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Court Blocks FCC's Attempt To Take a Broadband Subsidy Away From Tribal Areas (bleepingcomputer.com)
Jon Brodkin reports via Ars Technica: The FCC decision, originally slated to take effect later this year, would have made it difficult or impossible for Tribal residents to obtain a $25-per-month Lifeline subsidy that reduces the cost of Internet or phone service for poor people. But on Friday, a court stayed the FCC decision pending appeal, saying that Tribal organizations and small wireless carriers are likely to win their case against the commission. "Petitioners have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their arguments that the facilities-based and rural areas limitations contained in the Order are arbitrary and capricious," said the stay order issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "In particular, petitioners contend that the Federal Communications Commission failed to account for a lack of alternative service providers for many tribal customers."
The tribes and small carriers that sued the FCC "have shown a substantial risk that tribal populations will suffer widespread loss of vital telecommunications services absent a stay," the court said. The FCC hasn't proven that its plan won't result in "mass disconnection," the court also said. The court ruling was welcomed by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority, which are among the groups suing the FCC. Several small carriers and the non-profit National Lifeline Association are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The tribes and small carriers that sued the FCC "have shown a substantial risk that tribal populations will suffer widespread loss of vital telecommunications services absent a stay," the court said. The FCC hasn't proven that its plan won't result in "mass disconnection," the court also said. The court ruling was welcomed by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority, which are among the groups suing the FCC. Several small carriers and the non-profit National Lifeline Association are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
If you live in the US, you are enjoying the fruits or America's sins. You're complicit.
You are welcome on my lawn.
If you were talking about compensating those who suffered the original injustice, you might have a better argument. However, keeping a broken system in place that continues to churn out people that are going to continue the cycle of suffering is horrible. The people who are sitting there now are a younger generation, who have suffered only the injustice of being kept in a terrible system perpetuated by the guilt of everyone who insists that they fucking deserve it without realizing the kind of hell we've trapped these people in.
Maybe there are a lot of proposals (e.g. forced integration into larger society) that are awful for other reasons, but you can't look at the reservation systems and the Native American population and think that it's something that should continue on as it is. Look at the statistics for these communities. It's as bad as inner city ghettos or rustbelt towns that lost the factory and gained an opioid epidemic. At least nobody is cheerleading for those because we all recognize they're tragically broken.