP's to install their own DSLAM's in their exchanges so they could run their own DSL services over the existing copper.

      The incumbent then got split in to two separate companies providing wholesale network services in one and retail services in the other.

      We now have the choice of dozens of different ISP's, all offering their own benefits and low cost of switching between companies.
      Infrastructure investment hasn't stopped either. By 2022 87% of the population will have fibre to their home.
      Over 40% of people who have fibre available have already switched and the rollout is running ahead of schedule.

    5. Re:Less regulation will be better by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      We certainly need wholesale price regulation. If wal-mart gets price A everyone else should also get price A from the same vendor.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  16. Re:He is full of crap by Hotice919 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wow, you are posting a link from the the policy director of a telecom with a straight face and other morons on the site are agreeing with you. My only hope is that you're being paid for this drivel and I guess everybody has their price - a fitting situation in a capitalist society I suppose.

  17. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Conservatives no longer require facts or logic. This is the Trump era. The only thing that will convince them is the clang of the steel door as Trump is locked away for life in prison, a traitor. It's coming. Prepare your anus, Trumpies.

  18. Re:He is full of crap by epine · · Score: 0

    ... everyone ignoring that Obama is very much a child of the Chicago political machine

    I guess your net assertion is that Obama is an Kenyan mechanoid full of child crap.

    Guess what? Fat Basterd just called: he want's his baby back, baby back, baby back bib back—it's his personal talk-radio good luck charm. Between Fat Basterd and his mechanical diaper dog, they lick the platter clean.

  19. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't tolerate lying scumbag traitors like Trump or his worthless inbred supporters, that's true. Once you cross that line and get in bed with Putin you're no longer an American as far as I'm concerned. Trump deserves a firing squad. Literally. I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic, and the only line Trump blurs is foreign and domestic there.

  20. This is AMERICA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And in America we worship the almighty dollar. Say AMEN! if you agree.

  21. Affordable communications? by AHuxley · · Score: 0

    On federal monopoly telcos using paper insulated wireline.
    Let different parts of the USA who are innovative design their own community broadband and escape federal NN rules.
    Why should every part of the USA be held back by federal NN rules when amazing new community networks could be funded?
    Why is the USA getting held back for decades on affordable, efficient, and effective wireline?
    What not let local communities build their own affordable, efficient and fast new networks? Attract new investment with new networks and grow a city?
    A city does not grow with "affordable, efficient, and effective" networks protected by federal NN rules..
    Cities need the freedom to expand fast new networks that can make a brand select that city over the rest of the USA.
    While some states and cities select to stay with "affordable, efficient, and effective" paper insulated wireline more advanced parts of the USA should have the freedom to network with their own new and faster networks.

    Remove federal network rules and let innovative US cities network at their own pace. Let the rest of the USA stay on their own affordable, efficient, and effective for decades if they want to project that existing wireline will provide the needed bandwidth.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:Affordable communications? by sjames · · Score: 2

      I suppose someone should tell you: NN has nothing to do with when you can or cannot upgrade your network.

  22. And we are powerless to stop it by GlennC · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Remember that. It doesn't matter if the "Democrats" or "Republicans" are in charge, they have not represented the average American citizen for a long while.

    --
    Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
    1. Re:And we are powerless to stop it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least the Republicans have shown complete disregard for the law like true Libertarianism requires. It's refreshing, the treason.

    2. Re:And we are powerless to stop it by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      it does matter is you are not a god-botherer.

      if you consider yourself a 'believer', then the R party is probably more to your liking.

      if you insist that others follow your views on religion, you are most definitely an R person.

      other than that, yeah, both parties are similar in that they don't care about you and me and only want to enrichen and empower themselves.

      personally, I hate religion, so the R's are the enemy. and the R's seem to almost have a violent hatred for the middle class and poor, and all classes of consumer.

      seems almost funny: even business people are consumers, so any party that is anti-consumer should not be in power. and yet, here we are.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    3. Re:And we are powerless to stop it by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Under Obama NN laws were put in place. Under Trump, they were removed. On the issue of NN, it's hard to imagine a bigger example of different philosophies.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    4. Re: And we are powerless to stop it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correction, under Obama an executive order was issued, no law was ratified by Congress, now the executive orders been rescinded, it opens the way for a real NN law to be proposed if the majority of people are so inclined.

    5. Re: And we are powerless to stop it by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      It was a regulatory action, in response to a directive from the Supreme Court saying that the FCC could enact Title II regulations under the existing law.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
  23. Re:He is full of crap by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually that's horseshit, given the makeup of the panel Obama was securing a conservative to keep it equal per the norm. Trump does not appoint anyone but Trump sycophants. That's a huge difference. Trump is a traitor.

    Pai is a moron.

    Is it your position that Obama's selection of the "conservative moron" Pai to keep it equal per the norm is in any way a defensible selection?

    "Our side can do no wrong" is but the stance of a zealous parrot who lacks the funds to pay attention.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  24. deduct 10 points by bugs2squash · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am an old trekkie

    blatent pandering to the slashdot crowd, deduct 10 points for misappropriation of star trek

    --
    Nullius in verba
    1. Re:deduct 10 points by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Brunt! F C A... We have some fine Fiat and Chrysler automobiles, come and check out your nearest showroom! Jeg be carefull if driving in our Jeep Grand Cheerokee models!

    2. Re: deduct 10 points by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blatant not blatent, ArsTechnica not slashdot, lose 10 points for being an idiot and look, some other idiot modded you up.

    3. Re:deduct 10 points by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      blatent pandering to the slashdot crowd, deduct 10 points for misappropriation of star trek

      Yeah but he doesn't like the FCC so at this point he could see a Kirk vs Picard battle and say his favourite was Skywalker and he'd still be in my good books.

  25. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The reason Democrats have lost so many seats is that they try to keep the norms while the Republicans are always pushing to the right. Reagan's policies would be denounced as a communist plot by today's Republican Party.

    And that was before they rallied around a multiple divorced cheating degenerate gambler narcissist egomaniac. I can't vote Republican anymore.

  26. You have some examples? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    because the only notable things that came out of the Obama administration was Net Neutrality and stopping several anti-consumer mergers (that are now going through under Trump).

    The article you link to just say that Obama was bad because the FCC regulated the info ISPs could gather but that it's mostly Facebook abusing your privacy and Obama didn't do jack about that. You're basically saying Obama didn't go far enough, which is fair. He never did. If he did, we'd have single payer healthcare and a fully regulated Wall Street banking system now. But to be fair to Obama he was saddled first with a Congress full of right wing Corporate Democrats (Pelosi, Schumer, I'm looking at you) and then the Republicans took over every other branch of the government, even stealing a Supreme Court seat from Obama.

    --
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  27. Obama was required to appoint a Republican by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and I'd argue it made no difference which one he appointed. To be blunt, while the Dems often side with mega corps over the working class I literally can't think of a single time when a Republican, any Republican, didn't unless they knew it was safe to do so (e.g. the Senate vote on Net Neutrality when they knew damn well it won't pass the House let alone get signed by Trump). The Republicans are completely pro corporate. If you're OK with that, then carry on. But if not you'd better start voting for the Bernie wing of the Democratic party, because they're the only credible threat to the status quo. I think after Trump staffed his cabinet with the same Goldman Sachs people, got caught making deals with the UAE to get elected and started supporting TPP it's pretty safe to say he's not doing jack for shaking things up.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Obama was required to appoint a Republican by fafalone · · Score: 1

      I'd argue that it could have made a difference who he appointed. He had to appoint a Republican, not a former Verizon lawyer. There's almost certainly someone he could have found with fewer ties to the industry, not to mention looking at ideologies and priorities of candidates themselves. There had to be someone out there who was less awful than Pai and still had an (R) next to his/her name.

    2. Re:Obama was required to appoint a Republican by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      They operate in the environment that we allow...just like corporations operate in an environment that promotes offshoring to slave labor and other human rights violations. Don't hate the player.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    3. Re:Obama was required to appoint a Republican by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      There is a system in place whose inner workings are not visible to us unless you look at everything in whole. In order to keep campaign money flowing you have to do certain things such as seating an asshole like Pai in the top FCC spot.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    4. Re:Obama was required to appoint a Republican by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      I'd argue that it could have made a difference who he appointed. He had to appoint a Republican, not a former Verizon lawyer.

      You never know what you'll get. Tom Wheeler was a lobbyist for the telecom industry, enough that he faced some pretty stiff opposition to being appointed FCC chair. Yet he ended up advancing policies that the telecoms hated. It's hard to tell if someone has been "captured," or if they still have independent will.

  28. Vote Justice Democrats by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    they're the "Bernie" Wing of the party. They're the only ones that refuse corporate PAC money. It's a requirement to join. Show up at your primary. There's plenty of candidates there and your vote is incredibly powerful in a primary because hardly anybody votes in them.

    --
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    1. Re:Vote Justice Democrats by GlennC · · Score: 1

      And here I am unable to give you the "Funny" mod you so richly deserve...

      --
      Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
  29. freeze peach by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    2012 called. It wants its "last mile monopolies" rant back.

    Ajit Pai is on point that CDNs and walled gardens are a bigger threat. Google kicked all the gun videos off Youtube as part of their consensus pogrom against the NRA, and continues to put videos they don't have sufficient excuse to censor but whose views they don't like in "Youtube Jail," something they invented to thwart as many as possible of the political goals of free speech without technically censoring the video. Twitter is outsourcing censorship to (((SPLC and ADL))). Die Luegenpresse is constantly talking about "the line between free speech and hate speech," a nonsense excuse for demanding "evil" tech monopolies do more to shut down non-Luegenpresse news. Edgy bloggers are worried they will be banned from registering domain names, renting housing, hiring taxis, and buying food as retaliation for their political speech. At the same moment publishing is more democratized than it's ever been in the history of the world, free speech is in worse shape than it's ever been in the United States's history.

    The Chinese idea of censorship for social harmony, decided by the "consensus" of a thin, elite, isolated caste of party insiders, is now mainstream within the tech monopsonies that are the gatekeepers of political discourse, and they relentlessly pursue anyone who slips through their fingers once they start to get an audience through DDoS, registrar fuckery, BGP tricks, recursive DNS poisoning, any means at their disposal regardless of mandate or due process. Look at their actions, not their words, and when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

    1. Re: freeze peach by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YouTube don't have a monopoly: other sites are available.

      You refer to dailystormer.name? Seems they've found a home on the web despite the dreadful victimization they suffered.

      You know, I don't think it works the same if you paint the fascists as victims:

      First they came for the Nazis
      And i did not speak out
      Because I was not a Nazi.

    2. Re: freeze peach by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YouTube don't have a monopoly: other sites are available.

      The monopoly is on public discourse, not the ability to post videos in the Internet. ADL, SPLC, and activist insiders would not be pushing so desperately to censor stuff if they didn't think the sites had enough of a monopoly to shift political discourse. The act indicts itself. It is no different than a mob throwing a printing press into the river. It should disgust any American.

      You refer to dailystormer.name?

      Seems they've found a home on the web despite the dreadful victimization they suffered.

      They are mentioned multiple times in Ajit Pai's 200 page announcement (p.152) about ending net neutrality. He sees the social monopolies as bigger threats to free speech than the last mile monopolies.

      He is not a good guy. He's not planning to do anything useful about social monopolies or last mile monopolies, and both are problems.

      But he's right about this one specific argument.

      EFF agrees.

      You know, I don't think it works the same if you paint the fascists as victims:

      First they came for the Nazis
      And i did not speak out
      Because I was not a Nazi.

      Correct, if you're a sloppy virtue-signaller who wants to boastfully rightthink on twitter, it does not work for you to have a free speech discussion about Nazis because people go "wow just wow," or they expose you to mockery which defeats the entire purpose of your narcissistic "engagement".

      If, on the other hand, your goal is to preserve the political benefits of free speech and our country's democratic legacy, you will realize as EFF does that defending free speech necessarily involves defending obnoxious speech every time because people who don't believe in frozen peaches go for the low-hanging fruit, and intentional or not, it becomes a wedge for them. This is already happening: people didn't speak out for the "Nazis," so they are coming for Damore, Prager U, gun videos, etc.

      Every single time.

  30. Re:He is full of crap by youngone · · Score: 2

    ...one side of the aisle is more to blame than the other...

    Well, that's an odd way to run a country.

    You can this set of wealthy oligarchs, or that set over there.

    Come on America, get yourself a better system of Government.

  31. Re:He is full of crap by youngone · · Score: 1

    The new FCC is the one aiming to protect privacy [attpublicpolicy.com].

    Oh lord, yes, let's take our cues from AT&T, they're a neutral in this argument.

  32. Who? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Seriously. Who? Again, I can't think of a single viable candidate (remember, he still has to get them confirmed by the Senate) who's pro-Consumer. I suppose he could have found a Democrat, had them switch party affiliations and go from there, but that would have been sniffed out right off the bat.

    I think it's just time to face facts, the Republican party is completely, totally pro-Corporate. There's a few who are at least indifferent to workers (John McCain comes to mind) but when a decision is made they _always_ side with the mega corps. And often they go out of their way to screw workers to benefit their real masters.

    Again, this isn't that Democrats don't have problems, but there are at least _some_ members of the party that refuse corporate and PAC money and side with workers. This makes the Dem party at least _potentially_ redeemable. Can you name one Republican who has refused Corporate PAC money? The Dems have an entire wing of their party (the "Justice" Democrats) for who that's a litmus test.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Who? by fafalone · · Score: 1

      I don't have any specific names, but it's a bit hard to believe there's not a single (R) that is more moderate and without such a massive conflict of interest. As we've seen, clearing the Senate is a low bar. I'm not suggesting you'd find someone actually "pro-consumer" but there's a whole range like with any other policy.
      The rest of that, cheers, I agree completely.

    2. Re:Who? by lessthan · · Score: 1

      So you wish it, so it must be so. Sorry.

      --
      Space Shuttle was a program that strapped humans to an explosion and tried to stab through the sky with fire and math
    3. Re:Who? by Rhipf · · Score: 2

      When the Republican majority senate wouldn't even consider an Obama appointee for the Supreme Court I don't think "clearing the Senate is a low bar". You have to remember that the main Republican strategy for the 8 years of the Obama administration was - oppose anything the president wants.

  33. Re:He is full of crap by pots · · Score: 1

    As has been said many many times: each president is required to appoint at least two FCC members from the opposition party. The opposition members are almost always mainline candidates who agree with their party's positions, in order to ease confirmations of the same-party candidates who have the majority of votes. Since the opposition party candidates have very little power, this is a compromise that the president can make easily.

    If you have participated in even one of the FCC threads before, you have heard this already. Parroting this same line about Obama appointing Pai is deceptive.

  34. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How the hell is this old talking point modded +1 insightful? How many times does it need to be pointed out that Obama was REQUIRED by law to appoint a Republican to that seat? He didn't pick Pai because he thought he was the best person for the job - he picked him because he thought he was the least worst of a short list he didn't get to pick.

  35. The needs of the many... by Grog6 · · Score: 2

    outweigh the needs of the few.

    I really had hope this would work out.

    But...

    Trump and his ilk have sold America to the highest bidder.

    We exist now to feed the profits of the few; is it so mysterious that the suicide rate is thru the roof, and opiate drugs are sweeping the land?

    Birth rates are down, because what sane creature would bring a life into this world to be so exploited?

    Trump is a symptom of the rotten core of what used to be America; I'm just waiting for all the kids to take themselves out, then who will they have?

    Welcome to Trump's America. You earned it.

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
    1. Re:The needs of the many... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blaming Trump for the current state of the country is like blaming Ronald McDonald when you get a bad cheeseburger. He's a figurehead, and he came in at the tail end of a long and steady process that's been used for generations at this point to dismantle individual protections and rights in order to serve the corporate good. I am not, under any circumstances, a Trump fan. The man is a menace. He's definitely ill-informed, and intentionally remains ill-informed. And it's entirely possible he is literally insane. BUT, he's not the one and only root cause of all that's wrong in this country. He's one of the results, sure. A symptom. Like a runny nose can tell you you got a cold. But ultimately, much like Ronald McDonald, he's just current clown at the top of a shitheap that's been being piled up for a long, LONG time. Much longer than most of us have been alive.

      Captcha: gargle
      That seems entirely TOO appropriate.

    2. Re:The needs of the many... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean the lowest bidder. They just sold the greatest commercial engine in the world for a few hundred thousand dollars.

  36. Re:He is full of crap by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    Pai was appointed to the FCC by Obama,

    While that is true, it is a misrepresentation by omission. Obama was required to appoint someone acceptable to the Republicans. He had little choice in the matter.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  37. Re:He is full of crap by shilly · · Score: 1

    Why would you think that's his position? It's an absurd position. It's a strawman. His position -- obviously -- is that Obama had no practical choice in the matter, what with considering himself bound by the norms of political convention that characterised all presidencies bar the current shitshow (plus the reality that his appointee needed approval by the Senate).

  38. Re: He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Crickets...

  39. Don't you guys get it- government caused this mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It disgusts me when I hear about people talking about how we "need" regulations because of the lack of competition. Regulations have and continue to hamper the free market and have caused these issues in the first place (and if there was any hope of getting people to understand this issue I wouldn't be supporting any regulations; ie net neutrality- but I know ending the monopolies is a near-imposable challenge at this stage in the game at the legal level because of stupid people and because of the now entrenched monopolies/duopolies now are). Most of the reason we don't have competition in the markets where we don't have competition is because we've handed companies monopolies via various means.

      People have such short memories. What did you think was going to happen when city governments literally granted cable companies monopolies in the late 1970s and 1980s? You said "But they won't run cable if we don't give them a monopoly!" and you said "Well, we can't have any old body dig up our streets!" to arguments against this insane practice (when in reality there aren't enough companies in the first place interested or able to cause a problem explicitly because its so expensive to run cable! literally your own arguments contradict each other).

    And these monopolies weren't going to magically go away because because you put a time limit on them. The plain fact of the matter is government fucked up the free market here and did exactly the opposite of what they should have done which is ensured everyone who wanted to play in that market had equal access to the rights of way. And don't get me started about the billions the entrenched monoplies and duopolies were handed in the 1990s. Instead the governments ensured not only that these companies would get a first mover advantage- but that they'd be guaranteed profits and the only competition-ever. And the response to those who pointed this out was regulation (regulations to make regulators that would then put limits on how much the cable bill could be raised a year). Problem is regulations tend not to stick around for ever (they didn't) and tend to be written by the companies they're supposed to regulate. And even if these companies get hurt at first (ie some how we get a good bill through) it is in these companies interests to keep coming back to kill the regulation.

    We can't win by regulating our way out of this mess. This is not the only reason we have monopolies- but we find governments putting up barriers that only the established players can possible comply with too or otherwise increasing the cost of getting into that industry thus minimizing competitions (barber licenses anyone?).

    Patents, copy"rights", and "trademarks" are another major issue. Investors literally won't invest in businesses today if they don't have an edge due to these sorts of violations of our human rights. Trademarks that protect the consumer may be reasonable- but trademarks that enable companies to prevent competitors from utilizing a competitors name isn't right- at least where the competitor is making it clear that they are not the *actual trademark owners*. For instance Keurig used trademarks to bully companies into paying royalties such that they could indicate compatibility with the Keurig coffee maker and used digital restrictions in an attempt to prevent non-certified coffee cups from working despite being otherwise fully compatible. The DRM is another use of violence to interfere in a free market. And if you recall they made it illegal to break DRM! So much for free speech.

  40. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition. It isn't just contradiction.

    BRUNT! F C C!

  41. politics 101 by Torvac · · Score: 2

    learned this years ago (in germany): the Federal Ministry of the Environment does not exists to protect the environment, it is here to allow the max amount of damage and the maximum amount of exploitation of the enviromnent by private orgs before people start to riot against the current government. translate to other agencies and you know whats up.

  42. And here I thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The FCC was created in response to the WRC back about a hundred years ago, to regulate all those radio frequencies from interfering with other countries.
    Not to provide 'net neutrality' for big browser and company.

  43. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The reason Democrats have lost so many seats is that they try to keep the norms while the Republicans are always pushing to the right. Reagan's policies would be denounced as a communist plot by today's Republican Party.

    And that was before they rallied around a multiple divorced cheating degenerate gambler narcissist egomaniac. I can't vote Republican anymore.

    You believe this because you believe Democrat positions are the norm. They are not.

  44. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Conservatives no longer require facts or logic. This is the Trump era. The only thing that will convince them is the clang of the steel door as Trump is locked away for life in prison, a traitor. It's coming. Prepare your anus, Trumpies.

    You misspelled Hillary. Prepare your anus, hypocrites.

  45. Good quote by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

    Clyburn said that deregulation isn't bad in markets with robust competition, because competition itself can protect consumers. But "that is just not the case" in broadband, she said. "Let's just face it, [Internet service providers] are last-mile monopolies," she told Ars. "In an ideal world, we wouldn't need regulation. We don't live in an ideal world, not all markets are competitive, and when that is the case, that is why agencies like the FCC were constructed. We are here as a substitute for competition."

    This guy gets it. Neither is an absolute, what's necessary is a balance. It's still difficult to agree on where to draw that line though.

    --

    Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
  46. Re:He is full of crap by Toad-san · · Score: 1

    Obviously not a Monty Python fan.

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  48. Re:He is full of crap by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

    You do realize that Clyburn is a she, right? Even says so in the second sentence of the summary.

    And the rest of your comment goes downhill from there. You're linking to the public policy page of a wolf who is lauding the current shepherd while condemning the previous one as "proof" that the current shepherd's policies are in the best interests of the sheep. I was about to say "never mind that the wolf has ulterior motives", but there's nothing ulterior about this wolf's motivations.

  49. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trotsky drooling lib.bitches like OP deserve the smash=face brownshirt treatment. Crush their spewing throat ... break a neekap, break fingers and pitch the screaming body into a canal. Rinse. Repeat.

  50. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The normal is suppose to be a balance between the right and the left. The right is known to be pro-corporation and the left pro-consumer. Even the Supreme Court was this way (half right and half left).

    Going too far one way - especially in areas with little to no competition - means you wind up with megacorps that own everything and can therefore charge whatever and smother any upstarts... or a extremely stifling environment which companies have difficulty surviving.

  51. Re:He is full of crap by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    Obama and his entire Cabinet was chosen FOR him, before he even was allowed to run for president.

    FTFY

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  52. Re:He is full of crap by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    "they rallied around a multiple divorced cheating degenerate gambler narcissist egomaniac"

    They never rallied around him. They would probably see him dead/impeached if it were not for Pence.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  53. Re:He is full of crap by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    ....and it was not his choice.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  54. Re:He is full of crap by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    I think this is the theme of CDReimer's live stream this evening.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  55. Re:Call Dr Autase on +2348118526509 for all your s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think you need to contact APK.

  56. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So is it the thigh bone that's connected to the neekap?

  57. Re:He is full of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think you misunderstand which party is "they"

  58. Capitalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Capitalism is the country's prime directive. Any true patriot would be happy to be fucked over by a corporation. The rest of you are commie bastards.

  59. Re:He is full of crap by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Oh, you meant Obama...remember he chided Romney for his foreign policy, saying that the 80s called and wants it back. Then, he was caught on open mic with Medvedev. So, yeah, if Trump colluded (still waiting on Mueller to show some evidence), by all means give him hell. But, don't pretend that it's all one sided...where did that dossier come from that the DNC bought?

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  60. Re:He is full of crap by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Please don't feed the AC trolls. They're probably Russians.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  61. Re:He is full of crap by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    And this is what we get when we allow lobbyists to run the government, because "corporations are people too".

    You may be surprised to hear that statement from a fiscal conservative, but that's just me.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  62. Re:He is full of crap by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    And this is what we get when we allow lobbyists to run the government, because "corporations are people too".

    Famous Romney quote, but he didn't mean that a company as an entity is an actual human being. A company is just a collection of people. The Citizen's United case decided that groups of people do not lose their collective free speech rights because they incorporate.

  63. Re:He is full of crap by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Groups of people are groups of individuals, all of who individually have the rights to free speech, which is not at all negated by incorporation. However, the fact is that this "right" that CU granted corporations is in fact impeding the rights of individuals to be equally heard, because individuals can't compete when it comes to getting access to our politicians...fact.

    I saw the Romney speech, and know that the context you mention is correct. And, in spite of having voted for him, this is one subject where IMO he was sadly mistaken.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  64. Re:He is full of crap by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    because individuals can't compete when it comes to getting access to our politicians...fact.

    You could extend that easily to rich vs poor as well, the rich have far FAR more access when it comes to access to politicians than poor people do, on par with corporations. I don't know if it's a problem with "corporate people" so much as it is wealth = access. There are few things that you could do to corporations to fix this problem that you wouldn't also have to apply to wealthy individuals.

  65. Re:He is full of crap by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    So, yeah, if Trump colluded (still waiting on Mueller to show some evidence), by all means give him hell. But, don't pretend that it's all one sided...where did that dossier come from that the DNC bought?

    Had the 2016 Trump Tower meeting resulted in the confirmed handing over of any documentation originally proffered, collusion would have already been proven, at least for the 3 folks in attendance. If you doubt that Trump wouldn't have used such information, well, we have a little over 2 years worth of history to show he'd use anything factual and quite a few manufactured in attempting to harm, slander, libel, or otherwise damage others. So the only question on collusion is whether any was successful. The jury is still out on that. As far as a collusion conspiracy, at this point I'd say you'd have to be working for Trump's legal team to deny it.

    That dossier was first formed at the request of Republicans. It was then sold to someone purportedly working for the DNC. It's amazing how nothing in that dossier came out prior to the election, isn't it? It's almost like it was planted. Do we actually know who authorized that dossier? Who physically took possession of it? I looked early on and couldn't successfully trace it. Maybe there's more on it now and we can have those answers. Note that none of these types of questions exist for the various meetings undertaken by members of the Trump campaign. We know who, with whom, and when and for what purpose.

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.