Law Upcoming vote on Net Neutrality laws - How many times do we need to strike this shit down?

FCC plans to vote to overturn U.S. net neutrality rules in December

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil plans next week for a final vote to reverse a landmark 2015 net neutrality order barring the blocking or slowing of web content, two people briefed on the plans said.

In May, the FCC voted 2-1 to advance Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to withdraw the former Obama administration’s order reclassifying internet service providers as if they were utilities. Pai now plans to hold a final vote on the proposal at the FCC’s Dec. 14 meeting, the people said, and roll out details of the plans next week.

Pai asked in May for public comment on whether the FCC has authority or should keep any regulations limiting internet providers’ ability to block, throttle or offer “fast lanes” to some websites, known as “paid prioritization.” Several industry officials told Reuters they expect Pai to drop those specific legal requirements but retain some transparency requirements under the order.

An FCC spokesman declined to comment.

Internet providers including AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc say ending the rules could spark billions in additional broadband investment and eliminate the possibility a future administration could regulate internet pricing.

Critics say the move could harm consumers, small businesses and access to the internet.

In July, a group representing major technology firms including Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc urged Pai to drop plans to rescind the rules.

Advocacy group Free Press said Wednesday “we’ll learn the gory details in the next few days, but we know that Pai intends to dismantle the basic protections that have fueled the internet’s growth.”

Pai, who argues the Obama order was unnecessary and harms jobs and investment, has not committed to retaining any rules, but said he favors an “open internet.” The proposal to reverse the Obama rules reclassifying internet service has drawn more than 22 million comments.

Pai is mounting an aggressive deregulatory agenda since being named by President Donald Trump to head the FCC.

On Thursday the FCC will vote on Pai’s proposal to eliminate the 42-year-old ban on cross-ownership of a newspaper and TV station in a major market. The proposal would make it easier for media companies to buy additional TV stations in the same market.

Pai is also expected to call for an initial vote in December to rescind rules that say one company may not own stations serving more than 39 percent of U.S. television households, two people briefed on the matter said.

Oh, and Comcast is already lobbying.

I'm so sick of this shit, seriously. The FCC is whoring out for Comcast and AT&T instead of ensuring that American citizens have equal access to the internet.

 

[FierceBrosnan]

I’m feeling better now than I was earlier today and I apologize for my anxiety-driven sperg fit. I just lost my cool for a bit.

Pai is a shithead, yes, but it seems like there’s a million and one ways for this to fail, and only like one for it to succeed without getting watered down to practically nothing. As a kiwi farmer, I can’t, in all honesty, say that I wouldn’t troll the shit out of salty people like he’s doing.

The ball just started rolling so it can be stopped at any point, especially with the mounting lawsuits against the FCC in addition to the ones that are already there.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Forgive me for being so late to the discussion but if anyone wants to bombard Ajit Pai and the FCC with criticizing emails and trolling, you can actually send him a direct email on the official FCC website. It'll probably be ignored but if enough people out there troll him and spam him and the FCC in general, there's bound to be a response.

Here's Ajit Pai's FCC page with a way to email him.

https://www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/ajit-pai?status=1

Here's the publicly available contact information for the FCC. Let them know that repealing Net Neutrality is a mistake! Make your voice heard!

One or two voices will be ignored, but if enough people raise enough of a fuss, they'll have to at least acknowledge that there is a problem.

Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW, Washington DC 20554

Ajit Pai's FCC email address: Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov

FCC Phone Number: 1-888-225-5322

Just avoid making threats or doing anything illegal, because that will undermine the movement and cause an even bigger crackdown.

Also, on another note, if we're lucky, the lawsuits the FCC are already facing may delay the enforcement of the repeal long enough for Ajit Pai to be fired or step down from the disgrace (or more likely, due to pressure from Congress).

Be sure to let your lawmakers know that you support Net Neutrality. Considering that this was opposed by the Democrats AND a good portion of the Republicans, and that even major tech companies like Google and Facebook opposed this, I'm sure that repealing Net Neutrality will blow up in the FCC's face so to speak.

 

[Mrs Paul]

How would this be any different than before Net Neutrality was put into law? I don't remember any serious problems back then. (You'd think that Trump wanted to bring back the Patriot Act)

 

[LettuceMan]

When Ajit watched the"take the poo to the loo" video, he misinterpreted loo with internet.

 

[FierceBrosnan]

How would this be any different than before Net Neutrality was put into law? I don't remember any serious problems back then. (You'd think that Trump wanted to bring back the Patriot Act)

It could potentially ( and this is at the very worst) roll back to the days of dial-up and the pay-per-minute bank account rape that it was. And it could also lead to things like having to buy "premium" packages to access basic web services.

 

[76LD910]

For all the people melting down, these regulations can always be put back in place if need be.

Even if the regulations don't get reinstated in full i honestly don't think the situation in the US would be any worse than it is in some European counties.

Europe doesn't have net neutrality in the truest sense of the word in that you can find plenty of "zero rating" data plans which allow the use of certain services without contributing to data usage, granted it's mostly mobile plans but the concept is the same and the distinction will become less and less clear as mobile technology progresses. The legality of these plans is not entirely clear and i believe ISP's in the US have tried (or currently use) similar blurred rules to get around NN.

But even in Europe where its far more politically acceptable for a major website like Google or Reddit to censer content deemed "offensive" by the government, and the fact that they have fewer protections than the US has had (or has at this very moment in fact, because the change is still months away assuming it goes through) its still not exactly China.

 

[Route 79]

Forgive me for being so late to the discussion but if anyone wants to bombard Ajit Pai and the FCC with criticizing emails and trolling, you can actually send him a direct email on the official FCC website. It'll probably be ignored but if enough people out there troll him and spam him and the FCC in general, there's bound to be a response.

Make sure to start your emails stating your age and gender, followed by some adjectives to describe you as a person. The FCC is more inclined to listen to your canned email that you ripped from reddit if you're a prepubescent girl of color.

 

[BoingBoingBoi]

How would this be any different than before Net Neutrality was put into law? I don't remember any serious problems back then. (You'd think that Trump wanted to bring back the Patriot Act)

because tech companies didn't have the ambitions they do now to partner with cable provider(s) to guarantee their own sites get priorities by ponying up. there were a few cases pre-NN, like T-mobile blocking skype on the iphone and comcast throttling some filesharing, but the potential for having your internet access turn into having access only to a few tech giants' services that can pay a premium is now very real. That is, without NN, access to "the internet" functionally may very well become, "access to a few of your favorite giant websites."

the other issue is the potential for tech companies controlling information based on websites they like or don't like. I think those fears are largely overblown since legally the freedom of press/speech issues are a bit less ambiguous, but it's still unprecedented and will have to be dealt with once NN is repealed, and you can bet the tech companies will fight only for more control.

 

[tehpope]

How would this be any different than before Net Neutrality was put into law? I don't remember any serious problems back then. (You'd think that Trump wanted to bring back the Patriot Act)

ATT did block 4chan for a time back in 2009-10.

https://techcrunch.com/2009/07/26/att-blocks-4chan-this-is-going-to-get-ugly/
https://techcrunch.com/2009/07/27/s...cess-to-4chan-which-is-now-under-ddos-attack/
https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/94pf2/att_is_now_blocking_all_access_to_img4chanorg/

https://archive.is/93Bob
https://archive.is/e7w9r
https://archive.is/vPQBa

 

[The Great Citracett]

12/14/17

The day I learned a bunch of NEETs are obviously major shareholders in Comcast, Verizon, etc. Otherwise they wouldn't be insisting that "we" just took "our" internet back from literally Stalin or whatever they're celebrating.

I'm stunned at the number of people who seriously believe that this is some sort of victory for free speech and that now there's going to be no more censorship or political correctness, or YouTube ads (a bunch think NN caused those and now they'll go away).

That somehow the internet is now their bizarre idea of "conservative" and this was Trump himself bitchslapping Obama, rather than Pajeet taking a shit on all of us regardless of politics.

I can't wait until these dipshits realize that whatever Verizon wants to do, "turn the whole internet into stormfront" isn't it, and they're still gonna get banned and censored for wrongthink just like before.

 

[Graffiti canvas]

Can someone translate this Reddit Autism Salt for me? Mine appears to be broke.

 

[Fervent Champion]

We can only hope all the people bitching will actually email or call their Congressmen and Senators. Between a review on the Hill and the many lawsuits to come that should restore the status quo. That's only if lawmakers think they'll miss out on votes in the next election.

 

[Route 79]

there were a few cases pre-NN, like T-mobile blocking skype on the iphone and comcast throttling some filesharing, but the potential for having your internet access turn into having access only to a few tech giants' services that can pay a premium is now very real.

These are actual legitimate concerns. If the pro-NN people were this rational they might have got their way. Instead they come up with stupid arguments and fiction about having to pay per website.

the other issue is the potential for tech companies controlling information based on websites they like or don't like.

You mean like thepiratebay? I think if ISPs resisted pressure to deny access to that then there isn't much to worry about.

 

[AnOminous]

How would this be any different than before Net Neutrality was put into law? I don't remember any serious problems back then. (You'd think that Trump wanted to bring back the Patriot Act)

There won't necessarily be any immediate results unless Comcast and Verizon and whoever have been champing at the bit and already have a plan to roll out some kind of complete ass rape as soon as it goes into effect. Back three years ago there wasn't anyone really doing anything that violated the general principles of NN anyway. It was just considered a precautionary measure and did very little.

I also don't think the FCC is remotely competent to regulate the Internet anyway and should just be done away with. Fire that grinning, street shitting fucking monkey and all the other cocksucking whores at that place.

Then instead of directly regulating them, just make something like § 230 CDA immunity from defamation and so on contingent on them actually acting like common carriers and not walled gardens. Something that would cost them enough if they were suddenly opened to liability that it would make it a very bad business decision.

That is, without NN, access to "the internet" functionally may very well become, "access to a few of your favorite giant websites."

There are some ways to respond to this. If, for instance, a critical mass of the rest of the Internet got pissed off enough, they could create and distribute an RBL (Realtime Blackhole List). This is currently done for relentless spammers and other malefactors.

Then add all the IP ranges owned by the perp companies to this list. At this point, all traffic to and from any of those IP addresses is blackholed, i.e. whenever data from these sites is seen by a site honoring the RBL (or one which acts as middleman for this traffic), into the trash it goes!

If you nuke their entire networks off the Internet on a big enough part of the Internet, they effectively will cease to exist to most people.

This would also be incredibly disruptive, of course, and is pretty much a nuclear option.

Also, imagine a massive class action suit on behalf of all Comcast customers, suing them for fraudulently selling Internet service while not delivering it.

 

[Doc Cassidy]

Even if the regulations don't get reinstated in full i honestly don't think the situation in the US would be any worse than it is in some European counties.

Europe doesn't have net neutrality in the truest sense of the word in that you can find plenty of "zero rating" data plans which allow the use of certain services without contributing to data usage, granted it's mostly mobile plans but the concept is the same and the distinction will become less and less clear as mobile technology progresses. The legality of these plans is not entirely clear and i believe ISP's in the US have tried (or currently use) similar blurred rules to get around NN.

But even in Europe where its far more politically acceptable for a major website like Google or Reddit to censer content deemed "offensive" by the government, and the fact that they have fewer protections than the US has had (or has at this very moment in fact, because the change is still months away assuming it goes through) its still not exactly China.

America is a whole different beast. The country is basically the size of all of Europe with a lot of people in rural areas. There are a lot of people that don't have a choice between ISPs. To give an example I only got broadband internet about three years ago, before that my only option was 56k dialup which is worthless for modern day internet. My only choice is dialup and the only broadband provider there is. Millions of people have this exact same issue.

 

[UY 690]

https://twitter.com/JoshGamnYoutube/status/941443946672197633

Secretly that would make you a racist. XD

 

[Sicko Hunter]

 

[BoingBoingBoi]

These are actual legitimate concerns. If the pro-NN people were this rational they might have got their way. Instead they come up with stupid arguments and fiction about having to pay per website.


You mean like thepiratebay? I think if ISPs resisted pressure to deny access to that then there isn't much to worry about.

tbh, pay-per-website is also an issue, or options to pay for a "bundle" of sites might be a real thing, kind of like cable packages on TV. "if you're a loyal netflix customer, and you don't want access to hulu, why should you be paying for access to hulu?" might be the reasoning. or if you never use facebook, or don't have one, why bother paying for a plan that gives you access to it? being able to pick and choose what sites you have access to is supposed to be a different kind of freedom the anti NN people are pushing, but it's deeply unclear how that will be implemented and how far companies will go in slicing up the internet based on different kinds of packages.

re: information control, I meant more like the example @tehpope mentioned of ATT blocking 4chan. that might not be illegal anymore with NN gone. news website "packages" might also be limited. Just think of purchasing a website "bundle" that only includes unfettered/unthrottled access to the NYT, WaPo, MSNBC, and Vox, rather than having full access to any news outlet. Perhaps you could buy a right-wing news bundle---and I expect there might be freedom of speech issues re: that companies must at least give you the option of buying such a package, or even a more diverse one---but i imagine that would make political discourse in this country even more polarized and bad since people would be consciously deciding to opt out of giving themselves access to sites they deem "fake news", both left and right.

 

[One Man Bland]

the other issue is the potential for tech companies controlling information based on websites they like or don't like. I think those fears are largely overblown since legally the freedom of press/speech issues are a bit less ambiguous, but it's still unprecedented and will have to be dealt with once NN is repealed, and you can bet the tech companies will fight only for more control.

This does make me wonder if we'll be seeing people who were previously saying that freedom of speech only applies to the government/private companies can't be in violation of free speech will change their tune after this though.

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

Forgive me for being so late to the discussion but if anyone wants to bombard Ajit Pai and the FCC with criticizing emails and trolling, you can actually send him a direct email on the official FCC website. It'll probably be ignored but if enough people out there troll him and spam him and the FCC in general, there's bound to be a response.

Here's Ajit Pai's FCC page with a way to email him.

https://www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/ajit-pai?status=1

Here's the publicly available contact information for the FCC. Let them know that repealing Net Neutrality is a mistake! Make your voice heard!

One or two voices will be ignored, but if enough people raise enough of a fuss, they'll have to at least acknowledge that there is a problem.

Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW, Washington DC 20554

Ajit Pai's FCC email address: Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov

FCC Phone Number: 1-888-225-5322

Just avoid making threats or doing anything illegal, because that will undermine the movement and cause an even bigger crackdown.

Also, on another note, if we're lucky, the lawsuits the FCC are already facing may delay the enforcement of the repeal long enough for Ajit Pai to be fired or step down from the disgrace (or more likely, due to pressure from Congress).

Be sure to let your lawmakers know that you support Net Neutrality. Considering that this was opposed by the Democrats AND a good portion of the Republicans, and that even major tech companies like Google and Facebook opposed this, I'm sure that repealing Net Neutrality will blow up in the FCC's face so to speak.

Dear Pajeet,

JULAAAAY