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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 22, 2017 - 06:04am PT
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Trump's appointee to head the FCC is planning to repeal legal protections of net neutrality.
Why is this important to you?
Net neutrality prevents internet providers from blocking your access to their competitor's websites.
In other words, net neutrality prevents Verizon from blocking your access to Netflix, and thereby forcing you to subscribe to Verizon's movie service instead.
In other words, net neutrality prevents your internet provider from censoring your Google search results.
A few years ago, Verizon filed a lawsuit against the FCC, challenging net neutrality. This forced the FCC to move net neutrality under Title II so that net neutrality could be protected under law and legally enforcible.
Trump's appointee to head the FCC is a scumbag lawyer who used to work for Verizon (surprise!). Now he is going to repeal Title II protections of net neutrality (surprise!).
Make your voice heard. Call congressmen and demand Title II protection of net neutrality.
Leave a message with the FCC. The FCC has made it almost impossible to comment on this topic, but a group had made it easy:
http://gofccyourself.com
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 06:14am PT
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From swamp to shining swamp this land was made for Trump...
I'm going to say it again- happy Thankstaking day!
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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Nov 22, 2017 - 06:44am PT
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This is really bad news.
Susan
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monolith
climber
state of being
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Nov 22, 2017 - 07:01am PT
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Welcome to your future:
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Nov 22, 2017 - 07:04am PT
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they just wanna throttle sites like www.theracistkeeblerDoJ.com and hide www.mooreteens.net. what's so bad about that?
i sure trust corporate control of the wild wild internets. family values and stuff.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 22, 2017 - 07:49am PT
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Or just taking your business to a provider that doesn't do this. Where I live, there is only one internet provider that can provide me with internet access (satellite), unless I want to get a landline and go back to dial up.
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John M
climber
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Nov 22, 2017 - 08:06am PT
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that forbes argument is incredibly wrong. Net neutrality is nothing like forcing everyone to only have vanilla ice cream. Instead it means those who can't afford to pay for open access won't have it.
If I was a billionaire I would buy up all access to nascar and then create the craziest rules for people to be able to watch it. Want to watch nascar, then you must say 10 nice things about Hillary on Twitter for every 20 laps of viewing. Want to watch nascar, then you can not watch faux news.
You know Jody. I know some Christian Preachers said that Trump would be elected, and that he is God's will. And that those same preachers then say that this means that Trump is good. But there is more then one way to understand what "good" in this case means. It can mean that Trump is here to do what the anti christ does, which is display just how crazy and corrupt the average citizen is. An example is people who are willing to vote for a pedophile, rather then allow the other party to gain some power. That is an indication that one's priorities are out of whack. So its good to have people woken up to their insanity by making the insanity very open and obvious.
And please don't now take my words to mean that I believe that Trump is the anti christ. I am not saying that. I am describing the actions of the anti christ.
At first I was against Trump.. and for that matter still am. But since he was elected I have understood what the Bible says about no leader has power without it being the will of God. I understand that sometimes God leaves us to our own devices because we have become so trapped that allowing us to suffer the consequences of our choices is the last resort possibility to wake a people up.
It is a falsehood to believe that the markets should control everything. Markets are not perfect. They are corrupt and can be controlled by corruption as my over the top description about a billionaire controlling access to all things nascar demonstrates.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Nov 22, 2017 - 08:18am PT
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Trump and his swamp creatures are screwing us every way conceivable
It's truly amazing that some are so brainwashed that they can't see what's going on.
Trump is so stupid that any special interest group can convince him to screw us for a couple bucks.
America Last!!
It'll take years to undo the damage he has caused, or it will just get worse and we will be no better than North Korea
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monolith
climber
state of being
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Nov 22, 2017 - 08:29am PT
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Even if you have access to a small local provider, companies that control the major routers will be able to throttle them back as well, unless they pay an extra fee for 'enhanced' access.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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Nov 22, 2017 - 08:37am PT
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Jody, You're delusional. It is a handout to large corporations to buy control over smaller competitors ability to have an even presence and ability to compete based upon their merits.
The Forbes article is a terrible piece of writing and logic. I recommend that everyone read it to identify the illogical and self-interested arguments being made for allowing monopolistic manipulation of our free access to information.
At a fundamental level net neutrality is a liberty issue and corporate control of our free access to information diminishes our freedom. It's not right/left issue - it's a basic liberty issue.
Remedial reading for you - 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (edited from George Orwell - coffee hadn't kicked in). If you read them with an open mind you will be shocked by the authors prescience.
To support this move is to support corporatocracy over meriticracy.
Fundamentally, our founding was based upon the idea of meritocracy as a counter to aristocracy. The concepts of commonwealth infrastructure in the US supported fulfillment of meritocracy where every individual had equal opportunity to rise to the level of their merit and service.
As a nation we used to understand this and that is how government came to limit the undue influence of monopolies via the Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clayton and FTC Acts of 1914. We now are in a similar position of undue corporate influence, but the political climate is different (perverted from protecting individual liberties and commonwealth assets and infrastructure?).
The Founding Fathers understood that true liberty exists only when present with personal responsibility. This is true for individuals and corporations.
Ayn Rand libertarianism is a subtle form of libertinism where there is no moral authority other than power. It is a theme that people pursuing this path will make very sophisticated arguments to justify their lack of responsibility for their actions and to civil society from which they have derived direct benefit from. Corporations up the game by leveraging governments to subsidize their business and consuming commonwealth assets without paying for them. These are perversions of taking responsibility for exercise of liberty.
Now we have a situation in our execution of the First Amendment where our freedom of access to information is for sale to the highest bidder. This betrays our founding ideals of liberty and abridges market competition based upon merit.
Libertrianism vs. Meritocracy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/09/22/libertarianism-vs-meritocracy/?utm_term=.80e62de60e88
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 22, 2017 - 08:47am PT
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Thank you Mark
You are spot on
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 22, 2017 - 08:53am PT
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However, if given the choice between giving the government more power and giving the markets more freedom, I would have to take my chances with the markets.
Jody, that is the heart of our current problem. You are putting your faith in "free markets" that aren't free, they're controlled by rich people who manipulate everything to make themselves more money, and dupe people like you into believing that you're actually more free when corporations are controlling your puppet strings.
The pendulum is swinging wa-a-a-a-ay too far towards "free markets."
Corporations are now "people" and have more rights than flesh-and-blood people.
Eminent Domain can now be used by private corporations to evict poor people to make way for private for-profit shopping centers.
Enough of this bull. Time to reign it in.
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:10am PT
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Just to keep this conversation honest, in 2014 Obama's FCC appointee ALSO tried to end Net Neutrality. This isn't a partisan issue, it's a government being in bed with special interests issue.
Full disclosure: I didn't vote for either Trump or Obama.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:14am PT
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So I guess the conclusion is that we are screwed?
Pretty much. The content on the Internet will be corralled and controlled 99%, just like every other prior "news" medium.
Control the search and indexing first. "Google-it". Check. Makes it much easier to memory-hole events that don't fit the narrative.
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John M
climber
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:16am PT
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Great post Mark.. And thanks SLR, for starting this conversation.
Net neutrality insures freedom. It doesn't give control to government. It gives control to the people and takes it out of corporate hands.
Jody, not every law is evil simply because it comes from government. Surely as a retired law enforcement officer you realize this. Protecting the rights of its citizens is the highest action of a government. As SLR points out, there are vast parts of this country only served by one internet provider because it isn't cost effective to have more then one provider in an area. Doing away with net neutrality would allow that provider to decide what people should have access to. Imagine giving George Soros power over what you can access on the internet. It wouldn't have to be absolute blocks. It could be black outs during certain events where the signal goes in and out. "Technical difficulties". Or simply a slowing down internet speeds during certain evens so the the live stream goes in and out. The list of ways this could be harmful is tremendous. An equal level playing field is what net neutrality is all about.
Edit: come on people. Please don't make this about attacks on each other. And lets not make this about "obama" or "Trump". Its about whats right for the people.
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Starman
Trad climber
Sterling, MA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:27am PT
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Mark Force, thanks for bringing up these two writings. 'Brave New World', however was written by Aldous Huxley.
Good, important discussion, folks...
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:38am PT
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Starman, thanks! I certainly want to give Aldous Huxley his due. Coffee hadn't kicked in yet. Made the edit to that post.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:40am PT
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THE SKY IS FALLING!
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sempervirens
climber
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:44am PT
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My dilemma is I trust government regulators even less. So I guess the conclusion is that we are screwed?
Yeah, probably, we are screwed. But since the so-called free market is largely populated and controlled by those whose mission is profit why should we have more faith in it when compared to gov. regulation? Capitalism requires regulation, right? I think we'll agree on that, otherwise you get monopoly and capitalism collapses. Meanwhile, gov. regulation invites corruption. Then what happens when there becomes a merging of gov., industry, and media? That seems to be happening. Consumers get less choice, less freedom, less free market.
Why wouldn't industry leaders try to control gov. regulation? It's perfectly legal for them to write legislation and contribute to candidates who support their legislation.
Best we can do is be active and informed - which is not easy in my busy world. How 'bout we consider: ranked choice voting, national healthcare, move to amend (to negate Citizens United). I think the main problem is we won't have reasonable debate on those issues because the country is focused on the red herring of socialism vs. capitalism. Media get us all to focus on that by telling us who to despise. It's so easy to despise trump. And trumpers find it easy to despise libs. I believe it is this spite that motivates conservatives. It motivates libs too, but for conservatives spite is doctrine.
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