Plan to keep Internet free of interference from ISPs draws opposition from GOP, service providers
Six Republican senators have introduced an amendment that would block the Federal Communications Commission from implementing its recently announced Net neutrality policy.
Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced the amendment to an appropriations bill. It would prevent the FCC from getting funding for any initiative to uphold Net neutrality. According to The Hill, the co-sponsors are Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA).
The move appears to be an attempt to pre-empt the FCC's expected new policy to ensure that Internet service providers don't discriminate between different types of information on their networks.
On Monday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a speech in which he outlined the FCC's plan to enforce Net neutrality, a position President Barack Obama held during his campaign for president.
In recent years, concern has grown that some Internet service providers are slowing down "access to high speed Internet for things like Internet-based voice calls, video streaming, and legal file sharing (that carriers might wish to block or at least charge extra for)," writes Ian Paul at PCWorld magazine.
While Net neutrality is supported by Internet-reliant companies such as Google and Microsoft, it is opposed by major Internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. Those three have come out against Genachowski's plan, ChannelWeb reports.
The part of Genachowski's plan that ISPs are most opposed to, according to PCWorld's Paul, is that it would apply to mobile carriers as well -- cellphones, Blackberries and the like. Bandwidth for wireless is not infinite, and some carriers have argued that they need to shape some traffic on their networks in order to make sure there is space available for everyone.
But, as the experience of other countries has shown, that is not necessarily the way "traffic shaping" is used. In Canada, throttling some types of traffic on the Internet -- not on wireless -- has become commonplace. It is used to slow down peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
"Broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications," Genachowski said in his speech. "Nor can they disfavor an Internet service just because it competes with a similar service offered by that broadband provider. The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed."
“I am deeply concerned by the direction the FCC appears to be heading,” Sen. Hutchison said in a statement. “Even during a severe downturn, America has experienced robust investment and innovation in network performance and online content and applications. For that innovation to continue, we must tread lightly when it comes to new regulations."
A Net neutrality bill is expected to be introduced in the House of Representatives this fall.
-- Daniel Tencer
Rich Republicans certainly do like company, don't they?
yes Kay, tread lightly - don't put any regulations in place that would change the FCC's direction
"For that innovation to continue, we must tread lightly when it comes to new regulations."
Yes, and fortunately this new regulation is quite effective in ensuring that services are not tiered to favor corporations. Of course AT&T is worried - instead of blocking important legislation, why don't they do what companies are supposed to do in a free-market society - innovate and stay competitive.
Fuck the GOP
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Adriana DeLeo and Paolo Fiora. Paolo Fiora said: GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality: Plan to keep Internet free of interference from ISPs draws .. http://bit.ly/1yZ0pp #altnews [...]
The internet doesn't belong to right wing freaks. Instead, the internet is a weapon which Liberal Patriots can employ to battle them. We must keep the internet a plutocracy-free zone. It's our only chance of taking them down for the count.
So, let's be clear about what's going on in America. The Republican party wants to let companies extricate every penny from people in any ways they can, but they don't want any "tax dollars" going to "pooling of resources" for things that benefit the public in general.. right?
So, if you spend all your money trying to live your life and it goes to the top 1%, the right-wing says that's good. But if you spend all your money trying to live your life and some of that goes to helping 100% of the population live better lives, that's bad..
They keep twisting the argument into something else, though.. they lie and distort and distract to do "their job", which is pay back those that bought them office.. with interest.
Kay Bailey is true to form. She used to cheer the football boys on. She is now a full time cheerleader for the elitists and the mega corporate pigs.
As for ATT. My phone is not working. I called ATT. The told me it would be 8 fucking days until they could get around to taking a look at it. This is because I live in a mixed lower income area. If I were in Highland Park, they wouldn't have to wait 8 minutes.
Fuck ATT! Fuck Kay Bailey Hunchherson!
This corporatocracy is becoming intolerable. I am close to the end of my peaceful rope.
The GOP is always siding with corporate America - and the Lobbyists that pay them huge campaign contributions guarantee they will always side with corporate America, not the people.
It's time to start referring to them as criminals, because that's what they are whom receive campaign contributions from special interest groups and then propose legislation that favors those who have showered the most money on them. We need to return to the 1800's where tar and feathers is the attire for those who are corrupt and need to be rode out of Washington on a rail... The "Good Ol' Days" certainly have their place in politics, and in that regard, I wish we could return to an era where the thieves that permeate Congress would have to face the wrath of the people for their crimes against their constituencies.
I should add that there's a couple on the Gang of Six that are deserving of the same treatment, and Max Baucus is one of the thieves I'm referring to. That's right Baucus - I'm calling you a damn crook, and I dare you to call me on it! What did you receive from the health care industry for writing that crap you call health care legislation - Oh Yeah, it was $141,000.00 so far this year (And the Bill was written by an Ex VP from the Health Care Industry), and Chuck Grassley received $223,600.00, almost a quarter of a million dollars. If that isn't a bribe, I'll kiss both of their asses and give them two hours to draw a crowd! Damn crooks! Both of them need to be on the Chain-Gang of six, not inhabit the hall of Congress knowing they have both been bought and sold. F**K both of you assholes!
“Even during a severe downturn, America has experienced robust investment and innovation in network performance ...."
USA, USA, USA!!!!
Oh, wait, the US is 28th worldwide in broadband speed. Apparently the innovations haven't been coming as fast as Kay Baily H has convinced herself.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tc-biz-tech-broadband-0825-0aug30,0,2465151.story
This is what I hate about many Republicans, they think telling ourselves how great we are is more important than actually looking at things honestly and then doing something to improve things. This kind of thinking will lead any company, corporation, country, whatever down the toilet eventually.
as a registered republican its crap like this that cause me to vote democrat the last few years.. they've gone batsh*t crazy...
the 21st century republican party platform -
you the people have no right to ask the government to do anything and we'll take away everything, please donate, thank you.
Another GOP 'WAR' ?
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Of course the GOPers want to allow their benefactors to restrict the internet - it's the only truly democratic source of information left to an increasingly under-informed, over-spun populace. With over 70% of our major media sources owned by only five or six corporations, control of the "tubes" would be the final piece of the corporocratic puzzle.
What then? Back to the days of shortwave?
Push back hard, America.
Real hard.
The sponsors of this bill make a nice short list of people who need voted out of office. They just don't get the "by the people, for the people" idea.
in the words of ex-president bush "what's with these republicans?" First they cry about big government and too many regulations, but now when the can benefit from a regulation they are all for some new regs. Screw they, they are the minority. The dems need to grow a spine and tell them to sit down and shut up, we are the majority now, get used to it and quit your whining.
But aren't Corporations 'people' too?
crazypete, you didn't vote Democrat, you voted Democratic.
Please is there a place on Earth for these rethug-licans can live in caves with
osama and all other bigots and hatemongers! You can't leave these people
with sharp objects they will hurt someone or something!
Mass suicide of rethug-licans would be "honorable" but we would still have
to deal with the bodies too much work! I know is the Queen Mary still sea
worthy? A very large ship for elbow room for them to jump into the Ocean for shark food! Yeah the sharks would spit them back out but we wouldn't have to
deal the bodies!
When A-merry-ca loses it's mind again (reagan/bush 41/bush 43) we all hope
the other Nations in the World that supports it's People & Neighbors look out
because here we come!
This one is starting to go back to it's roots of (3/5 of a vote aka Black men)
women & native Americans have no say! Pitiful
Land of the Corporations n Home of the Cowards! Welcome to A-merry-ca!
So...the republican party, especially the southern branch, is now taking it's queue's from the old Pravda?? Can't possibly let the biggest pipeline of info go un-republicanized...HOW STUPID ARE THESE SIX BUFFOONS???
This is serious. The transnational CORPORATIONS already own the rest of the media.
These Republican's want to put ROADBLOCKS on the internet! Only their crappy
Corporations will "load" quickly, etc.
funny, AT&T is based in Dallas. Who is paying for your campaign Kay?
This is the stuff that pisses us off. Don't forget we paid to have this infrastructure put in. Now that it is paid off they want us to pay for it again by charging ridiculous rates to the people and businesses that paid through increased fees to put this in..I am sure not a democrat but shit like this and stem cell bs sure makes you wonder who is running this stupid party.
surprise factor = 0. Pubs won't give up a chance to screw up any good ideas obama has just because obama isn't a repub.
can't wait for repub party to crash soon
Let's get this straight... 6 -- S I X -- republicans sign on and suddenly the entire GOP is blamed... failure of the article? or failure of the reader?
Either way, Kay Bailey Hutchison is trying to run for Gov of Texas so she's trying to make a name for herself with this, which is ironic considering how strong the support is in Texas for Net Neutrality.
"First they cry about big government and too many regulations, but now when the can benefit from a regulation they are all for some new regs."
I'm sorry, but is there some kind of oxygen deprivation that you undergo when you're part of the left-wing?
Conservatives (not to be confused "Republicans" as the two are not interchangeable (re Bush, who apparently didn't grasp the idea of "smaller government")) do, indeed, believe in smaller government; however, that does not mean "hey, let's end regulation!" but it does mean "let's remove needless or counter-productive regulation." Government may be evil but in places it is a necessary one; however, I'm not convinced that the proposed legislation is good or bad.
I've supported -- and continue to support -- Net Neutrality for broad-band access (i.e., that which you get in your house, in coffee-shops, WAPs, etc), however there is a valid argument for low-aperture ends of the spectra such as 3G/4G. The question is, how narrowly construed is the legislation AND how can the carriers MISconstrue it to their advantage.
Try thinking a bit before you let your heads explode -- I know it's hard to think with your brain shoved all the way left but, trust me, it doesn't hurt.
"Please is there a place on Earth for these rethug-licans can live in caves with
osama and all other bigots and hatemongers! You can't leave these people
with sharp objects they will hurt someone or something"
Hey, didn't you hear Pelosi cry about that kind of talk?
Wow. Look at the outrage.
It's really simple. This is the first entry into federal regulation of the internet. If you support it, there is no going back. Possibly at some time in the future, the FCC will regulate out "hate speech", and maybe they'll even throw down in favor of the copyright holders. Look who Obama put in the DOJ, and look at their glowing praise of the stupidly large "damages" verdicts coming from the 2 major trials this year.
It's amazing how people are jumping on the bandwagon for this. I hate AT&T, Comcast can piss up a rope, verizon blows goats, whatever. They're all bad corporations. But anyone who thinks the government will regulate open internet and then leave it alone is misguided and wrong.
This is how it starts. At least most people have a choice of ISPs currently. Why not wait and see how things go? Do you really think AT&T is going to shut off portions of the internet to their customers and let them walk? I switched to DSL when Comcast throttled my traffic. Not the same service, I know, but I won't pay a provider that operates in that manner. They got a stern talking to from the FCC, and that worked. Why should we open it up to the government now? The current system is working. We don't need more regulation.
If ISPs become true utilities, and I can't escape filtering from my ISP to get to google without paying a price or movie streaming without subscribing to a higher tier of service, then great, let's look around and see what can be done. You can always regulate more later, but its damn near impossible to go the other way.
"The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed."
Sounds like the Republican "let the people decide" mantra, and you'd think they'd embrace this free market approach but, oh wait - it inconveniences their corporate overlords. I hope the rest of those cretins get voted out of the legislature in 2010.
Why does everyone always seem to get their panties in a knot and start screaming about one party or another. All politicians suck and anyone who thinks that "their guy" is the only good one needs to really take stock of what is going on at every level.
From their first day in office they only care about their next term............and how much they can fleece all of the sheeple.
I consider myself to be fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and politically independent. Net neutrality is important to me as a small business owner but so is health care, help for our vets, and many other varied causes.
I can't see any reason to rant on and on about any particular politician. It serves no purpose.
Instead...........get rid of all incumbent politicians...............doesn't matter what local or national election.........get them out. Only when they realize they are accountable to the people paying their salaries will they stop treating us like the lemmings so many have become.
You people just don't get it! It's not about Republicans and it's not about Democrats.
This is about a completely corrupt system that both parties are responsible for. When you waste your time playing US versus THEM, the corrupt politicians win.
Don't ever trust any main stream (really fringe) media. Gather your knowledge from all sources and think for yourself!
Washington needs an enema, and anyone who thinks THEIR legislator isn't part of the problem is deluded. The current batch of legislative and executive sociopaths want you to fall for the old "watch this hand, so you can't see what the other hand is doing" bullshit.
Stop being lemmings. Start being leaders.
"Innovation" to continue huh? Sen. Hutchison, Is that critterspeak for "Continue to abuse"?
While I can't stand politicians, bandwidth is a limited resource (far more limited than wireless - most countries ahead of the US employ wireless), and making the internet a free-for-all without the ISPs regulating themselves would just make everything slower. It takes more bandwidth to download a song than an email. Without the regulating of the bandwidth, then everything would move equally slow and possibly have far more problems - like when dial-up was around. There's more here, I think, than what it appears to be. Face it, the companies own the infrastructure. I think it's another way for government to ultimately control the internet....scenario: internet neutral, internet sucks, people get pissed, in comes big brother to regulate, regulations lead to claim of "public" domain, public domain is censored and controlled. Don't ever trust people with power, regardless of party....they always want more!
I have been a Republican all my life, but they are certainly whores to big business, arent they?
"...the co-sponsors are Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)."
Great. These people represent loser states that can't even pay their own way. These states mooch off of the successful coastal states...and now these underachieving turd-bowls have politicians trying to make it harder for the successful coastal states to continue making money and gifting it to the 'heartland'?
Our internet economy is crucial in this deregulation-driven recession...why do these Republicans want to hurt one of the few bright spots in the USA's economic outlook?
"I'm sorry, but is there some kind of oxygen deprivation that you undergo when you're part of the left-wing?"
It's mostly the massive fissure caused by 8 years of the right-wing poking their finger in the face of the left while their boy George pissed away $5 trillion.. We are, without a doubt, a divided people at present, and that's by design. Lumping the right-wing all together is going to happen, especially when NOT ONE Republican signed on to the Senate's health care reform bill... a very watered down, protect the little guy bill sans public option. Especially after "one Republican" said that at least 1/2 of all current right-wing opposition is purely partisan posturing.
It was the right-wing that wanted to "feel things" instead of have honest debates about things, or how to solve problems, or even what the problems are. The right-wing is pro-corporate, which is by default, anti-general public. The premise of making sure 30% or 40% of the population can gather 99% of the wealth is problematic, but that's where this "pro-business" bullshit takes us... and that's pretty much all the right-wing is about.
Gee, all this GOP bashing, and not one voice asking, "Do we really want the FCC involved in regulating the internet?"
Or, "do we really want the Government making decisions on what content is available, how it is accessed, or who gets "traffic shared" out of the conversation?"
It really does blow my mind when I see the vitriol in these comments. Just let me ask you, how much do you like commercial radio, because, the FCC has been running that for years. Just imagine and internet as sanitized of opposing view points as the major media, and ask if you really want this.
Just as a side note the first thing to remember in politics, is what ever they call the bill it does the opposite. So, "net neutrality" will probably be the greatest aid to internet censorship bill ever devised. I mean look how patriotic the "patriot act" was. All the kool-aid drinkers in this country, right and left, need to look more carefully before they leap.
This anti-neutrality agenda is driven by the perverse desire of the telecom corporations to destroy the Internet, and replace it with de facto private networks that will do little more than drain cash from the corporations' victims as fast as possible (that's you, BTW; you're the victim).
The corporate whores of the GOP need to be sent to grandpa's farm.
Livingstone,
I agree with forcing Net neutrality on the mobile providers. Yes, I understand your argument about the limited bandwidth available on said networks and agree with it to a certain extent. However, you have to remember that Net neutrality is not just about leaving the pipes wide open, but that is also is a defense against censorship and vendor lock-in. For example, have you ever thought about why you can't use Skype or Slingplayer on an iPhone?
http://www.freepress.net/node/57149
And yes, I will lump these 6 members of congress in with the rest of the GOP because it falls in line with the kind of poisonous and backwards thinking the whole party has been infected with. I guarantee the rest of the party will fall in line behind this legislation, if only to needle the Democratic majority. In fact, I would be very surprised if they could produce a specific, convincing argument against Net neutrality. You will notice that Hutchinson's official statement was babbling on about downturns and the stifling of investment and innovation. It's a typical GOP smokescreen. Forget the issue - Just spread FUD and hope the uneducated masses will come out against it.
The cure for this sort of idiocy is simple. Make it completely illegal for these guys to get money from these big corps and pursue infractions with a heavy hand.
Eventually they'll realize that the only person that they should ever be servicing are The people and not themselves, or some fat cat handing them alot of money to agree.
Then politics will again boil down to personal agendas, and not corporate agendas.
Corporations should have 0 to little part in our politics, the needs of the people that work for them should be of far greater value, but are not.
[...] are far more revealing of the level of disgust toward the GOP than the original issue merits. The Raw Story GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality [...]
And in reply to Ben
Your right, deregulating traffic would lead to slower internets.
But, in theory this would only be temporary. Because this would actually spur new conflicts between companies. Then they would have to actually invest in their infastructure and try and succeed. ( I know what a freaking novel idea, competition in a capitalist world, what will they think of next? )
Eventually we will catch up to the ENTIRE rest of the world in Internet bandwidth speeds, right now we are a freaking joke and the companies know it.
Currently the big Companies are crying, "We need more money if you want faster internets." I say simply, ditch the golden parachute, tighten your belt and make a investment worthy of my time. Otherwise I'm just going to switch to whoever is willing to make the plays and take the risks.
Net neutrality is a predator, and hopefully it will eat the fat and lazy corporations. Leaving room for more innovative companies to take their place
( Again me and my CRAZY captalist ideas )
This is not a way for the govt to regulate the internet- this is a way to keep the internet free of corporate manipulation. Right now I see the same internet someone halfway around the world sees. W/out this regulation, in the future the internet I see could depend on my ISP. For instance, Comcast could sign a deal w/Google and throttle non-google searches. Its no business of the phone companies who I call, so long as I pay my bill- same for the internet. Why is this concept so hard for the Republicans to get?
And... there are a LOT of Republicans who favor net neutrality as well- this will pass with ease.
"Try thinking a bit before you let your heads explode -- I know it's hard to think with your brain shoved all the way left but, trust me, it doesn't hurt."
Hey Livingstone, you and your fellow republicons are the anti-think party, the anti-science party, and the anti-reason party. You and your right wing nutjob ilk function purely by emotion; rational ideas pass right through the muck in your heads, whereas irrational emotional rhetoric stays in there banging from side to side for months, while we have to hear it spewed out of your fat pie holes and plastered on your infantile signs in your white power anti-black-president rallies. I can just imagine what you freaks say to eachother when you meet in private.
Go back to Air America bozos.
Killing net neutrality makes sense for the Republicans in so far that It'll make it that much easier to suppress any and all opposition.
If the GOP ideals were valid, shouldn't they stand the test of time on their own? The aggressiveness of the GOPers suggests to me that they fear their ideas are actually quite weak and represent a minority.
Check into this a little more. One of Kay Bailey Hutchison's biggest donors is AT&T....not the first time she's being called out on corruption...
Kay Bailey is being considered for investigations into her earmarks that go directly to projects her husband does legal work on.
This would be like a phone company charging different rates based on the length and content of conversations.
Oh the stupid, it burns. The Republicans are doing absolutely everything they can think of to alienate intelligent voters. Between pandering to creationists and trying to give the Internet away to corporations, they won't get anyone with an IQ above 20 to vote for them in 2012.
Hey livingclown ,
You say these six do not represent all republicons? You are wrong. The republiclowns all walk in lockstep. That is their great claim to fame. Party discipline. Never speak ill of a fellow republicon. They are a great herd of sheep all flocking together waiting for their shepherd to do what he will with them. I suppose you say larry craig, mark foley, glennie beck, karlie rove, ted haggard, georgie bushjunior and jeff gannon are not representative of typical republicons either. It seems like they are. republicons should abandon the elephant as their symbol. They should start using a cross between a lemming and a sheep as they all follow each other off the cliff. You are like the person who said all republicons are not homosexual. Prove it. Name one who is not. There is a reason they all call themselves dittoheads. They all think and act alike. They can only carry one thought at a time in their little republiclown brains and it has to be the same one for every one of them or they explode.
Republicans favoring corporations over individuals while snowjobbing the average Joe Schmo into thinking this is somehow better for him? AND WE'RE SURPRISED AT THIS?
What a bunch of knee jerks you responders are.
I don't know what position Senatory Hutchinson is taking, and chances are she doesn't either.
But this reply string is full of idiocy and I couldn't resist the chance to add to it.
For starters, Speed Matters statistics are compiled not from a STUDY, but from the access attempts to their gay little speed test. As you all can observe - as more people have become aware of the site, the US rank is now 15th. In other words, the average broadband users from around the world are converging on the site and testing their connections and the gap is not nearly as wide as they present on the site - if anything, it confirms the more likely scenario that basic internet access is more exclusive in the higher broadband areas. As someone who has traveled the globe extensively, I can assure you that your basic broadband connections - even in Asia - are equal to what we have in the US - the "average" South Korean does NOT have 28Mb download speeds - ISPs and large enterprises might, but IF the average South Korean even has access, it's not at 28Mbps.
As far as the GOP hatred, it's pathetic. Ridicule might be in order, but the hatred is as retarded as the yokels who claim our President is a secret Kenyan Muslim out to destroy the country.
With regard to the actual issue - I can definitely understand why the ISPs would want permission to control utilization within their mobile broadband clouds. Right now they can barely deliver what they sell, despite the obscene rates they charge compared to Europe for example. But I concede they cannot be trusted to place bandwidth controls within the mobile network without messing with the regular internet, and that just would not be kosher. Keeping the net totally open is the only acceptable implementation in a Democracy.
I guess what I'm saying is I don't want to end up like our communist neighborst to the north.
I would advise people to dump AT&T and maybe get CREDO. Secondly, maybe those six Republi-CONS should consider moving to the Soviet Union. They seem to like torture, treason, spying on Americans and controling us.
John
Oakland Park, FL
6? That's all? That's worth flipping out about?
> William Cormier
> It's time to start referring to them as criminals
Would you be willing to refer to Republicans as un-educated, un-healthy
and economically un-competitive?
It may come as a surprise to some and as a shock to others, but the U.S.
states that voted Republican in the 2008 U.S. presidential selection
tend to rank lower in K-12 education, lower in public health scores and
lower in per capita GDP.[1]
These facts are a great shame for the Republican party.
[1] http://www.stmartinsystems.com/090524_Republican_party.htm
http://www.stmartinsystems.com/090524_Republican_party.pdf
Ever since Al Gore invented the Internet, the Liberals have been trying to get their hands in it somehow. Look, if some ISPs start start limiting ports and/or shaping bandwidth, someone else will innovate and start advertising the fact that they don't do that. It's (or, maybe more correctly, it used to be) a free market society, people are going to sell what sells. Besides, if you don't think that they are doing it now, you are a fool. Most of the residental class broadband is "burstable." Someone has thought out allocations. If the ISPs can charge some entities premiums for "important" data, they can potentially discount what is left over. I want some of that cheap and dirty bandwitdh.
I will hold off on my opinion till I hear from our gods at fox news. I get all my news from them and they guide me through my life.
The Greedy Old Pukes (G.O.P.) never give up, do they?
Supporters of the free market and open competition want the opposite when it serves their interests.
Why are we surprised?
Hi Steve,
on first glance your argument makes sense. If someone offers a service that others do not like, they are free to move to another person that provides what they do like. I agree with that, and think it's generally true.
The problem with you argument in this case though is due to how tightly interconnected telecommunications companies are, indeed this is why the Internet has been so successful. What people are concerned about is the fact that major providers will start shaping traffic from their competitors thus using their market share to create monopolies, and prevent consumers from access to the internet. For example - AT&T blocking access to Google.com because they have a competing search engine.
Origin of net neutrality
The concept of network neutrality originated with the nation's longtime telephone monopoly. AT&T and its successors were prohibited from giving any phone call preference in how quickly it was connected. Since the Internet was born on phone wires, the concept survived into the Internet age largely by default.
That notion was challenged toward the end of the 1990s, as cable companies began offering Internet service. Cable companies argued that they were not phone companies, therefore, the principle of network neutrality didn't apply to them.
Phone companies responded by getting into the content business as well, with television service. As a result, both the cable companies and phone companies had incentives to create conditions on the Internet -- either through pricing or slowing or speeding up certain sites -- to favor their own content.
In 2005, the FCC deregulated the Internet business, by ruling that Internet providers were communications companies and not phone companies and, importantly, were therefore no longer subject to the old phone rules such as network neutrality.
The FCC instead created its four "guiding principles" for protecting network neutrality. They were vague enough to embolden those looking for ways around it.
It is time to guarantee that the internet remain as content neutral as the phone service.
First off, RobinDallas - that's not true at all. I've lived in poor and very rich areas. AT&T and Comcast and Time Warner treat everyone crappily regardless of where they live. Unless you are a business class corporate client they don't care. You are serviced by third party subcontractors who really couldn't care less anyway.
Secondly - I'm very conservative, but this is the only issue the left is 100% correct about. Conservatives who believe in free speech and the ability of the little guy and the small business to compete globally should line up on the side in favor of net neutrality.
It will allow the little guy to stand up and speak out through digital communications regardless of their views. Its the only issue in recent years that we all should be able to agree on.
Fuck all Republicans.
I love how the comments start off bashing the Republican party. All of the hate and name calling and whatnot. You accuse the Republicans of doing the very things that you are doing in calling them names. I really enjoy that for every thoughtful post about the topic there are 5-7 that are more like this:
" The Republicans are doing absolutely everything they can think of to alienate intelligent voters. Between pandering to creationists and trying to give the Internet away to corporations, they won't get anyone with an IQ above 20 to vote for them in 2012."
"Hey Livingstone, you and your fellow republicons are the anti-think party, the anti-science party, and the anti-reason party. You and your right wing nutjob ilk function purely by emotion; rational ideas pass right through the muck in your heads, whereas irrational emotional rhetoric stays in there banging from side to side for months, while we have to hear it spewed out of your fat pie holes and plastered on your infantile signs in your white power anti-black-president rallies. I can just imagine what you freaks say to eachother when you meet in private."
I guess the people posting these great bits of logic and reason are thoughtful, intelligent people who are not over emotional and great thinkers and care so much about everyone that they are posting from the libraries since they work 2 jobs and give the money they make to the "less fortunate" and would never squander such gains on a computer or internet service when there are homeless, hungry people in the world that have so little.
I really don't understand why people want more government involvement or think the government is the magic fix all for all our problems. Must be the government run education system. From what gather the "evil" Republicans are trying to stop the internet, especially the cell phone and wireless networks, from becoming bogged down. The Net Neutrality will lead to the system crashing and then nobody has service. Those in places like New York already have a hard time with their I-Phone service. Just wait until p2p traffic overtakes the networks. Then everyone complains to their magic fix-all government to take care of the problems. Then they fix it like they are trying to fix health care by taking over and making you more dependent on the government. It is a great scheme really to keep power over the people but you all keep telling yourself the government is your friend and Obama cares about you.
Of course they hate it. They won't be able to close sights or slow them down, like RawStory, BartCop,Kos, etc., but their right-wing-nut sights will get all the speed And the big lie that this will lead to the "fairness doctrine" being changed.
How about a tool to link stories to Facebook?
The kids are going to care about this one.
*
Our country is being strangled by corporate fat pigs that sit on their golden thrones. Our elected officials are nothing but whores to this false sense of "Power". Little do they know that the real power lies with the people, the middle class is being ground into the ground wihout any second thought. We need to rise my brothers and sisters and take back what is ours.
GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality...
On Monday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a speech in which he outlined the FCC's plan to enforce Net neutrality, a position President Barack Obama held during his campaign for president. In recent years, concern has grown that some Internet ser...
[...] “Net Neutrality” Deleon here with truly shocking news: six Republican senators have tacked on an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block the FCC’s attempt to make Net Neutrality a [...]
I think it's funny that the GOP, the "free market" party, is against something that essentially forces companies to allow competition, something they have always claimed was what pushed innovation and development...
I'm ashamed to have voted republican all these years. The party that is supposed to get government off our backs is now allowing big business to ride our backs? What part of LEAVE US ALONE are they not understanding? Net neutrality is a vital and important and necessary part of being on the net. NOBODY should have the means to abridge our choice of what we use. Look, if there is some restriction applied, something will spring up that will defeat it. Look at Pirate Bay and see how successful it is. If you choke Google, don't you think Mamma will take its place? Sheesh.
If it's got Brownback's name on it, you know it's asinine. I'm ashamed to have voted Republican all these years. I wouldn't vote D'rat, but I don't want to vote for these asshats any more. Sheesh. I just won't vote. If God had intended us to vote, he would have given us candidates.
Hmmm...looks like ol' Kay is up for one last battle to make a name for herself before she resigns to campaign for governor of Texas. That bitch. If she wins, God help all Texans who aren't wealthy. The rest of us are fucked... She's useless as a senator, and I don't know who's worse, Kay or Tricky Rick Perry. Think I'd rather vote for Kinky Friedman (an "entertainer" and "humorist"). He may be close buds with Willie Nelson (I can imagine them sharing a J or two) and have no political experience whatsoever, but he'd be a damn sight better than any announced Republican candidate.
As a card carryig republican that hates nearly everthing Obama and this admin has done, I cannot beliee republicans are doing this.
If there is one thing that is bipartisan,it is new neutralit. No one wants nazis running the internet
Suck it hippies. Why are you so ready to support something that takes away a freedom of choice? For anyone?
[...] “Net Neutrality” Deleon here with truly shocking news: six Republican senators have tacked on an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block the FCC’s attempt to make Net Neutrality a [...]
If corporations control the content, soon there will be nothing but Fox News on the internet.
****** While Net neutrality is supported by Internet-reliant companies such as Google and Microsoft, it is opposed by major Internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. ******
Why in hell do corporations get any say in this matter????
We need what's best for the people in the country, not some god-damn corporation!
[...] “Net Neutrality” Deleon here with truly shocking news: six Republican senators have tacked on an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block the FCC’s attempt to make Net Neutrality a [...]
Corporations will be the death of America. Just take the fall of Rome for example.
hmmmmmmmmmmmm........
http://www.techandgizmo.com
This just goes to show there's no Free in Free Market. I find it funny that the Cons are trying to carve out "defunding" bills in this manner. Imagine if the Dems had tried targeted defunding! Oh, they did and were called unpatriotic weak traitors for it!
What goes around comes around.
[...] The Raw Story » GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality [...]
[...] The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed." http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/gop...et-neutrality/ __________________ EXPOSED!!! Certain Commissioner is A child Molesting Pedophile!! And SD#12 [...]
If you require any more proof than this that teh GOP are nothing but corporate fascist toadies,you just might be retarded.
[...] GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced the amendment to an appropriations bill. It would prevent the FCC from getting funding for any initiative to uphold Net neutrality. According to The Hill, the co-sponsors are Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA). The Raw Story
[...] [...]
AT&T was the main corporation that secretly helped Bush spy on Americans and journalists without a court order. By all rights, the ceo and all corporate execs involved should be tried in federal court and if found guilty, executed.
Judging from the comments, on the one hand we have the corporations trying to control the Internet and on the other hand we have the FCC trying to control the Internet, and on the third hand we have politicians involved in both, so really it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" type of situation.
So which is, US? Let the corporate suits throttle access and control the poor, stupid masses so as to profit from their ignorance, or let the government suits (eventually) simply censor out what they don't want you to see?
- DMT
PS. Seems to me a lot of people are forgetting that the Internet isn't a US, or even an American, phenomenon. Oh, sure, it has its roots in ARPAnet and whatnot, but the Internet of today is a global reality. Just because the world's largest (and arguably only) superpower decides to control its population's access (either through the commercialized third party corporations or through government regulations, with politicians presumably involved in both) doesn't equal the downfall of the Internet as we know it.
Ok, I have to reply to poster 51 Spartan for his utter lack of knowledge and yet speaking from a position of authority, kinda like the Repulicants that they are defending.
the "average" South Korean does NOT have 28Mb download speeds
I haven't been to South Korea, I have however been to Japan. The trip was while I was working for an ISP that is in America and in Japan. In 2004 Japan was offering 100 MB per second DSL to their major cities, which most of their population lives in. My coworkers at the time lamented the problem that they couldn't sell that level of service for less than $40 when the other Japanese ISPs could afford to do it for $30. That was 2004, they do have gigabit options available now, though that isn't the average yet.
The biggest difference between Japan and South Korea technologically is that South Korea is smaller and easier to network. And Japanese tend to go more to the cell phone angle for their internet usage, whereas South Koreans are PC fanatics that make the US look positively stone age.
I say fuck Drew Curtis and his Democrat Underground lite useful idiots at Fark.com
[...] The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed." http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/gop...et-neutrality/ Shintao you're still an idiot but I can see where you got confused on this one Repubs are [...]
More government educated people posting I see. The "Net Neutrality" bill is not a free market solution. The government stepping in and telling private business how to run their networks and limiting them in how they manage their resources is anything but free market. I guess you are part of the ignorant masses in this country that has helped get us to this point so don't let fact and logic stop you now but if the democrats pass this bill in a few years when you go online to complain about how bad and slow the internet is just remember you were warned about it.
WHY ISN'T RAW STORY REPORTING ON SIBEL EDMODS EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AMCOM MAGAZINE ?????????????????????????????
Well Sen. Hutchinson has lost my vote when she runs for governor!
All people from Texas who value the sanctity of net neutrality should do the same...
I totally disagree with the FCC. If I own and maintain a network, I should be allowed to do whatever I want with it.
If the FCC told consumers that all home wireless networks should be open and usable by all you neighbors (for free), would all the libs out there still hold the argument of 'it is good for everyone at my expense'? I think not.
out again to try and control our freedoms.
[...] “Net Neutrality” Deleon here with truly shocking news: six Republican senators have tacked on an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block the FCC’s attempt to make Net Neutrality a [...]
Has the USA PATRIOT Act been forgotten? Three sections are due to expire unless continued by Congress and the Executive Branch. Net Neutrality goes beyond its appearances. Is not a form of censorship being practiced by companies who seek to control internet traffic? Let's go back in time: is this a form of bait and switch? We, the people, have become dependent on the internet for many functions. Now that the population is with the program (on line- ouch) , it's time to change the rules and strangle we, the people.
The GOP..."God-Only-Party" wants to intervene in our communications and knowledge, akin to burning the books and the tree of knowledge issue of the "Dark Ages".
Just look up Kevin Jeffrey Martin...
Before joining Bush-Cheney 2000, Martin served as legal advisor to FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth, in the Office of the Independent Counsel, and as an associate of Wiley Rein LLP. One of Wiley Rein's most important clients is Verizon.
G-O-P's guy... Martin is under investigation for a lack of transparency in FCC proceedings as well as an abuse of his power in relation to cable industry regulations. He has also been accused of keeping his fellow commissioners in the dark in an attempt to push through policy.
The worst enemy of the republican party is the truth.
My understanding of the FCC is they should be regulating "Power and Frequency."
To be honest, I don't believe the internet infrastructure falls under that category.
I would like to see more details, because lately I've noticed these things start out with a good intent, but by the time they actually get passed they are toxic garbage which causes harm. (I'm alluding to ALL the HOLT bill's on Electronic vote tabulation devices) Now while the FCC isn't HOLT, I would like to see ISP's forced to behave, what I worry about though..
Should the FCC be regulating the internet at all? Couldn't this simply be something which regulates corporations and not necessarily under the FCC's roof. It's not even power and frequency spectrum we are talking about here. I have to agree with several posters here, once the camel's nose is in the tent, there's no going back. Just look at FISA.
Corporate broadcast media is already a miserable failure. It's become a fascist takeover of all "broadcast spectrum" in my opinion, which leaves the public with but one way to fight back, and that's via the web, if such a plan does allow the camel's nose under the tent in the future to control the public's use of the web, I would have to vehemently oppose any such legislation, as it will cut off the last bastion of free speech.
I want to know that any legislation would be strictly limited to preventing corporations from gouging the public with insanity like bandwidth data caps, bandwidth speed caps, or TOS / AUP's which in essence become an unreasonable burden on the first amendment.
However, In full disclosure, I have support "Save The Internet" for several years now. http://www.savetheinternet.com
I need to see more detail before I support anything like this. I don't want to hear lawyer double speak, or over technical garbage, I want it in plain words. It's already expensive and complex as hell to maintain a web presence, Domains, Web Hosting, Security, Patching, and an internet connection to even be able to maintain this stuff.
At the same time, I ask the FCC, when are you going to force media on the broadcast spectrum to make available their public file online to the public? Such a move could be used by the public to hold corporate media accountable, when they are threatened with losing their frequency allocation and station ID for getting too many complaints in their public file. I'd like to see this FIRST!!!
Also, I ask, what ever happened to the FCC mission statement? Was it removed because instead of operating from an engineering standpoint they have decided to operated from a corporate profit standpoint?
The public can not hold representatives accountable because of several things right now. This is serious stuff.
1. Electronic vote tabulation devices do not allow for public oversight of an unbroken chain of custody. e.g. You can't see the electronic signal inside electronic vote tabulation devices. These devices have already been hacked, and there is no oversight of the doping process of the semiconductors which could have malicious logic built inside, which may or may not only be found by destructively reverse engineering the semi-conductor under an electron microscope. In essence we can't vote, cause we can't count our votes.
2. The way Corporate Broadcast media treats election cycles is unfair, as they can skew, spin, and blacklist until candidates are removed from the ballot. And measures, and propositions are constantly steered by corporate opinion.
An example here is elimination of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich from the ballot.
I'm very skeptical, show me the EXACT details. Then again the way it is not, our government and our reps can do anything they want right now with no accountability as I have already shown above.
ps: don't hate me for my opinion, I just don't trust this kind of stuff anymore. I've watched in the last twelve years my constitution be completely freaking shredded, the taxpayers plundered with no COPS arresting the bank directors, wars started under false pretext, and TIME used as a weapon against citizens of the USA.
I think this may bite Kay Bailey in the butt when it comes time for her to justify to the Texas voters why she favors discriminating against small business owners and the average citizen when it comes to internet use. This is something that Goodhair can certainly use against her in appealing to the populists here in the Texas primary.
GOLDNSQUID
The "Net Neutrality" bill is not a free market solution. The government stepping in and telling private business how to run their networks and limiting them in how they manage their resources is anything but free market. "
Your point being? You've seen just how well the "free market" has functioned in our health care and our financial system.
"if the democrats pass this bill in a few years when you go online to complain about how bad and slow the internet is just remember you were warned about it."
We already have the slowest connections in the industrialized world. Furthermore, we have the most expensive broadband connections and the smallest percent of people connected. Unless someone steps on the telecoms, what is going to improve things? They've had years to make things better and have failed completely. The only innovation they've done is connected with influencing government regulations and tax favors. Why do you think that more of the same is going to give different results?
For all you free marketerists, you've been worshiping a false god. When only a few enormous companies control a market, it is no longer "free," not even close. Any small person with a better idea isn't going to get a chance to take advantage of that idea because the big boys will destroy anyone who threatens their oligopoly, Microsoft being a case in point.
Kay Bailout Hustler opposes reinstating the Fairness Doctrine too, claiming in typical Orwellian double speak that it stifles freedom of speech and intimidates broadcasters from expressing opinions. She says "The Fairness Doctrine is a regulation from an era when consumers had access to very few media sources, most of which were generally information-poor. Now, our diverse and rapidly expanding media marketplace offers a variety of media outlets. This is why I am a cosponsor of S. 1748, the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2007, which would prohibit the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. I believe that consumers, not the federal government, should decide what media they choose to use."
ok deregualation. Do you guys remember the Telecom Act of 1996? It was supposed to deregulate the telephone industry. And it did for a little while. there were plenty of CLEC's popping up left and right.
fast forward to 2000. You saw a bunch of huge mergers between the behemoth phone companies and then next thing you know, they start buying up their competition. Or they messed with these small companies by charging exorbitant fees to use the network that they had set up (usually with public money). The small companies couldn't compete with the big companies, especially after acquisitions and mergers happened.
So after deregulation, we were back to square 1, but worse. Now we had mega phone carriers that offered one-stop shopping. While that can seem very convenient for the consumer, it gives the corporations that much more power to do as they please.
I can't help but wonder what Ric Romero would think of this.
/the internet is making us all idiots: http://www.urinalgum.com/?p=112
We must remember a simple thought when looking at this issue.
What cost is there to action against inaction?
Can the FCC force ISP's to downgrade their service on the top tier connections (Which, by the way, you do pay for anyway becuase of this speed)?
As things are, you make the choice to purchase a speed you wish to access the World Wide Web in. My concern with this bill is a easy one to point out.
Would neutrality mean the death of faster connections? If it does, I agree with the amendment to block this.
If not, Some proof to that effect would be assuredly welcome.
It is funny that you would bring up the health care and the financial system as examples of free market failures. The health care problems are not caused by free market but another example of government interference. It was government that regulated and messed with the industry by dictating what they would and would not pay for and by setting the prices that they would pay. That is anything other then free market. I wonder what happened to doctors making house calls? Doctors became buried in paperwork and had to hire additional staff to deal with it along with higher insurance premiums to cover the often frivolous lawsuits and awards that were way higher then should of been awarded.
The financial system collapse also was not free market but government stepping in and forcing private business to make home loans to people who should of been renters. The Community Reinvestment Act was the start of this whole mess. Before you blame Bush he was on record saying how something needed to be done before this collapse happened but the Democrats such as Barny Frank with ties to Freddy and Fanny blocked anything from happening and now look at us. The so called stimulus and even the Cash for Clunkers has done nothing to correct the mess because government cannot do it. It will be free people working for their own benefit that lifts this country back up to greatness. The huge Berny Maddoff (sp?) scam that went on for decades when there is a huge bloated Government agency who's sole purpose for existing is to watch for things like this. There is not a single Government agency or program that works like it should or cost what it is suppose to cost. What makes any of you think that this bill will be any different?
[...] The Raw Story » GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality [...]
Given its current direction, The GOP can give up on winning any future elections...
Perhaps thats the plan. Sabotage anything that benefits human beings in favor of the minions of Shub- Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods, who apparently form the GOP base.
Can't we just execute all the republicans? They are so blantantly again anything that is for the individual, freedom or the constitution. They are corporate tools 24/7.
Thanks again Republicans.
Just another example of lobbiest dollars at work.
It's a bloody corporatocracy.
[...] Republicans are against net neutrality [...]
[...] Sep. 24th, 2009 at 7:10 AM Six Republican Senators have introduced an amendment that would block the Federal Communications Commission from implementing its recently announced Net neutrality policy.Source:http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/gop-senators-net-neutrality/ [...]
Who is John Galt? Hopefully we get the destroyer we need of this world.
I'm no Democrat or Republican, but you people are fucking blind as to what the Democrats are doing. They are trying to force an untested flu vaccine upon us while relieving all of Big Pharma of liability. They are trying to mandate you buy health care or penalize you and possibly imprisonment, this way the Insurance industry makes money. They have put nearly 20,000 US troops onto the streets of America to "act as police". They have driven the budget deficit into the trillions and are now trying to sell us to a global bank. Slowly, our freedoms are being taken away. Now they want to use this bill as a facade so they can block information that opposes their views.
Wake up people!
It would come as no surprise to learn that every member signing off on this amendment is or has received campaign funding from the big three that oppose the net neutrality stance from the FCC. ( declared or otherwise )
Once someone does enough digging to bring that little fact into the light, they will quietly scurry back under their rock.
[...] Communications Commission from implementing its recently announced Net neutrality policy.Source:http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/gop-senators-net-neutrality/ Publicado por Aaron en [...]
Kay Bailey Hutchenson is unusual in one aspect, notably, she has changed sides and opposed big business when she hears from constituants that they don't feel as she does. I say this as a moderate independant that tends to vote Democrat.
The Raw Story » GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality...
Nice job GOP, stand up for the consumer once again...
[...] Source:http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/gop-senators-net-neutrality/ [...]
You liberal idiots will believe anything.
@john.
bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Conspiracy theories are hilarious.
i bet most of them have never used the internet before, they hold a grunge towards innovation and in a simpler scene 'freedom'.
[...] This story is a re-post from the Raw Story: http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/gop-senators-net-neutrality/ [...]
Folks, government is not your friend. I despair when I see smart people trust government to fix something.
Take your eyes off the bugaboo of corporate robber barons. Truth is, you're being snookered by politicos who want more power.
You are all just racist because you are calling them liars!
The INternet has become the LAST domain where free speech actually means something. It is the last place where one citizen actually has a chance to spread their word. Of COURSE it is in the GoPs interest to shut it down as much as possible! Throttle back the speed of those who oppose them. The Internet is a large part of the reason that they are now a minority, and that they have been losing seasts each election. They need to throttle back the Internet so they can drag more people in front of the TV and Fox news.
Stan,
I don't know why I am bothering to reply to you but here it goes:
The Democrats are trying to pass laws to regulate the internet, which make it impossible for the people who own, manage, and build the networks to regulate the bandwidth and ensure that traffic keeps flowing . The Republicans go wait if your plan is passed then all networks especially the wireless cell phone networks will become bogged down because of the huge surge from live streaming and p2p.
You read this and come to the logical conclusion that it is another evil plot by the Republicans to ensure that more people watch Fox News? It scares me that you are allowed to vote. It is because of the ignorance of people like yourself that this country has gotten so far from what has made us great. People like Obama give these grand speeches that sound so good and play off of your ignorance so you vote for him. Tell me how many of his campaign promises has he kept and how much better is your life now that he is in office? The Republicans lost power because they lost who they were. The Republican party forgot they were the party of smaller government and they were spanked for it. I only hope that by the election next year they remember why it was they were in power to start with.
PS
It is the Democrats that are trying to stop free speech with things such as the Fairness Doctrine and just recently by stopping ETNA (sp?) from sending out letters to it's customers about the health care bill, even though everything sent out was the truth.
Hey Barnaby,
You may have lived in poor and very rich areas, but I got this from a person who works at ATT. If you think the level of service is the same for the rich and the poor, you are deluded. The rich get preferential treatment. Maybe when you lived in the rich area, you weren't rich enough. Or maybe you are just mistaken. Or maybe you are full of shit.
I am reporting my experience which you can't refute.
I agree.
Fuck ATT.
Fuck the rich.
http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2009/09/obamas-brown-shirts-trying-to.html
And to the "fuck the rich" imbecile that doesn't undersatnd economics of course more service will be in phony so called
rich "areas" aka not hood because they pay for more service. More left-wing anti productive people spin for the unproductive subsized slave owners who mope around in their "ghettos" with riches only a third worlder can appreciate because they "stole it form the white man" bs.
You fascist left-wign crooks and your invented comopletely dishonest and imaginary garbage about ATT and some guy who worked for them bs lol Complete balderdash and unfounded unsourced LIE You know no person who worlls for ATT pig....the fact is I know a SSGT Ledesma who works at the NMITC who told me about his ass and others protecting and securing a warehouse full of WMD's in Iraq....want to email me to find out more? do so!
I'LL TELL YOU THE TRUTH MORONS IF PEA BRAINS CAN HANDLE IT!
Wow these anti-Corporate fascist imbeclie make up insane conspiracy theories about Fox News and other "right-wing" orgs that happen to tell the truth and not be biiased Soviet owned and operated piles of shit liek the NYT, WashCOmpo, and all the Soros funded deludes out there that lie smear and ignore the fucking facts.....consumers are not in need off protection. Corprations are not evil pigs.....law firms, unions, govnment hacks liek the fools on this board are. Lets take a look at the democrat lie machine on this board smearing with bullshit hysteria Corps(the people who provide the internet) with all kinds of bullshit charges....
"The Raw Story » GOP senators declare war on Net neutrality...
Nice job GOP, stand up for the consumer once again..."
FASICST TAKEOVER THE NET AKA THE ABILITY FOR CORPRATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS TO POST AKA PROVIDE FREELY INFO IS DESCRIBED AS CONSUMER ADVOCACY? WOW! Insane Naderite propaganda their.
This anti-Corporation anti freedom agenda by the fascist on this board to silence their cricits who refute smears and lie and bullshit is disgusting. This pos legislation gives the Fuhrer the so called authority to oppress free speech in a time of crisis...That is Unconstitutional dumbasses, ever heard of Alien and Sedition Act? Of course not..........This is thee FCC being alreayd an Unconstituioonal fascist org created by that appaulling criminal FDR to limit freeodm on the airwaves and propagandize us with the Rather and Cronkites and Mitchell's etc. that so lied their asses of for the democraps all these years. Regulations are immoral and Unconstituional they have no right to do this, that limited and misspoken of clause about Interstate commerece refers to trade. and this is another fascist leftist encroachment of freeodm in this country.
The bullshit about consumers is another lie attempted to smear internet providers who will harrassed and cojoled and forced into the left-win camp just BOA, Citigroup, GE and etc. all these big corps that rely on gov involvement aka Democrap control and taxpayer subsides for their bullshit, Enron which created AlGore's Crap and Tax legislation and was promoting it well before the dumbass one got ahold of it.
Corprations not corrupted by the left are the friends of the American peope, they produce our wealth, and the smears by the unproductive lying queer little faggots Digg and internet all over need to stop it. Stop it, Sop it. YOU PIGS ARE GOING TO GET PUSHED BAKC HARD ROM THSOE WHO LOVE FREEDOM CROOKS just wait.
Typical "consumer" propaganda consumers are best helped not by fascist groups that lie and smear corpations with bullshit day after day but by the businesses that provide those goods and service and Obama's pig and cirminal junkies want to destroy. Ther eis no such thing as "corprate greed" or any of this other crap the elft spins eveyr day. Socilism is greed, to be a democrat make syou the greediest pig on earth, to be a CEO that is hired by investors and makes money and runs a company takes skill, thats why fascist rats like Democrap Bernie Madoff and Barney Fag and Chris Dodd wither lie and cheat with ponzi schemes or embezzle billions from fannie and freddie to gov agencies that are infinitely bankrupt and retarded form the outset as all gov "enterprises" are, thieves living of the taxpayer dime. Same with Rahm and Raines two pigs that stole money afte being put in those postions by that crook Clinton they enriched themselves all the while votes and funded leftist criminal groups and bribe campaigns with taypayer money after being bailedout and steal loan money etc. fudning subprime loans never to be payed back ala ARKANSAS DEVELOPMENT AND BLAH BLAH BANK THAT DID WHITEWATER AND SO MANY OTHER CRIMES!
Typical anti-business propaganda coutrtesy fo teh fascist and communist pigs out ther that will stoop to every level of nuttery to justify their criminality.
PS THE NET IS RUN CREATED AND CONTROLELD BY CORPRATIONS!!!!!!!!!!
If it wans't for them we woudl be China, nothing but Obamalike pigs and propaganda ll day long.
Typical fascist left-wing propaganda there wasn't a free market for years until Reagann's deregulation of the phone industry which was government ran.Yes there is a free market you fascist liars and you are trying to destroy it. The raw story lies as always claiming they decalred war on "net neutrallity" atypical democrap attempt to oppress speech and give their croniies control over yet another industry Taht imbecile has nationalized Unconstitionally the banks, automobiles, and now he's trying to destroy the internet....sickening.
Listen to fascist fake "ass" victims pretend to oppressed by corporations. There is no need for government regulation of anything. But ultimately tthere is no free market but only a partially free market because of gov regs just like everything else and its destructive an harmful to the health and future of this country.
Republicans are not owned by corprations pigs they are defedning our God given rights that the fuhrer and his minions want to destroy. Fox News is private corp that overwelhmingly loved and supported by the people for its fairness and honesty, something criminals like CNN MSNBC and the rest fo the state/democrap media can't say, Escpecially NBC/ABC/CBS because they were created by guess who the Governemnt which kept fredom for hitting the airwaves until cable came along...Oh thats right yall fools anti-Free Market pigs and anti-business liars lie and ignore/just don't know history because you so imbecilic you can't even gets past you fascist reactionary pavlov dog programmming of screaming "Corprations".
Fascist is state control not private control. The real "corporate malfeasance" lies with the lefts ties to "corporations" whether they be the defunct Commie front BCCI or the Riadi Group, or Occidental Petroleum or Enron or GE etc. etc. Nothing but gov takeover and "partnerships with tax payer subssides for failed businesses /drug money launderer/ commie fronts that do business with our enemies.
As usual the elftwing bullshit media doesn't deal with the facts, ignores them, whiteashes a gov takeover of the internet bill with compelte garbage and no investigation. Businesses are the producers of wealth in this country and gov funded "science", "business", and other bullshit rangined from education to welfare etc. is and has bankrupted us a nation. You pigs are repsonsible I can't wait for you sickos to get what you deserve.
The pasy few years of the democrat depression ought to cause one to be hatful of gov regs forcing compaines to do business aka waste people's savings and investment money and capital on unproductoiive areas that won't pay the bills this more "re-distrubution" Unconstituonal elft-wing propagands designed to contain always that radical kernel to parphrase that piece of shit Van Jones to destroy america. Taht is the emergency clause giving the fuhrer the ability to shut down the internet. Reichstag fire anyone? And to phony fake ass anti business fascist Republican phonies that come on boards and say stupid shit like "Iam a republican" but the I've democrap for the past 2 years because blah blah you jackasses to take a break from the routine and go back to hell, you crazy talk is atypical of people who are in depserate need of medication and I beg of you to refrain from making up shit anymore, you elft-wing never were a "Republican" scumbags who continue to destroy our wealth al for your fascist fuhrer who hangs out with terrorist and enemies of the US.
PS God Bless Bush and Patriot Act it got rid of the pro-terrorist Clinton's juntas "regulations" that further destroyed are already compromised intel sytem and it reinforced Bush's Constituional authority to protect this country....atypical scarmeongering and garbage by the "civil-lunetarians" aka the Domestic enemies.
I find it amazing how the left can make up insane stories about how corporations do this or that, most of which is not criminal, ignore the voluntary nature of the exchange the high quality of service, outright lie about the quality of the service and goods that would not be existant if not for them, and engage in conspiratorial bullshit mongering and outright lies that boggle the mind.
Deregulation is what is needed.....we all remember Gov run phone serive do we not? Oh wait thats right yall imbecile know nithing about that. Once that was kicked to the curbed by Ronald Magnus the great we got rolling. The imbecile anti-corporate(unless its a Clinton scam of Michelle Obomber is getting a cushy appointment as a payoff/Jesse Jackson like shakedown to not oppose the business entering the "community")This regulation will as Kay Bailey said stifle innovation and cause a lot of truouble its the CRA of the internet and intended to bankrupt the companies so fascist fuhrer Obama and his pig minions can take it over and deny rightists and any opponet of his free speech. AThe internet run by the goons at alternet and the fascist on this board I shudder to think!
PS the internet is not run by anyone its link up created by ISP's, done by computers made by companies, and used by you to do virtually whatever the hell you want....the democrats want to use it for politcal terrorism and control over speech Republicans don't want to use it because they love the USC and know that the that damn document give the federal gov no right to takeover an industry or prohibit it from existing. You fools can continue to ignroe that the present internet allows your sorry asses to whine and lie and wail like little bitches(a self evident conclusion I might add) and reminds me of all those communist criminal pigs during the 1970's like Chomsky pretending to "dissidens" and etc. when those dumb fucks don't even know the meaning of the word. All the while pulling in huge sums doing shitty/no work at major universities stealing taxpayer dollars.
@ Lcpl Mosley, your almost illiterate and non-sensical posts litter this site like so many discarded gum wrappers.
@ GOLDNSQUID, Damn right the FCC is trying to regulate the internet, at least to the extent of keeping it as a "common carrier" utility and free of discrimination as to content. That's a time-honored and legitimate approach to managing a situation where a few providers have the power to control the actions of a large number of consumers. It's not "socialism", it's mainstream economic theory. As far as enforcing neutrality over wireless networks, remember that the bandwidth is a PUBLIC resource, and is only leased to providers under whatever rules the government wants to set.
Providers already have the right to control usage by setting the price for various tiers of service, and I have the right to decide how much service I want to pay for. Wireless access is charged by the amount of data transmitted, and wired access is charged by the speed. If I agree to pay the ISP's price, they should not have ANY right to discriminate on the basis of what type of data I access or the party I connect with.
If my usage clogs the wired system, then someone has an economic incentive to build more capacity. If anything, this puts the lie to the Gang of Six argument that abolishing neutrality will stimulate more investment -- in actuality, the reverse is true.
If my usage clogs the wireless system, then either the publicly-owned spectrum can be re-allocated (by the Feds, because there's no other administrator), or I'll have to live with slower service. Of course, slower service provides an economic incentive for some clever folks to figure out and sell some better hardware / software data compression products. If it appears that data transfers are completely overwhelming voice, there may be an incentive to split the wireless spectrum into low-bandwidth connections (voice) and high-bandwidth (data).
In any case, I've been following this issue for awhile, and it basically comes down to a fight between 2 sets of corporate interests and their customers: (1) a few big ISPs (e.g. AT&T), vs. (2) a much larger set of content providers (e.g. Google). Without net neutrality, there will be nothing to prevent the ISPs from creating preferred content conglomerates and discriminating against competitors. Where people even have a choice of ISPs (and a lot of people don't), choosing one will lock you into a set of services which may be inferior to others in terms of function, but superior in speed.
Far too much of the argument on this thread displays the kind of paranoia that makes rational discussion impossible: "government is always evil", "all dissent will be cut off", etc. As I see it, Kay Hutchison is taking money from a contributor and trying to get something for them. Almost every legislator does that to some extent, and they need to be called on it. The rest of Congress needs to shoot this one down, and I'll bet there are a lot of members in favor of net neutrality who have heard from Google et. al.
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