Kiss Internet Choice Goodbye
Former Verizon attorney, Ajit Pai, who is now chairman of the FCC, is rolling out plans to repeal the Obama era rule that treated internet service providers as common carriers (like cable and network television companies) under Title II of the Communications Act. What does that mean? That means that Comcast and other internet service providers can decide what websites you can see and what apps you can use. They can also throttle the speed of your internet according to how much you pay. No longer would telecommunications companies be required to provide everyone with equal access to the internet. Even worse, Pai is also pushing rules that prevent the states from protecting consumers from predatory practices of huge internet service providers. In announcing his plan he talked how repeal of net neutrality would free the industry from crushing rules that require them to treat you fairly.
Pai, who was appointed as an FCC commissioner after Mitch McConnell recommended him in 2012, was elevated to chairman by Donald Trump in January of this year. He has since waged war on net neutrality ignoring the the cacophony of opposition from the public. This is what you get when you put an industry lobbyist in charge of regulating the industry you represent.
Yeah, if this goes through you and I will be working for Comcast, et al, rather than the other way round.
There are so many nuances to what the change may mean, so many that I expect it may take longer to make the change than the oligarchs are thinking.
Two examples: Medical records and communications. And the filing electronically of pleadings, motions, etc, in law suits. Right now, Texas district courts, and maybe some County Courts at Law, and the appellate courts, require that all lawsuits, and all pleadings, motions, etc, be filed electronically.
Start screwing around with these????
1It was bad enough with the foxes guarding the henhouse but now the weasels are replacing the foxes.
2George in Lee County: Another thought: What about financial institutions and education? It won’t be just the desk top users at home.
3Adding to the list: all non-profits. And what about government sites? What happens when you just want to look up the library’s hours or what’s happening at a local, state or national park? If the evil congress varmints are so eager to starve the government, well, certain entities anyway, would they be able to secretly collude with the greedy providers to shut off access to healthcare.gov, NEA/NEH grants info, anything to do with health, food, environment, science in general? I don’t mean to sound all tin foil hat paranoid but they’re already taking down a lot of stuff on various sites so I think we should consider it possible that a politician or a group of them would make deals with the internet providers. Hey AT&T/Verizon/Comcast, as long as you keep the moola flooding in we’ll do what you want as long as you help us out with these particular pesky websites.
4>>>Pai, who was appointed as an FCC commissioner after Mitch McConnell recommended him in 2012<<<
Yet another example of Obama's hapless, hopeless and damaging attempts to suck up to gops in hopes that someday, somehow they would like him. Right up there with the Comey nomination.
5Well, back to doing business by phone or fax and even – horrors – writing actual letters delivered by snail mail. Lets see how that works out for business and industry. They will e the first one’s to blow their collective tops.
6@lumpkin – The party in the minority get 2 out of 5 commissioner seats. The GOP named Pai as one of theirs. I don’t believe Obama could have rejected.
7Revolt! Said only half in just. On any given day it is almost impossible to keep up with the attacks on our institutions.
As if Betsy Da Claw wasn’t enough destruction to education, the GOP wants to tax university endowments and do away with the deduction for student loans. Why not tax the freeloading churches?
Then there’s pharma bro Alex Azar (Lilly) nominated for HHS to round out the assault on health care.
At the rate Donnie’s maladministration is blowing things up, there might not be anything remaining to fix in 2018.
Call and write your varmints. They either love or leave their seats and do pay attention to the probability of being ousted.
8I’d like to brainstorm a bit.
As a means of protest, is it possible to send messages intentionally routed through very slow servers? The concept is to show recipients the effects of throttled connection speeds. To my understanding of servers, the messages are downloaded in the background, and then presented. This might require embedded links that would download slowly.
Does anyone know of very slow servers? Or is it possible to have the server control the speeds? Other ways to protest?
Thanks
9Ajit Pai
Betsy DeVos
Scott Pruitt
Ryan Zinke
Rick Perry
Ben Carson
The list of people doing damage just keeps on going…
10it Is spelled FASCISM and you, herr Pai, are this weeks poster boy.
11Jane & PKM, it’s not just student loan deductions. They want to tax graduate tuition waivers too. Consider a graduate stipend (most often in STEM disciplines) may be $20-$30K at a university where tuition is even more. Grad assistants barely make a living wage, and now they get taxed on money they never see?
12Speaking of institutions, our oldest grandson just turned 18. One thing he had to do was sign up for Selective Service. Well, I nagged him, said IT’S THE LAW (much as I hated to) and finally he and Grandpa sat down to fill out the document, which says you won’t necessarily join the military, it’s just a list of eligible people. Guess what. They’d filled it out two days before his birthday. But did anyone automatically register them to vote? Not here in Texas. Our oldest son said neither party wants kids to vote. He said the smallest number of voters are 18-26. The issues concerning kids aren’t the issues that are on ballots.
13Do any other states have automatic voter registration?
Anyway I think the kids oughta get passports, just in case…
Marge Wood –
The issues concerning kids aren’t on the ballots: they’re baked into the respective parties’ platforms and policies.
For instance; the post right above yours, about tuition being taxed. This new tax bill is brutal toward younger people.
Also health care, net access, any kind of functioning judicial system; they’re all in jeopardy.
Kids HAVE to learn this. They’re the ones who’ll be dealing with the outcomes, long after we’re gone. And they have to start paying attention, forming plans, and taking action NOW.
14Because our entire governmental structure is being eroded away, like a sandbar in a hurricane.