"Restoring Internet Freedom"

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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby stillrobertpaulsen » Tue Nov 28, 2017 6:29 pm

7 Things to Know About Ajit Pai, the Man Trump Tasked With Killing Net Neutrality
Trump’s FCC commissioner is waging an under-the-radar attack on the World Wide Web.
By Jefferson Morley / AlterNet
November 27, 2017

Ajit Pai is chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates radio and television airwaves, cable TV, and internet. In other words, he has immense power.

President Trump appointed Pai to serve as chairman in January and Pai has quickly moved to advance the interests of big broadcasting companies and internet service providers at the expense of the public. Next month, the five-member FCC will vote on Pai’s proposal to roll back FCC rules limiting cable and internet service providers from charging more for their services.

Even Trump supporters should be appalled, says the reliably conservative Forbes magazine.

Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the protocols of the World Wide Web, is blunt: “The FCC under Ajit Pai has consistently chosen to sell out Americans for the profit of corporations."

So who is this guy?

1. He’s from Kansas.

To Tom Frank’s plaintive query, "What’s the matter with Kansas?" one can only respond, Ajit Pai is the matter with Kansas. He grew up in Parsons, a small town near the Oklahoma border, where his parents were doctors.

Like his fellow Kansas conservatives Kris Kobach and Sam Brownback, Pai is a bland and intelligent fanatic. Unlike Kobach, he does not seem to be animated by xenophobia, just an odd passion for doing the bidding of a handful of internet service providers.

2. He cultivates a humorous persona.

Pai likes to quote “The Big Lebowski” in his Twitter feed. He produces an oversize coffee mug at opportune moments in search of laughs.

John Oliver’s verdict on the wit of a self-regarding toady: not bloody funny.

3. Pai used to work for Verizon.

It was a short stint, according to Wikipedia:

Pai left his Department of Justice post in February 2001 to serve as Associate General Counsel at Verizon Communications Inc., where he handled competition matters, regulatory issues, and counseling of business units on broadband initiatives. Pai left Verizon in April 2003….

But the Verizon experience proved formative. Fifteen years later, Pai’s proposal to dismantle the FCC’s net neutrality rules is exactly what Verizon wants today: the right to charge you more for internet access.

4. Pai wants to take a 'weedwhacker' to net neutrality.

Sometimes, Pai couches his arguments in terms of “innovation” and “investment,” which are largely bogus. The telephone and cable companies are not going to stop investing in internet broadband technology under the current rules. They make good money off the present system. They just want to make more.

Other times, Pai speaks of taking a “weedwhacker” to internet regulations.

In this Personal Democracy Forum video, Timothy Wu explains why this is such a bad idea.

“Net neutrality,” of course, is a sleeping pill of a phrase. The subject is technical and can be boring. So it is worth hearing Wu explain key terms like “Title II” and “fast lanes,” without losing the big point. Net neutrality protects the internet we have today, “as an experiment in free speech."

Ajit Pai wants to end the experiment to help boost the quarterly profits of Verizon and Comcast.

5. All of the big tech companies oppose Pai on net neutrality.

Last July, the leading companies and websites that grew up with the internet—Google, Apple, Wikipedia, Reddit and the like—came together for a day of action to educate users about the danger of the FCC’s plans.

Cynthia Hogan, head of public policy for Apple in the United States, laid it all out in a letter sent to the FCC. "Providers of online goods and services need assurance that they will be able to reliably reach their customers without interference from the underlying broadband provider," she wrote.

6. The FCC received millions of public comments on net neutrality rules—and Pai ignored virtually all of them.

The FCC received 22 million comments on net neturality rules, of which 1.3 millionwere probably fake. If you remove the bot-generated comments, 95 to 98 percent of the real living commenters favored keeping the current rules that regulate ISPs like public utilities.

“We are so used to these systems being manipulated that people just think that’s how the internet works,” Berners-Lee recent told the Guardian. “We need to think about what it should be like....If they're not serving humanity, they can and should be changed."

“Gas is a utility, so is clean water, and connectivity should be too,” Berners-Lee continued. “It’s part of life and shouldn’t have an attitude about what you use it for—just like water.”

7. Pai has transformed net neutrality into a political cause.

The open internet nonprofit Fight for the Future is orchestrating nationwide protests ahead of the FCC's expected hearing to vote on removing the rules. Protests are already being planned for December 7 at Verizon locations in New York City, Denver, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Similar public protests will be coordinated in cities and towns across the country by grassroots volunteers using tech-friendly methods like email, texts and social media.

Last week, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) became the first congressional Republican to publicly break with the FCC chairman. “Senator Collins does not support the FCC‘s decision to abolish net neutrality,” a spokeswoman said.

Let Verizon know your opinion of its former employee and current flunky Ajit Pai, by attending a demonstration near you.
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby DrEvil » Tue Nov 28, 2017 6:51 pm

chump » Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:30 pm wrote:Now, we need digital receivers to get propaganda; but with the world wide web we can weave where we want - and weigh in on the world we wish to indwell. Are corporate pirates and politicians pushing to repeal net neutrality to manage the message and make more money?

<snip> Libertarian screeching <snip>



Short answer: yes. Long answer: hell yes!

The reason there's hardly any competition is that Comcast and friends have spent millions and millions on lobbying to shoot down municipal broadband, sharing of utility poles and anything else they can think of that might give them some competition.

If you try to start a municipal broadband company today the first thing that happens is that you get sued by Comcast who will then proceed to drag things out for as long as possible, and make it as expensive as possible to fight them.

20 states already have restrictions on municipal broadband, and the republicans are doing their best to expand that.
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby chump » Wed Nov 29, 2017 12:08 am

Before long, broadband will be built in our newborns' brainz.


https://youtu.be/eTsNIfBR-dc
(History of the Internet. Worth the watch for 45 minutes. Then, the same show repeats again. I don't know why)


Documentary Lab
Published on Nov 27, 2014
Documentary about the origins of the internet. The internet was created by the United States Department of Defense in 1969 as a means of secure communication...




SHOW NOTES AND MP3: https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=25096

In this follow up to Why Big Oil Conquered the World, James further explores the concept of technocracy. If “Data is the New Oil” then what does that tell us about the 21st century oligarchy and the world that they are creating? And, once we understand the technocratic prison they are creating, how do we escape it? Don’t miss this important episode of The Corbett Report podcast...
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby chump » Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:01 pm

Image

================================

Washington 2017
5 - 6 DECEMBER 2017
SUPPORTED BY VERIZON, WASHINGTON DC
Image

DIGITAL TRANSFORAMTOIN - HOW DO WE ENABLE AN OPEN, SAFE AND SECURE SPACE FOR FUTURE GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS?


As the first year of the new administration draws to a close, we will be back in Washington DC for our final TMF of 2017.

We will bring together leaders of technology and communications businesses and regulatory bodies to discuss the policy and regulatory roadmaps for the Americas and the rest of the world.

Discussion themes for this TMF will look at the sector through the prism of four key enablers…

KEY DISCUSSION THEMES

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DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY
Balancing the competing principles of freedom, security and transparency

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GLOBAL POLICY AND REGULATION
Evolving roles of inter-governmental agencies

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CONNECTIVITY
Closing the gap in rural and urban coverage

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Policy implications of the convergence of telecom and media platforms


Plus:

Digital trade - what is needed to support seamless global services?
Impact of recent and forthcoming legislation on the data-driven economy and IoT
Content futures, changing consumer demand patterns and their impact on business models, and internet culture versus copyright



confirmed speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

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Ajit Pai
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Brendan Carr
Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), USA

Terrell McSweeny
Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission, USA

Robert L Strayer
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, US Department of State

Thomas M Dailey
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Verizon International

Botlenyana Mokhele
Councillor, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA)

David J Redl
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

Grace Koh
Special Assistant to President for Technology, Telecoms and Cybersecurity, National Economic Council

Leonardo Euler de Morais
Commissioner, National Telecommunication Agency (ANATEL), Brazil

Rajan S Mathews
Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby chump » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:59 pm


https://boingboing.net/2017/12/06/wendy ... ckens.html
Cory Doctorow / 12:45 pm Wed
A guy tricked Tripadvisor into making his garden shed the top-rated restaurant in London
Image


Oobah Butler once had a job writing fake Tripadvisor restaurant reviews for £10/each, paid by restauranteurs; having learned how powerful these reviews were, he decided to turn his south London shed into the best-regarded restaurant in all of London.

He created a fake business for his shed, took soft-focus shots of "food" (really gaffs like sponges covered in paint with shaving cream garnish), then started gaming the Tripadvisor rankings. Soon, people started to call him asking him for reservations (he always told them he was fully booked).

This seeming exclusivity drove interest in "The Shed at Dulwich," sending him racing up the Tripadvisor league-table. He started to get resumes and free samples from companies eager to supply his highly regarded restaurant. PR agencies pitched him.

Once he reached number one, the reservations requests reached a fever pitch. Finally, he relented and opened his "restaurant" for one night, buying frozen TV dinners from the discount supermarket Iceland and serving them to excited diners. He led people to their tables wearing blindfolds and created a whole show around the service of these meals.

Some of them tried to come back for another dinner.

After seating them and disappearing to grab drinks, I hear a scream from the kitchen. Outside, a lady runs across the restaurant, squealing. Trevor – oh, good time to introduce Trevor, the man I hired the chickens from – is following her, clutching a chicken flapping its wings.

I snatch the chicken off Trevor and stuff it in the Wendy house. As things calm down, the woman's friends begin to laugh. "Why do you have chickens?" they ask. "It’s pick your chicken! We cook the one you like the look of." Their expressions sour. "But I thought you were a vegetarian restaurant? I found you as you’re the top-rated veggie restaurant in London."

My heart skips a beat – I hadn’t thought of this. "Top in all of London, you mean!" I smile. We’re fucked.

People seem to be enjoying the food, but I can’t stop thinking 'flapping chicken'. We need to make good with the table of four.

I Made My Shed the Top Rated Restaurant On TripAdvisor [Oobah Butler/Vice]



https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/434g ... ripadvisor

... Now, some soft focus images of those delicious dishes.
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Photo: Chris Bethell


You'd eat this, wouldn't you?
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Photo: Chris Bethell

...
This sponge covered in paint, with quenelles of shaving foam.
Image


You’re getting it: this isn't what it looks like.
Image


With the concept, logo (thank you, Tristan Cross) and menu nailed down, it all comes together.

I submit my TripAdvisor forms; the rest is up to God.

On the 5th of May, 2017, I wake up to an email...

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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby Karmamatterz » Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:46 am

Also, the majority of websites run on Apache server software that's open source and free. Pretty much every supercomputer in existence runs on open source and free software. Android, the largest mobile OS is open source and free. Linux is open source and free. This forum runs off an open source and free forum solution (phpBB).

There's actually tons of free lunches out there. :)


Yes, you're correct about the proliferation of open source on super computers. While some of the code may be "free" the support isn't. There is a trade off users have to make with open source. For individual users it may not be a big deal if you're tech savvy, but for businesses and large organizations using open source like Apache you have to invest in people who know how to manage an Apache server. Apache is not plug and play, been there and done that. The amount of time learning and digging around for information has to be balanced against the overall time that could be spent doing other things. Time is money for most businesses.

As open source became more widely adopted a slew of managed service providers grew like wildfire. The trade off is that instead of paying companies like Sun or Microsoft for licensing their server OS you're paying a managed service company who can do that heavy lifting for you. I've worked with a number of companies who tried open source only to have that one guy who knew it all up and leave for a different job. The result is a menagerie of spaghetti that nobody can figure out and no one person to call for help. While I'm not a fan of Microsoft, there is something to be said for phone support when your server goes down. Spending time trolling through free online forums trying to find answers and waiting for replies isn't a good solution when you're losing money, customers etc...if your servers are down.

Your average small non-profit reaps the benefit of open source having their website hosted on an Apache server using cheap and free stuff like Wordpress for their CMS. But most of those non-profits, and a ton of small mom and pop businesses, simply cannot manage their tech services. The result is companies like Godaddy and Hosting.com take care of that for them. Sure open source is "free," but it comes with a cost. Just look at how RI is locked into PhpBB. I've setup and used this bb software where I worked years ago. It's like training wheels and easy to get started with. In the long haul though you need someone to manage it and handle all the updates, otherwise you are locked into the same crappy version developed 12 years ago.

The idea of your "free lunch" doesn't mean it is free or at no cost to someone else. A person(s) invested their time into developing it. Time being valuable, those using free stuff are riding on the backs of those who produce.

The story about the guy spoofing Tripadvisor is hilarious! Thanks for sharing that.
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby chump » Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:55 pm


https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201 ... ed-repeal/

Comcast deleted net neutrality pledge the same day FCC announced repeal
Three-year-old "no paid prioritization" pledge was suddenly removed.

Jon Brodkin - 11/29/2017, 11:01 AM
We wrote earlier this week about how Comcast has changed its promises to uphold net neutrality by pulling back from previous statements that it won't charge websites or other online applications for fast lanes.

Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice has been claiming that we got the story wrong. But a further examination of how Comcast's net neutrality promises have changed over time reveals another interesting tidbit—Comcast deleted a "no paid prioritization" pledge from its net neutrality webpage on the very same day that the Federal Communications Commission announced its initial plan to repeal net neutrality rules.

Starting in 2014, the webpage, corporate.comcast.com/openinternet/open-net-neutrality, contained this statement: "Comcast doesn't prioritize Internet traffic or create paid fast lanes."

That statement remained on the page until April 26 of this year, according to page captures from the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine.

But on April 27, the paid prioritization pledge was nowhere to be found on that page and remains absent now.

What changed? It was on April 26 that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced the first version of his plan to eliminate net neutrality rules. Since then, Pai has finalized his repeal plan, and the FCC will vote to drop the rules on December 14.

Here's what Comcast's net neutrality promise looked like as late as April 26:
Image
Comcast's net neutrality promise from 2014 until April 26, 2017.

And here is what it has looked like since then:

Image
Comcast's net neutrality promise since April 27, 2017...
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby DrEvil » Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:52 pm

Karmamatterz » Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:46 pm wrote:
Also, the majority of websites run on Apache server software that's open source and free. Pretty much every supercomputer in existence runs on open source and free software. Android, the largest mobile OS is open source and free. Linux is open source and free. This forum runs off an open source and free forum solution (phpBB).

There's actually tons of free lunches out there. :)


Yes, you're correct about the proliferation of open source on super computers. While some of the code may be "free" the support isn't. There is a trade off users have to make with open source. For individual users it may not be a big deal if you're tech savvy, but for businesses and large organizations using open source like Apache you have to invest in people who know how to manage an Apache server. Apache is not plug and play, been there and done that. The amount of time learning and digging around for information has to be balanced against the overall time that could be spent doing other things. Time is money for most businesses.

As open source became more widely adopted a slew of managed service providers grew like wildfire. The trade off is that instead of paying companies like Sun or Microsoft for licensing their server OS you're paying a managed service company who can do that heavy lifting for you. I've worked with a number of companies who tried open source only to have that one guy who knew it all up and leave for a different job. The result is a menagerie of spaghetti that nobody can figure out and no one person to call for help. While I'm not a fan of Microsoft, there is something to be said for phone support when your server goes down. Spending time trolling through free online forums trying to find answers and waiting for replies isn't a good solution when you're losing money, customers etc...if your servers are down.

Your average small non-profit reaps the benefit of open source having their website hosted on an Apache server using cheap and free stuff like Wordpress for their CMS. But most of those non-profits, and a ton of small mom and pop businesses, simply cannot manage their tech services. The result is companies like Godaddy and Hosting.com take care of that for them. Sure open source is "free," but it comes with a cost. Just look at how RI is locked into PhpBB. I've setup and used this bb software where I worked years ago. It's like training wheels and easy to get started with. In the long haul though you need someone to manage it and handle all the updates, otherwise you are locked into the same crappy version developed 12 years ago.

The idea of your "free lunch" doesn't mean it is free or at no cost to someone else. A person(s) invested their time into developing it. Time being valuable, those using free stuff are riding on the backs of those who produce.

The story about the guy spoofing Tripadvisor is hilarious! Thanks for sharing that.


I agree with all of that, I just don't agree with your earlier sentiment that opposing data caps was somehow asking for a free lunch. I just think caps on fixed lines is an abomination that should be exiled to the basement of hell (along with Ajit Pai). It's pure greed. Most other countries manage just fine without. The only reason they get away with it is because in most places they have a virtual monopoly and the FCC is bought, to be paid with cushy jobs and consulting fees in the future, and they're abusing the hell out of it.

It doesn't help that the large ISPs got billions in tax payer money to build out their infrastructure and then didn't (at least not anything close to what they promised), instead turning around and suing the government to weasel out of their obligations.

A more general observation: in my opinion one of the reasons the US and so many other places are fucked today is because of the mantra "it's just business". It's a bullshit excuse to behave like a complete dick. This idea that it's OK, even praiseworthy, to screw over your fellow man as long as it's technically legal is a fucking abomination, and Comcast and friends are milking it for what it's worth.
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby chump » Wed Dec 13, 2017 5:05 pm

Image


http://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/12/mi ... lity-vote/

Colorado’s Mike Coffman is first Republican U.S. Rep. to ask FCC to delay vote on net neutrality
Aurora Republican cites “unanticipated negative consequences” and wants Congress to takeover

By Tamara Chuang | tchuang@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: December 12, 2017 at 6:23 pm | UPDATED: December 12, 2017 at 8:58 pm

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman on Tuesday became the first Republican to urge regulators to delay a vote on net neutrality, which would repeal open internet rules adopted two years ago.

In a letter to Ajit V. Pai, the Federal Communications Commission chairman who proposed the rollback, Coffman said that altering the rules “may well have significant unanticipated negative consequences.” He asked Pai to let Congress hold hearings on the issue and pass open internet laws.

“As you stated in your dissent to the previous FCC’s open Internet proceeding, ‘A dispute this fundamental is not for us, five unelected individuals, to decide. Instead it should be resolved by the people’s elected representatives, those who choose the direction of government — and those whom the American people can hold accountable for that choice,’ ” the Aurora Republican wrote.

In his letter, Coffman did not come out for or against net neutrality. Fellow Colorado U.S. Reps Diana DeGette, Jared Polis and Ed Perlmutter — all Democrats — oppose rolling back the rules. Republican Ken Buck of Windsor supports Pai.

“I support Chairman Pai’s efforts to free internet providers from burdensome regulations that stifle innovation and increase costs for Coloradans,” Buck said in an email.

Other Republicans, including Utah Congressman John Curtis and Sen. Susan Collins from Maine, have expressed concerns but have not asked to delay the vote.

Pai, who became FCC chairman in October and proposed his alternative last month, wants a return to pre-2015, when “the FCC treated high-speed Internet access as a lightly regulated ‘information service’ ” instead of a “heavily regulated ‘telecommunications service,’ ” he wrote.

But net neutrality advocates say a reversal could result in abuse by companies that provide internet service. Internet service providers, or ISPs, would no longer be forced to treat all data the same, which could lead to charging fees to content companies or letting a company such as Comcast prioritize how fast it streams its own TV shows over those from Netflix.

“Removing net neutrality makes it possible for ISPs to charge websites to load for readers and subscribers. They can tell Yelp, ‘You need to pay this a month,’ ” because of Yelp’s bandwidth use, said Ryan Singel, a former Wired writer who covered the topic and is now a fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. “It also lets ISPs create fast lanes and slow lanes. Speed matters (for startups). If you have to pay to keep up with Facebook, Google or whatever the incumbent competition is, startups can’t pay for that. But if you’re not fast, you can’t meet your customers’ needs.”

Jay Sudowski, co-founder of data center Handy Networks in Denver, said that without net neutrality, small businesses such as his are terrified about what could happen if a competitor merged with an ISP.

“The implications would be huge and not good if ISPs were allowed to preference traffic to their own cloud services, leaving independent data center operators like ourselves stuck in the digital slow lane,” Sudowski said in an email.

Daniel C. Bucheli, Coffman’s Deputy Chief of Staff/Communications Director, said Coffman wrote the letter after speaking to concerned constituents. He doesn’t know whether it will delay the FCC vote, expected Thursday.

“But he felt it essential that we keep an open internet,” Bucheli said. “Congress should be allowed to weigh in on this. He’d like the public to be able to comment.”


==============================



http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-n ... story.html
Net neutrality's repeal means fast lanes could be coming to the internet. Is that a good thing?
Jim Puzzanghera

With federal regulators poised to repeal net neutrality rules this week, your internet service provider would be allowed to speed up delivery of some online content to your home or phone.

Whether those fast lanes are coming, and what they ultimately deliver for Americans, is unclear.

The concept, known as paid prioritization, involves a telecommunications company charging an additional fee to transport a video stream or other content at a higher speed through its network.

The fee would most likely come from deals struck with websites such as Netflix willing to pay for a competitive advantage over an online rival. Or the fee could be charged to a company providing services that require reliably fast connections, such as self-driving vehicles or remote health monitoring of people with serious illnesses.

But it’s possible consumers could be charged extra if, for example, they want to be able to stream the games of their favorite sports teams without worrying about balky video caused by network congestion.

Supporters of fast lanes say they would encourage the development of innovative new services, as well as investments in expanding and improving wireless and fiber networks that would increase internet access and overall data speeds.

“By ending the outright ban on paid prioritization, we hope to make it easier for consumers to benefit from services that need prioritization — such as latency-sensitive telemedicine,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who is leading the push to repeal the net neutrality rules, said in a recent speech.

But opponents warned that what they call toll lanes would alter the open nature of the internet, squeezing out start-ups and small companies that lack the money to pay for faster content delivery.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who voted for the rules and their utility-like oversight in 2015, said in a Times opinion column last month that “your broadband provider could carve internet access into fast and slow lanes, favoring the traffic of online platforms that have made special payments and consigning all others to a bumpy road.”
A brief, strange history of net neutrality (including a 'series of tubes,' a dingo and James Harden)

The desire by telecommunications companies to have the ability to offer paid prioritization appears to be a key driver behind the effort by telecommunications companies and Republicans to repeal the Obama-era online traffic rules.

"I don’t think anybody who has followed this debate closely for the last decade has ever believed they didn’t want to do paid prioritization,”said Gigi Sohn, who served as senior advisor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “That was always the thing that was driving this debate.”

The regulations, pushed by Wheeler and approved on a party-line vote by the then-Democratic FCC majority, banned cable companies and other broadband providers from selling faster delivery of certain data, slowing speeds for specific video streams and other content, and blocking or otherwise discriminating against any legal online material.

To enforce the rules, the FCC classified broadband as a more highly regulated utility-like service under Title 2 of federal telecommunications law.

The repeal of the rules includes a provision simply requiring companies to disclose any such practices. Any anti-competitive abuses would be policed by the Federal Trade Commission.

After President Trump’s election, the FCC has a 3-2 Republican majority. Trump tapped Pai to take over as the agency’s chairman and his proposal is expected to be approved on a party-line vote Thursday.

Although internet service providers said they have no plans to offer paid prioritization, some have been laying the groundwork for it in recent months.

Broadband for America, a coalition of telecommunications industry groups and companies such as AT&T Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post that made commitments to customers to practices it said would preserve an “open internet.”

Those included “no blocking of legal content,” “not throttling” data speeds and “no unfair discrimination” — but did not mention paid prioritization.

From 2014 until this spring, Comcast had a net neutrality web page that included among the company’s commitments that “Comcast doesn’t prioritize internet traffic or create paid fast lanes.”

That specific promise disappeared on April 26, according to snapshots of the page stored on the Internet Archive. That was the same day Pai unveiled his plan to repeal net neutrality rules.

"With regards to paid prioritization, any reports that we are preparing to offer paid prioritization are false and inaccurate,” Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said this week.
I'm on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality

But in the company’s official comments on net neutrality filed with the FCC this summer, Comcast said the agency “should bear in mind that a more flexible approach to prioritization may be warranted and may be beneficial to the public.”

Theodore Bolema, a senior fellow at the Free State Foundation, a free-market think tank, said that paid prioritization practices have benefited consumers in other markets. He cited optional highway toll lanes for motorists that generate more revenue for road construction and first-class airline seats that help offset costs for coach fliers...

(con'd at link above)
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby DrEvil » Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:00 pm

“By ending the outright ban on paid prioritization, we hope to make it easier for consumers to benefit from services that need prioritization — such as latency-sensitive telemedicine,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who is leading the push to repeal the net neutrality rules, said in a recent speech.


And as usual Ajit Pai is a lying sack of shit. There already are exceptions for things like telemedicine. But this is actually pretty great. Pai is just feeding ammo to all the lawsuits lining up to challenge the repeal.

Another lie he keeps repeating is that net neutrality has hurt investment in infrastructure. This is also great, since all the major ISPs have told investors that it hasn't affected their investments. He's actually making up shit that even his paymasters are denying. And then you have his refusal to hand over evidence to the New York AG's investigation of identity theft, his dubious claims of a DDOS attack on the FCC servers and the hoopla around the public comments.
The lawsuits are going to be awesome.
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby 82_28 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:05 pm

There's this in Washington state:

A New Bill Could Help Protect the Open Internet in Washington State Even If Net Neutrality Gets Repealed

In the face of net neutrality’s imminent doom tomorrow, Washingtonians can at least feel good about our state’s efforts to preserve it. Last week Governor Inslee sent a strongly-worded letter to the FCC about how the repeal would strangle innovation and damage tech jobs here. And now, one state legislator wants to make sure that, at least here in Washington, the open internet remains open.

“Literally no one other than the giant cable companies think that it's a good idea to let the giant cable companies dictate the speed and price of the content you view on the internet,” says Representative Drew Hansen (D-Bainbridge Island), who is introducing HB 2282, a bill designed to protect consumers in the state from said giant cable companies.

And what Hansen says is pretty much true—a recent poll from the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation found that 83 percent percent favored keeping net neutrality laws in place.

“We believe in a free and open internet, a wide-open platform for ideas and debate, and commerce, and letting the giant cable companies throttle that because of their basic effective monopoly on broadband service in many areas just seems like a bad idea.” Hansen continued.

“A terrible, terrible, stupid idea,” he added, one more time, just to make sure we all got the point.

The bill would make sure that even if the FCC decides to repeal net neutrality rules at the federal level, they can remain in place in Washington under the state's Consumer Protection Authority. It would force broadband providers to publicly disclose accurate information about the price and speed of their internet services, and stop these companies from being able to block content online. They wouldn’t be able to engage in paid prioritization—creating internet “fast” and “slow” lanes for consumers who would have to pay more to access the internet.

Even though net neutrality can be repealed by the FCC, Hansen says states “have historically had very broad consumer protection authority.” And even though the FCC plans to try and squash states from making their own net neutrality rules, Hansen believes the FCC doesn’t have the authority to stop them without Congressional approval. But first, the bill needs to pass—which now seems likelier than ever.

This past April, in response to Trump’s law letting internet providers sell your information to the highest bidder, Hansen introduced a bill protecting consumers’ online privacy.

Hansen says the bill was passed in the House “with gigantic bipartisan support,” but was “bottled up” by Senate Republicans and didn’t make it to the floor.

(“Spoiler alert: that bill is coming back next year, Lord willing,” says Hansen.)

But now that there’s a Democratic majority in both Washington state's House and Senate, the chances of Hansen’s net neutrality bill getting passed are good.

“Perhaps everyone will see reason and vote in favor of consumer advocates and the many, many disadvantaged groups who will be harmed by the removal of net neutrality, from average consumers to companies like Amazon and Facebook that depend on free access to the Internet,” Hansen says.

But he knows there’s one group who probably won’t be on board: “You can guess that Verizon, for example, is not going to like it.”


https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/1 ... s-repealed
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Dec 13, 2017 9:57 pm

Ted Lieu‏Verified account
@tedlieu
1h1 hour ago
If @FCC and @AjitPaiFCC do not delay their vote on #netneutrality despite this letter from 18 Attorneys General, then Congress needs to hold hearings now (or after Dems take back the House) on whether #FCC & Chairman Pai were complicit with fraud.

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REP LIEU OPPOSES FCC FORCING NET NEUTRALITY VOTE TOMORROW
December 13, 2017 Press Release
WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) issued the following statement ahead of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s scheduled net neutrality vote tomorrow.

“I fully support net neutrality. It is unacceptable the FCC is forging ahead with a vote to repeal net neutrality rules despite a public comment period tainted by millions of fake submissions, some of which were linked to Russian email addresses. These are crimes and a direct attack on the integrity of our democratic process. Chairman Pai’s apparent unwillingness to help the New York Attorney General investigate these crimes is telling and unacceptable. Why is Chairman Pai rushing this vote despite known criminal behavior? The Chairman must delay this vote until the criminal investigation is completed; otherwise he sends the message that he is complicit in the criminality. I oppose the FCC’s vote tomorrow and urge them to delay their decision until we can restore integrity and confidence to the FCC.”
https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/pre ... e-tomorrow
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby Karmamatterz » Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:15 am

There is nothing wrong with competition or making money. Competition is better then bureaucratic layers of socialist management. I'll take capitalism, or what's left of it, any day over government managing things thy are clueless about. So people make money off business. That is the idea about going into business, is to make money. If not then you're running a non-profit.

I could give a crap about what's his names comments or what any government official has to say about most things. The government is full of lying fucks. Less bureaucracy is better than more. Less is best.
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby mentalgongfu2 » Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:34 am

Competition, and what passes for capitalism these days, are two very different things.

I'll take layers of bureaucratic socialist management over robber barons any day. Neither is good, but at least socialism retains an ideal of what's good for the people over what's good for the balance sheet, despite it's many failings. Fuck the Pinkertons.

*edit
The idea that destroying net neutrality has anything to do with expanding competition to begin with is pure bullshit, anyhow. Private industry is no less full of lying fucks than government. Karma, I can't tell if you are naive on this point or just trolling.
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Re: "Restoring Internet Freedom"

Postby DrEvil » Thu Dec 14, 2017 4:58 am

Karmamatterz » Thu Dec 14, 2017 8:15 am wrote:There is nothing wrong with competition or making money. Competition is better then bureaucratic layers of socialist management. I'll take capitalism, or what's left of it, any day over government managing things thy are clueless about. So people make money off business. That is the idea about going into business, is to make money. If not then you're running a non-profit.

I could give a crap about what's his names comments or what any government official has to say about most things. The government is full of lying fucks. Less bureaucracy is better than more. Less is best.


It's not about what John Doe thinks about net neutrality, it's about someone stealing John Doe's identity and making false comments with it. And it's not about competition. There is none. A good chunk of the US can choose between Comcast or nothing.

I happen to live in a country with one of the largest bureaucracies (per capita) in the world, but we have a well-functioning bureaucracy underpinned by (mostly) pragmatic policies. The state owns about 30% of the publicly traded shares and throws special taxes ans subsidies around like there's no tomorrow. And guess what? It works really well.

I can sit here and blather on because of the government's heavy hand in regulating ISPs. I live in a small community with less than a thousand people surrounded by mountains and water, but just off the top of my head I can choose from at least three different ISPs (one municipal), at least two of which offer gigabit fiber, plus more mobile carriers than I can shake a stick at (with full 4G coverage). And that's all because of government regulations.

As soon as you start exposing critical services to the "free" market, things go to shit. I've been watching it happen here since we started opening things up in the eighties. It goes from providing the best service possible with the money available to squeezing the most profit possible out of the money available.

The two things the neoliberals have achieved here over the last few decades is to give us more useless stuff to buy and eroding the mutual trust that makes our society function.

You yourself just demonstrated why the US is so fucked up: no one trusts anyone any more. Government is full of liars. Liberalism is a mental disorder. Conservatives are fascists. Everyone is sitting in their castles armed to the teeth, fully expecting everyone else to screw them over at the first opportunity.
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