Slashdot Mirror
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.
We took their country. They least we can do is pay for their fucking broadband.
You are welcome on my lawn.
on the one hand the Republican party really wants to stick it to the poors, especially if they're also colored. Stuff like this is basically fodder for the far right of the base. On the other hand there's corporate subsidies at stake. It's funny to watch the two fight it out until you think about all the completely screwed over people caught in the middle (source: been on the Res, got India friends, and that Casino money hasn't made it all over. Lots of blasted out trailer parks held together by spit and glue).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I'm pretty sure they're already paying more than $25/mo too much to begin with.
What do you call the useless bit of skin at the base of the penis? Ajit Pai's feet.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'm somewhat sympathetic to your argument, but the fact is that they're not treated as sovereign.
Look, I think they should be able to have high-rise casinos with hookers and blow on tap if they want, but the reality is they can't.
Free them economically *and* take away their subsidies, if they are to be sovereign. That's much better than repressing them and subsidizing them.
But don't make the mistake of assuming that their sovereignty is being more than respected as a token effort. Or that DC actually wants to treat them as sovereign and not a conquered people.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
... already supply all the bandwidth needed... for those tribes that have casinos.
Give the rest broadband at no cost.
I've got policy coming out my ears. Medicare for All, College for All, Ending the Wars, New New Deal, etc, etc, etc. I don't want or need race to win elections. Polls show my policy is overwhelmingly popular. Like, 70-80% popular.
/. If you've got to troll, troll for the good guys.
What I need is to get those folks who voted for Trump because of crap like this and folks who wrongly blame the jews for the raw deal the 1%ers handed them to realize who's really pulling the strings and stop voting against their own interests. It's damn hard to do since the 1%ers own the mass media (mega corps bought everything up, re: Sinclair Media).
Ignoring the impact of racism on American politics isn't naive or foolish, it's deceitful. The Republicans do it so they can dog whistle. There's corportists Dems who do it so they can run on something besides economics since they're basically Republicans when it comes to money. You need to call both groups out because they're doing the same damn thing: Using race to distract from a bad economy. Bernie understands that. So does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That's why they never takes the bait. You shouldn't either. Even when you're trolling on
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
It seems like a discount on their ISP bill is the least we can do in exchange for pinching about $25 Trillion worth of their land.
"Pinching." Really? This was hundreds of years ago. I guess everyone should just feel bad for what people 10 generations ago did right? Despite the fact tribes now live in the richest country in the world, are free of war, and don't even pay for the price to do so. Instead they distribute their money to their people. But apparently free money doesn't exactly make people work very hard so they are stuck in a rut. America used to belong to British also, maybe we should just give it back to the British because we "pinched" it from them when it belonged to them.
You signed treaties for the land you're living on. The American Constitution puts treaties as the second highest law in the land and here you are wanting to renege.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
I wish I had trillions of dollars but my pockets don't feel that full. Besides my family is not even from America. Get off your high horse and realize the past had war, now even has war, but right now it's run by the most just nation who happen to have the strongest weapons. If the U.S. was not a forgiving and merciful nation then wars would still result taking their land after winning.
Politics aside, I'd like that $25 broadband please ...
I accept that America was settled by Europeans/etc., and the native population was nearly obliterated. I don't accept that it was right or just, but it happened. We can't undo that.
But claims that various native populations struggle with poverty, disease, and failure are heard alongside the very similar reports from various big cities, who have no excuse of endemic oppression and a history of being conquered, massacred, and humiliated. Unless you consider Democrat government to be such, and the results may speak volumes to that premise.
I think the FCC is misguided here unless they hang this on Native American sovereignty, and I think this is an argument we need not have.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
my smoke signals are UTF8.
I wish I had trillions of dollars but my pockets don't feel that full. Besides my family is not even from America.
Nevertheless, your family presumably felt that leaving whatever shithole they came from to take advantage of all the loot available here was a win.
Are you saying you are anti immigrant, even legally? How is it that my family, not even having had lived here before, is doing just fine but those who spent their whole life in America are unable to enjoy the same benefits I supposedly have over them? Oh right, because they are willfully not a member of the US government, unless it suits them and they can receive things for free.
Irrelevant. Your logic is like a schoolyard bully swiping your lunchbox then saying: "I can hold onto this lunchbox better than you, so you don't deserve it."
Then he gives it to his buddy, who says "*I* didn't take this lunchbox from anybody, so it's 100% mine! By the way, you owe me rent on the lunch."
Nah your trying to make a moral argument for people who fought and died 300 years ago before a light bulb had ever been switched on. Who was right or wrong isn't relevant anymore. And last time I checked the Puritans came to America in droves to escape their own persecution, what bastards. I think you've watched one to many sad Columbus movies and now you think you actually understand everything that happened back then. They were lucky they were taken over and given some land to govern at all to screw up with because if their land wasn't taken from them Germany would have taken over and kill them all for not being Aryan. Thank god the U.S. was made or they would be instinct! See I can make up bullshit moral arguments too!
You were the one who started a "moral argument" by claiming that these people were freeloading off your tax dollars, when in fact you should be paying them rent.
It's only logical regardless of morality. I'm saying they don't contribute to the US government therefore they should not receive even more of the free benefits they already receive. You go to the tribal land and ask for the free cash they distribute to their tribe members from their taxes and see how that goes for you.
Tribes are free of war. It's the American's who die in the war protecting their land. Sure some tribe members are also Americans and enlist as well. And no I'm not kidding you. They pay zero dollars or lives if they don't want to and haven't for a long time.