Posted on 05/19/2010 10:07:43 AM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
Last week, Sen. Byron Dorgan spoke to a room full of Internet regulation supporters at the Free Press Summit and said that the free-market community's argument that Net Neutrality is a government takeover is a lie. He also felt compelled to say that ATR and others were spreading falsehoods by calling it such. I shot back today with a piece in the Daily Caller explaining why I believe Net Neutrality is certainly a government takeover. From the op-ed:
Sen. Dorgan dismissed the argument by the free-market community that this is a government takeover, claiming “nothing could be further from the truth.” But that’s like saying the government isn’t taking over the auto industry, just telling car companies what models they can and can’t make. That they aren’t taking over health care, just telling insurance companies what plans they can and can’t offer.
Net Neutrality is a government takeover. The free-market community isn’t arguing that under these specific regulations the government will now own the industry – though that is the end goal of many Net Neutrality proponents like Free Press. Opponents argue that under the FCC’s Net Neutrality regulations the industry becomes the near absolute pawn of the government. When management practices are approved or denied by a government bureaucrat, it is a certainly a government takeover. And when the first of such regulatory steps tap into the very spine of the Internet – the networks on which everything else depends – that opens the door for further regulation and government intrusion.
It also does not assuage concerns that the FCC, Sen. Dorgan, and Free Press want to completely reclassify Internet access under a different section of the 1934 Communications Act called Title II, only to simply use “forbearance” – or voluntarily restraint – from applying every single regulation in that section to the Internet. The FCC’s forbearance could be temporary and subject to electoral tides and politics, not the consumer-driven free-market. This should be a concern for people on all sides of the political spectrum, who can easily envision specific regulations they oppose suddenly popping up on the FCC’s agenda.
Dorgan is a lying son of a bitch who has not the stomach to face his constituants.
Damnit, Dorgan’s lips are moving again...
net neutrality is simply the expropriation of property rights from isp’s to the government.
When was the last time some democratic regulation was good for the economy?
It’s a shame to see that gun owners of america(GOA) and the christian coalition(CC) have fallen prey to the left’s sales tactics on net neutrality.
If/when net neutrality(NN) passes and GOA and CC are silenced by government along with the rest of us, I know they will become loud voices to get NN repealed.
I’ll have to take solace in that for now.
I choose to listen to the members of the left who are not trying to hide the fact that NN is a road to censorship. But others are not making that same choice.
-————When was the last time some democratic regulation was good for the economy?-———
Great question.
——————How can anyone have a property right in a monopoly franchise that was given by the government in the first place?-—————
It may have been given by the govt at one time, but it’s not that way anymore. The internet is largely a govt-free zone. And they don’t like that one bit. Too many people are saying a bunch of “un-neutral” things around here and it must be stopped.
-——————Only socialists and leftists believe that it’s somehow “theft” when the government stops giving you a free prize.————————
True, if the free thing is still even being granted by government anymore. In the case of the internet, the baby birdie left the nest a long time ago. Out of government’s hands. And they want it back. That’s what net neutrality is really all about. It’s the nationalization of the internet. They can’t silence you without really clamping down on the internet.
that is not the issue
some user consume more bandwidth than others
isps say, ok some users have to pay more and the government is saying no
The isps should be allowed to charge whomever they like whateve they like.
MindWar paper by NSA Gen. Michael Aquino (#20)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5zfrdwh1QY
Michael Aquino - deserves google searches of his own. IMO A very evil person who served in our military, not a baseballl player. Look him up - please.
These two groups couldn’t have it more wrong.
Stripped to its core - Net ‘Neutrality’ is the government, dictating to private companies how they may allocate and charge for resources that they own.
I’m amazed at GOA getting it wrong. Not so much at the Christian Coalition.
When I first started of FR, I'd click on the link, make sure it was loading, go have a cigarette and get a cup of coffe, come back, check, ....
Even dial-up is faster now.
Aside from the guys who invented the internet, just what has the government spent on it aside from the cost of snooping? Even then, having things in an open and preserved forum has to have saved them some money somewhere.
ping
The same goes for net neutrality. Yes, we want the Internet to stay as it is now, and (apparantly) net neutrality is the term used to describe efforts to achieve this goal. But that isn't what the Left really wants here. What they want is total control of information flow on the Internet. They are losing viewers of their lousy TV programs, and no one wants to read their lousy newspapers or magazines. And they can't get a foothold in talk radio (Fairness Doctrine, anyone?). The Internet has a lot to do with the decline of the media in this country, or, more importantly, the more free-flowing information that the Internet provides has people turning a blind eye to the Left-dominated media. Hence, control is needed with the Leftist-dominated government being the ones to control it.
Sorry, but with these Leftist nutcases in charge, this is one issue to be kicked down the road for good. Leave the Internet alone.
It’s very simple: Bellsouth/AT&T owns the resources, they should be able to manage and cut whatever deals they want.
And you still haven’t answered why you’re selling left wing media ‘reform’ propaganda as ‘gospel’ on FreeRepublic.
You’ll be lucky to survive contact with the lightning.
But the pipes still travel over public facilities in some capacity.
Wireless on the other hand......
no,
some people use more bandwidth than others
isp should be allowed to adjust pricing to take this into consideration.
Ooooh “fatcats” now we know you’re a liberal. Only libs hate the rich.
Net neutrality is putting the government in charge of the internet. Nothing good every comes from putting the government in charge, net neutrality is EVIL, pure and simple. It’s giving the government the tools to shut down anybody they want.
Fatcats is a liberal pejorative used to poison the well when the facts are against you.
Are you a lib, sir?
Did you sign up yesterday just for this?
>>>Are you a lib, sir?
Did you sign up yesterday just for this?<<<
Part of Cass Sunstein’s crew to spread disinformation and chaos on websites which question the authority of Our Dear Leader. Sunstein’s job at the White House in his unapproved and unreviewed czar position is to act as Obama’s Minister of Propoganda. One of his jobs, explicitly stated, is to do things such as this - to sign up on opposition websites and write outrageous or provacative things to still up trouble, or, better yet, to smear the website and its users.
Adding that little squib about the date the person signed up was a piece of brilliance from the folks who put this site together.
All I can say is... expect more of this.
Should be “stir up trouble.” Damn fat fingers.
“All I can say is... expect more of this.”
And we can give more by calling talk shows, and writing letters to the editor to counteract them. Let’s get busy, folks.
Rush was saying one of the things they want to do is have pop-up ads, say on a conservative website, to show the liberal side.
Net neutrality is what we currently have. If it amounts to government take over of the internet then the government has already taken over the internet.
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