It’s breathtaking the speed with which the dismantling is happening. It’s doesn’t matter what the facts are; it doesn’t matter where the truth lies; the morality, haha, people don’t even remember what that means any more; the good of the nation certainly is of no concern to these people.
Railroading their agenda is all they care about no matter how much damage is inflicted. Who’s there to stop them.
On yeah, We The People, if we wanted to.
Net neutrality fight is about to flare again
By MARGARET HARDING MCGILL 11/15/2017
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/15/net-neutrality-fight-is-about-to-flare-again-244912
The FCC, under Trump-appointed Chairman Ajit Pai, is readying a final order that will spell out how thoroughly it intends to roll back the 2015 net neutrality order, which requires internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast to treat all web traffic equally. The release could come as early as next week, teeing up a possible commission vote in December.
So far, Pai has said he wants to scrap the legal foundation that the FCC’s old Democratic majority adopted to tighten federal oversight of ISPs, a move he contends has deterred the industry from investing in broadband networks. But he could also opt to eliminate the FCC’s core net neutrality rules altogether — which would in theory allow ISPs to block or throttle some types of web traffic, or charge websites for "fast lanes" to consumers.
Some FCC watchers believe the commission is likely to go that route, wiping the slate clean and relying on another agency, the FTC, to police whether internet providers are acting in an anti-competitive manner.
Just a few years back Verizon banned abortion rights activists from sending text messages to its supporters. That freedom could once again be questioned. Verizon later reversed its decision, but that is the type of power these companies could have over us with the proposed changes to Title Two and Net Neutrality.
https://www.battleforthenet.com
Now, one of the most impactful things you can do to help save net neutrality before Dec. 14th is to make phone calls to Congress.
If offices get more phone calls from constituents, we can persuade them to stop the catastrophic plan to repeal net neutrality.
Please Call: 424-363-4877
We will connect you to the offices of your lawmakers.
You can use this script when talking to them -- just introduce yourself, be polite, and say:
"I support 'Title Two' net neutrality rules and I urge you to oppose the FCC's plan to repeal them.
Specifically, I'd like you to contact the FCC Chairman and demand he abandon his current plan."
I only know the rough outlines
and I know that the people who do understand the details have some mighty valid points to make.
Beltane, let me ask you,
What’s the point of Ajit Pai making the changes - what does it help? Why did he do it? Why Net Neutrality Was Repealed and How It Affects You
By KEITH COLLINS DEC. 14, 2017 com/2017/12/14/technology/net-neutrality-rules.html NET NEUTRALITY: 25 Things You Need To Know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALtSd0y-HDM
YouTube - list25 - Dec 18, 2017 Join the Battle for Net Neutrality
https://www.battleforthenet.com
The FCC just voted to gut net neutrality rules, letting Internet providers like Verizon and Comcast control
what we can see and do online with new fees, throttling, and censorship.
But we can still get Congress to stop this—by passing a "Resolution of Disapproval" to overturn the FCC vote.
We can win. Write and call Congress now!(But only with your help)
These folks have quite the organized drive going. Check out that website. If you are interested in making calls click the link and this comes up
Calling you now!
Introduce yourself, be polite, and say: I support Title Two net neutrality and I urge you to use the Congressional Review Act to pass a "resolution of disapproval" reversing the FCC's December vote to repeal the Open Internet Order.
Then the phone rang, and it went on from there.
They clearly explain themselves. The connects work, technically very professional.
For all my bitching about sleepy Americans, stuff like this offers hope.
Massive engagement of real people, focused on what might make a difference, defending what they believe in.
The American Way! :-)
Pai seems to think net neutrality limits internet innovation and growth]. It hasn’t limited it enough in my opinion.
Net Neutrailty means ISPs cannot regulate the price and content of the internet traffic they carry, this means traffic as disparate as Youtube, Center for Inquiry, porn sites, Jewish Singles.com and Stormfront forum are all carried “equally” by your ISP. Net neutrality didnt exist before 2015 and I’m not aware of ISPs engaging in content suppression or overcharging selected content before then, so the whole point seems moot.
There is a fear of censorship by many which is misplaced because a) ISPs need to provide content to make money and b) web browsers] and social media] already engage in censorship.
This is really only a big issue because Trump is president.
Nah, it was just built into the internet protocols and system !
This is classic libertarian/Russian hacker thinking. That regulations cause the problem. It's about as scientific as people who used to believe that geese came from goose barnacles. The net was invented to share information. THEN it became a tool for commerce. THEN ISPs started limiting some content.
It's like when Mr. Burns figured out how to block the sun. Beltane would say sun neutrality didn't exist until then.
Nah, it was just built into the internet protocols and system !
This is classic libertarian/Russian hacker thinking. That regulations cause the problem. It's about as scientific as people who used to believe that geese came from goose barnacles. The net was invented to share information. THEN it became a tool for commerce. THEN ISPs started limiting some content.
It's like when Mr. Burns figured out how to block the sun. Beltane would say sun neutrality didn't exist until then.I didn't say regulations were the problem. IMO tech companies and social media should be regulated as public utilities because they're too powerful.
And where did ISPs limit content?
Beltane, let me ask you,
What's the point of Ajit Pai making the changes - what does it help? Why did he do it?
Already answered that upthread.
Again, what did you mean by net neutrality is built into internet protocol and systems? I'm asking because that doesn't make sense and it makes you seem like you don't know what you're talking about, but then again, maybe its simply one of the many benign misconceptions that people have about the internet.
This took less than a second to show up when I googled: "where did ISPs limit content?"
Data cap analysis found almost 200 ISPs imposing data limits in the US
Examination of 2,500 home Internet providers finds sizable minority with caps.
JON BRODKIN - 8/7/2017, 12:07 PM
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/at-least-196-internet-providers-in-the-us-have-data-caps/
A company that tracks ISPs and data caps in the US has identified 196 home Internet providers that impose monthly caps on Internet users. Not all of them are enforced, but customers of many ISPs must pay overage fees when they use too much data.
BroadbandNow, a broadband provider search site that gets referral fees from some ISPs, has more than 2,500 home Internet providers in its database. This list includes telecommunications providers that are registered to provide service under the government's Lifeline program, which subsidizes access for poor people. BroadbandNow's team looked through the ISPs' websites to generate a list of those with data caps.
The data cap information was "pulled directly from ISP websites," BroadbandNow Director of Content Jameson Zimmer told Ars. "For those that have multiple caps, we include the lowest one and an asterisk to show that they have regional variation."
BroadbandNow, which is operated by a company called Microbrand Media, plans to keep tracking the data caps over time in order to examine trends, he said.
From 3GB to 3TB
(Then it gets interesting.)
... "Statements from Internet providers suggest that data caps are a necessary step to combat network congestion," BroadbandNow says. "Opponents of data caps believe that the motivation for data caps has more to do with recovering declining cable revenue or creating a roadblock for streaming services like Netflix. Whichever side you believe, the outcome is the same—data caps are becoming commonplace."
JON BRODKIN
Jon is Ars Technica's senior IT reporter, covering the FCC and broadband, telecommunications, wireless technology, and more.
This took less than a second to show up when I googled: "where did ISPs limit content?"
Data cap analysis found almost 200 ISPs imposing data limits in the US
Examination of 2,500 home Internet providers finds sizable minority with caps.
JON BRODKIN - 8/7/2017, 12:07 PM
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/at-least-196-internet-providers-in-the-us-have-data-caps/
A company that tracks ISPs and data caps in the US has identified 196 home Internet providers that impose monthly caps on Internet users. Not all of them are enforced, but customers of many ISPs must pay overage fees when they use too much data.
BroadbandNow, a broadband provider search site that gets referral fees from some ISPs, has more than 2,500 home Internet providers in its database. This list includes telecommunications providers that are registered to provide service under the government's Lifeline program, which subsidizes access for poor people. BroadbandNow's team looked through the ISPs' websites to generate a list of those with data caps.
The data cap information was "pulled directly from ISP websites," BroadbandNow Director of Content Jameson Zimmer told Ars. "For those that have multiple caps, we include the lowest one and an asterisk to show that they have regional variation."
BroadbandNow, which is operated by a company called Microbrand Media, plans to keep tracking the data caps over time in order to examine trends, he said.
From 3GB to 3TB
(Then it gets interesting.)
... "Statements from Internet providers suggest that data caps are a necessary step to combat network congestion," BroadbandNow says. "Opponents of data caps believe that the motivation for data caps has more to do with recovering declining cable revenue or creating a roadblock for streaming services like Netflix. Whichever side you believe, the outcome is the same—data caps are becoming commonplace."
JON BRODKIN
Jon is Ars Technica's senior IT reporter, covering the FCC and broadband, telecommunications, wireless technology, and more.
Data caps don't limit content, they restrict data over a particular period of time (usually a month) and the customer has to pay more after that. Limiting content means an ISP blocks an IP address from accessing another IP address for whatever reason. Data and content are two different things.
Data caps do - for all intents and purposes - overcharge, but there are pros and cons for their existence.
The biggest clue to this misconception is data caps have been fairly common for several years, including the net neutrality period.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_cap
Data caps don't limit content, they restrict data over a particular period of time (usually a month) and the customer has to pay more after that. Limiting content means an ISP blocks an IP address from accessing another IP address for whatever reason. Data and content are two different things.
Data caps do - for all intents and purposes - overcharge, but there are pros and cons for their existence.
The biggest clue to this misconception is data caps have been fairly common for several years, including the net neutrality period.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_cap
Sort of like Brodkin's article explained.
Your point is?
My point is there's more and scarier stuff going on here than Data Caps.
Here are four ways the internet will change if Pai gets his way on net neutrality:
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/331012-what-killing-net-neutrality-means-for-the-internet
1. More free data plans
Under the changes, mobile broadband providers would be able to let consumers access certain content without using up their data plans.
... (but) ...
If net neutrality goes out the window, so will the restrictions limiting those free data plans, making it easier for customers to access some content — but content their providers favor.
2. Internet fast lanes
Without the net neutrality rules, consumer groups and smaller internet companies fear broadband providers could offer faster internet speeds to companies that pay up and slow down those don't or can't pony up.
Known as paid prioritization, it’s the post-net neutrality scenario that most worries the rules' supporters. ...
3. More challenges for the little guy
Smaller internet service providers and internet startups could be in for a tough time.
Net neutrality critics say that without the neutrality rules, the playing field will favor established or dominant companies — such as Charter Communications, which acquired Time Warner Cable, or web giants like Google.
Only established companies will be able to compete in the new environment, they fear, with deep pockets to get into internet fast lanes and the money to cut deals for content to package in their data plans.
Eight hundred startups, innovators and investors sent a letter to Pai on Wednesday arguing that his proposal to roll back net neutrality could hurt their industry. ...
4. A new regulator for telecoms
Under Pai’s proposal, broadband companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon would no longer be regulated by the FCC.
The chairman wants to remove their designation as “common carriers," which allowed his agency to regulate them like public utilities.
Undoing that would cede authority over broadband providers back to the FTC.
But critics argue the FTC lacks the teeth to effectively regulate telecommunications companies in the way the FCC can. ...
The internet is a common carrier - treat it as such.
The internet as we know it is about to change drastically.
A net neutrality expert on how the FCC’s vote will change the internet as we know it.
By Eric Allen Been Updated Dec 14, 2017,
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/12/14/16776236/net-neutrality-made-internet-awesome-fcc-vote
Net neutrality — the standard that internet service providers, or ISPs, must treat all traffic equally — was repealed Thursday in a party-line vote by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington. FCC chair Ajit Pai, flanked by two Republican allies, has a majority on the commission.
Commercial ISPs like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon will be free to block content, throttle users’ internet use, and prioritize their own services at the expense of competitors’. It’s a wide-reaching and controversial issue that some have called one of the “biggest corporate giveaways in history."
As net neutrality proponents see it, these protections are essential to providing open and equal access to the internet. The plan by Pai, a former Verizon attorney, is a wide-ranging dismantling of not only the safeguards put in place by the Obama administration but ones that have been embedded in the World Wide Web since its invention in 1989. ...
It's breathtaking the speed with which the dismantling is happening. It's doesn't matter what the facts are; it doesn't matter where the truth lies; the morality, haha, people don't even remember what that means any more; the good of the nation certainly is of no concern to these people.
Railroading their agenda is all they care about no matter how much damage is inflicted. Who's there to stop them.
On yeah, We The People, if we wanted to.
Net neutrality fight is about to flare again
By MARGARET HARDING MCGILL 11/15/2017
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/15/net-neutrality-fight-is-about-to-flare-again-244912
The FCC, under Trump-appointed Chairman Ajit Pai, is readying a final order that will spell out how thoroughly it intends to roll back the 2015 net neutrality order, which requires internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast to treat all web traffic equally. The release could come as early as next week, teeing up a possible commission vote in December.
So far, Pai has said he wants to scrap the legal foundation that the FCC’s old Democratic majority adopted to tighten federal oversight of ISPs, a move he contends has deterred the industry from investing in broadband networks. But he could also opt to eliminate the FCC’s core net neutrality rules altogether — which would in theory allow ISPs to block or throttle some types of web traffic, or charge websites for "fast lanes" to consumers.
Some FCC watchers believe the commission is likely to go that route, wiping the slate clean and relying on another agency, the FTC, to police whether internet providers are acting in an anti-competitive manner.
Just a few years back Verizon banned abortion rights activists from sending text messages to its supporters. That freedom could once again be questioned. Verizon later reversed its decision, but that is the type of power these companies could have over us with the proposed changes to Title Two and Net Neutrality.
https://www.battleforthenet.com
Now, one of the most impactful things you can do to help save net neutrality before Dec. 14th is to make phone calls to Congress.
If offices get more phone calls from constituents, we can persuade them to stop the catastrophic plan to repeal net neutrality.
Please Call: 424-363-4877
We will connect you to the offices of your lawmakers.
You can use this script when talking to them -- just introduce yourself, be polite, and say:
"I support 'Title Two' net neutrality rules and I urge you to oppose the FCC's plan to repeal them.
Specifically, I'd like you to contact the FCC Chairman and demand he abandon his current plan."
Trump led republicans are about dismantling.
Republicans , conservatives, and empowered Christians are all seriously outside the world I live in.
True enough, unfortunately we've allowed them to take over the reigns of power, where do we go from here . . . . . . .
Have you given up voting?
Well, we're already paying for water, now it will be the air waves, soon it will be the air itself.
I think it's more a question of, what are we gonna do?
We can’t do much with Repunlicans in the majority in Congress and a Republican in the White House. Our hands are tied. As soon as net neutrality sets in watch your Internet speed slow down. Then the providers will magically sell you a deal for faster service which will cost a lot more than you’re paying now. Also watch for some websites being inaccessible unless you buy an extra access package.
Here are a few thoughts from US Representative Al Grayson,
Welcome to digital deceit, cyber-subterfuge: The end of net neutrality
How would you feel if the telephone company wouldn't let you call your mom?
Not your mother in law; your mom.
Or if the phone company made you pay extra to call your mom. Or told you that you couldn't call your mom unless she became a customer. Or said that if you called your mom, you'd have to call Aunt Millie, too. Or made the line buzz every time you called her.
That may be what it's going to be like on the internet, with net neutrality repealed.
The reason why phone companies can't do any of the things above is that they are "common carriers," and common carriers are not allowed to discriminate among callers (or "callees"). You can call anyone you want, and anyone can call you, period, as long as the caller pays for the call. That's the law.
"Net neutrality" applied that same rule to the internet. When net neutrality was in effect, you could browse any website, anywhere in the world, on the same terms. That was the law.
In 2014, the Obama administration's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) instituted net neutrality. (In 2010, I said that I favored a statute, or even a constitutional amendment, to protect net neutrality.)
Under net neutrality, your internet service providers (ISP) could charge you for delivering the internet to you, but it could not charge extra for Facebook or Youtube or any other content provider. Nor could it charge that content provider, nor could it block or slow any content provider.
The Trump administration's FCC repealed net neutrality last week. This will allow ISPs to discriminate among websites, by preventing you from accessing websites, or charging you (or the website) extra for whatever sites it wants, or slowing down your connection to certain sites.
Think of it this way:
Internet indoctrination
Digital deceit
Cyber-subterfuge
The World-Wide-Whitewash or
The Information Highway Giveaway
Well you're thinking, "if my ISP does that, I'll just choose a different ISP."
But you can't.
The cable TV companies have a chokehold on "fast internet" service (faster than 25 Mbps downloads) in the U.S. Satellite and phone internet, their competitors, are nowhere near as fast. And virtually all of us have only one cable tv provider. It's a legal monopoly.
To make matters worse, just two companies, Comcast and Charter, own around 70 percent of those cable TV lines. Even if that weren't true, though, only one of them would have your house wired, and that's what matters to you.
Google made $79 billion in advertising revenue last year. Comcast has 23 million internet subscribers. With net neutrality dead, this it would be child's play for Comcast to block Google, substitute its own Google-like service (called "Coogle"?), and steal all the advertising revenue. Same thing for Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Reddit, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Netflix, eBay, and the Huffington Post.
And once people "cut the cord," giving up cable or satellite TV in favor of the internet, then without net neutrality to protect you, your ISP will be able to determine what news you hear. Fox News could pay Comcast to be the only source of news on the internet for 23 million families. The new Fox News motto will be this "Fox News: if you don't like us, then turn off the internet."
Or MSNBC. You get the idea.
Think it couldn't happen? Well, last year, Comcast didn't like the deal it had to transmit Yankees games on its cable system, so it just took the Yankees off the air in New York and New Jersey. For a year.
In fact, net neutrality was instituted because a phony company tried to block an internet company from transmitting phone calls. So, of course they will try to do it again.
Now that the Trump administration has had it's way, Internet R.I.P.
Read the article here http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-ed-fcc-breaks-internet-20171218-story.html and if you'd like to see someone in Congress fighting to reenact Net Neutrality, donate to our campaign>>
Courage,
Alan Grayson
Grayson’s op-ed is completely stupid and will be successful in scaring people who don’t know how the internet works, but these examples of retardation warrant a response from me:
Think it couldn’t happen? Well, last year, Comcast didn’t like the deal it had to transmit Yankees games on its cable system, so it just took the Yankees off the air in New York and New Jersey. For a year.
OMG WOW COMCAST CABLE TEMPORARILY DROPPED A LOCAL SPORTS NETWORK OVER A CONTRACTUAL DISPUTE. This has nothing to do with the internet, nor is it illegal or unusual. New York Yankees have their own network and its owners were trying to milk more money out of comcast. Cable companies fighting with networks is nothing new.
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Comcast-YES-Dispute-Angers-Yankees-Fans-374547871.html
In fact, net neutrality was instituted because a phony company tried to block an internet company from transmitting phone calls. So, of course they will try to do it again.
This is referring to AT+T and Apple blocking skype (online video-phone) on Iphone 1 - which is capitalism in action. Of course net neutrality didn't exist in 2007-2009, and it would not have made a difference if it had in this case because net neutrality applied only to telecom - which Apple was not - so they were free to do what they wanted. If net neutrality was instituted to prevent ruthless competion between online companies it failed miserably.
https://www.wired.com/2009/10/iphone-att-skype/