Posted on 11/21/2017 10:55:59 AM PST by smileyface
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission unveiled plans on Tuesday to repeal landmark 2015 rules that prohibited internet service providers from impeding consumer access to web content in a move that promises to recast the digital landscape.
FCC chief Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump in January, said the commission will vote at a Dec. 14 meeting on his plan to rescind the so-called net neutrality rules championed by Democratic former President Barack Obama that treated internet service providers like public utilities.
The rules barred broadband providers from blocking or slowing down access to content or charging consumers more for certain content. They were intended to ensure a free and open internet, give consumers equal access to web content and prevent broadband service providers from favoring their own content.
The action marks a victory for big internet service providers such as AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc that opposed the rules and gives them sweeping powers to decide what web content consumers can get and at what price.
It represents a setback for Google parent Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc, which had urged Pai not to rescind the rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at oann.com ...
Who thinks internet service was better since then?
I have seen more delays the last two years than ever before
It’s kind of interesting that within 24 hours of the DOJ opting to block the ATT-Time Warner merger because cause it gives a distributor too much control over the way it treats content, the FCC said it will vote to give internet service providers more control over how they treat content.
In a vacuum I’m not sure which side of this argument I favor, seems like rich, powerful companies fighting over who gets to screw us. In the absence of more evidence or facts my gut reaction is to be against whatever Obama was for and for whatever he was against.
If we had "Restaurant Neutrality" then you would be charged the same for a grilled cheese sandwich as I get charged for Filet Mignon and lobster. Without Restaurant Neutrality, restaurants can legally charge whatever the market will bear for their individual menu items.
It’s better for the net neutrality rules to stay. You give the libs that run these companies an inch they will take a mile.
They’ll slow down a pro 2nd amendment site only to speed up an LBGT one.
Obummer got this one right. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Net Neutrality is bad news...
“I’m not sure which side of this argument I favor”
From the article:
“It represents a setback for Google parent Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc, which had urged Pai not to rescind the rules.
With three Republican and two Democratic commissioners, the move is all but certain to be approved.”
Facebook and Google have become organs of the Democrat Party, where high level staff are employed between campaigns - preparing. “Net Neutrality” was their grab to have the Government exert regulatory power, to shield them from competition for bandwidth.
The other big potential loser is Netflix, a bandwidth hog who is protected from having to pay any premium to the carriers
As I recall, these rules only applied to some and not all providers.
Thanks, that is what I have been thinking of.
It basically gave enormous advantages to Google and Facebook.
I would rather let free market forces dictate what ISP's charge than allow some unelected government officials to dictate what I'm allowed to see and for what price.
There's a reason why companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter all supported this government "remedy" called "Net Neutrality".
“...it’s better for the net neutrality rules to stay....”
***************************
I think it was a master stroke for the Leftists to tag this ‘RAT dream with the misnomer “Net Neutrality”. That helped fool a lot of people, including me initially. You need to study this some more, IMHO.
“It basically gave enormous advantages to Google and Facebook.”
It was somewhat like a subsidy - but done with the Telecom Carrier’s money. The Government prevented companies from charging different rates to large or small customers, or for different classes of service. The Government assumed directive controls over the Telecom industry, by treating them as a public utility, without granting them the concurrent monopoly that utility laws were developed to regulate.
Private ownership with Government control is the economic model of Fascism.
I heard Ajit Pai (now the head of the FCC) speak at CPAC. He comes across as a very clear thinking Conservative, committed to free market principles as a matter of conviction, who was distressed by what he viewed as politically motivated bad policy. At that time, he was trying to blow the whistle on what was really driving Net Neutrality - political favoritism and a power grab by the Left.
I pay for their second highest speed tier and seldom get the rated speed. If I drop to the next lowest tier it's damn' near unusable.
There are NO other options where I live. AT&T DSL is still 12mb or less and those who have it hate it just slightly less than Comcast.
Not sure how "net neutrality" or eliminating it is going to impact my pretty crappy Comcast service.......
Thank you for the summary. That is helpful. It seems Google and Facebook were looking to Uncle Sugar to put its thump on the scales in their favor.
Pretty much anything Google and Facebook want is likely to be totalitarian bad. They have become de facto extensions of the Democrat Party with way too much unchecked power.
Net neutrality is a direct assault on private property rights.
“It’s better for the net neutrality rules to stay...
They’ll slow down a pro 2nd amendment site only to speed up an LBGT one.”
From the article:
“Pai’s proposal would require internet service providers to disclose whether they allow blocking or slowing down of consumer web access”
In fact, the power grab called net neutrality also goes well beyond pricing restrictions on speed or priority of service, to include oversight of content - giving the Government several levers powerful new tools to censor, or coerce self-censorship.
From the article:
“His plan also would eliminate the “internet conduct standard,” which gave the FCC far-reaching discretion to prohibit internet service provider practices deemed to violate a list of factors and sought to address future discriminatory conduct.”
Ajit Pai is a jewel - a solidly grounded free market intellectual, with the courage to crusade on principle.
From the article:
“Pai, who has moved quickly to undo numerous regulatory actions since becoming FCC chairman, is pushing a broad deregulatory agenda.”
They say in Washington that “Personnel is Policy”. Appointing Ajit Pai is very good policy.
exactly...
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