Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member Ajit Pai said over the weekend that he foresees a future in which federal regulators will seek to regulate websites based on political content, using the power of the FCC or Federal Elections Commission (FEC). He also revealed that his opposition to “net neutrality” regulations had resulted in personal harassment and threats to his family. Speaking on a panel at the annual “Right Online” conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Pai told audience members, “I can tell you it has not been an easy couple of months personally. My address has been publicly...

It was obvious from its construction speed just how important the new site in Bavaria was to the Americans. Only 4½ months after it was begun, the new surveillance-proof building at the Mangfall Kaserne in Bad Aibling was finished. The structure had a metal exterior and no windows, which led to its derogatory nickname among members of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the German foreign intelligence agency: The “tin can.” The construction project was an expression of an especially close and trusting cooperation between the American National Security Agency (NSA) and the BND. Bad Aibling had formerly been a base for US...

According to a report at the National Review, conservatives in Wisconsin have been the target of police raids in a secret "John Doe" witch hunt against supporters of Governor Scott Walker. But, Newsbusters reported Thursday, only Fox News reported on the raids. The rest of the so-called "mainstream media" has so far said nothing, Scott Whitlock said. Fox's Trace Gallagher explained how prosecutors were allowed to go after conservative groups like the Wisconsin Club for Growth. Then, he said, it expanded to supporters. Cindy Archer was one of those supporters. Recounting the NRO story, Gallagher said that "late one night...

John Doe laws dating back to the 19th century in Wisconsin allow DAs to hold secret panels, compel people to give testimony and turn over documents. To take advantage of the loopholes was Prosecutor John Chisholm, a partisan hack who had a vendetta against Scott Walker. The corruption extends to judges, police officers, lawyers and to at least one newspaper, the Journal Sentinel. In a September 9, 2014 article, former Milwaukee police officer Michael Lutz, who for several months served as an unpaid special prosecutor in Chisholm’s office, said that Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm, a Democrat, told him in...

Recently adopted net neutrality regulations soon could make your monthly Internet bill more complicated — and potentially more expensive. Every month, consumers pay a small fee on their phone bills for a federal program that uses the money — a total of $8.8 billion raised nationwide last year — to provide affordable access to telecommunications services in rural areas, underserved inner cities and schools. Now the fee could start appearing on broadband bills too, in a major expansion of the nearly two-decade-old Universal Service Fund program. It's not clear yet, however, if most consumers would end up paying more in...

Water authorities are using a new tool in a major effort to crack down on people and businesses wasting water in light of new water restrictions issued by Gov. Jerry Brown to fight the drought. The Long Beach Water Department says sprinklers at a McDonald’s restaurant on Bellflower Boulevard went on for 45 minutes at a time, twice a night, for an undefined number of nights. Complaints continued to mount as water pooled and wasted. The department, however, could do little about the wasting. That was before the smart meter.

Recent congressional hearings held in the wake of the Federal Communication Commissions's (FCC) net neutrality ruling provide a glimpse into what is so deeply wrong with this regulation, and why so many activist groups were behind it. ADVERTISEMENT It's an aspect of this matter of which you were perhaps unaware while the FCC was considering its regulatory strategy. Perhaps you thought net neutrality meant what was said of it: that it was intended to prevent the blocking or throttling of websites, or of "paid prioritization."Silly you. Actually, those were the interests of those companies — like Google and Netflix —...

When the London Telegraph reported last week that newly uncovered documents link 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta to Iraq-based Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, it wasn't the first time one of the 9/11 hijackers had been reported to have such ties. In a development that adds evidence to the case that Iraq played a direct role in the worst attack ever on the U.S., reports show that Ziad Jarrah - who piloted the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers had discovered they were on a suicide mission - also had ties to Nidal. Like Atta, Jarrah traveled to Hamburg, Germany, where...

A man, woman and their 4-year-old boy at an unidentified Inland Border Patrol checkpoint are ordered and pulled from their vehicle, questioned and taken into custody – all for the seeming offense of refusing to say where they were headed. A video of the incident, recorded by the family’s dashboard camera, opens with the man and woman chit-chatting with their son in the back, later identified as 4, and pulling up to a border checkpoint. The man, who’s driving, has his window a third of the way down.

Despite the European accord last month to extend a financial lifeline to Greece, Athens is rapidly running out of cash. So it is scrambling to find new, even radical ways to fill the shortfall — including a proposal to recruit citizens and tourists to spy on suspected tax evaders. Greece’s coffers may be empty before the end of this month, as tax receipts shrink and the economy shows signs of lapsing back into recession. Athens officials have hinted they may have trouble repaying or refinancing a total of about 7 billion euros, or $7.7 billion, owed in March to the...

Can you imagine a world where your home, your vehicles, your appliances and every single electronic device that you own is constantly connected to the Internet? This is not some grand vision that is being planned for some day in the future. This is something that is being systematically implemented right now. In 2015, we already have “smart homes”, vehicles that talk to one another, refrigerators that are connected to the Internet, and televisions that spy on us. Our world is becoming increasingly interconnected, and that opens up some wonderful possibilities. But there is also a downside. What if we...

The powers behind the FCC’s muscling of the Internet Today’s vote by a bitterly divided Federal Communications Commission that the Internet should be regulated as a public utility is the culmination of a decade-long battle by the Left. Using money from George Soros and liberal foundations that totaled at least $196 million, radical activists finally succeeded in ramming through “net neutrality,” or the idea that all data should be transmitted equally over the Internet. The final push involved unprecedented political pressure exerted by the Obama White House on FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, head of an ostensibly independent regulatory body. “Net...

Toy maker Mattel has unveiled a new Barbie that talks and remembers kids’ unique preferences. "Hello Barbie" is being marketed as a cutting-edge toy that builds relationships, but one German magazine says she is more like a Soviet-era informant. The latest incarnation of Mattel’s flagship doll was curtly re-baptised “Barbie IM” by German weekly Stern. The initials stand for “Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter”, informants who worked for East Germany’s infamous secret police, the Stasi, during the Cold War. The toy and game manufacturer highlights Hello Barbie’s voice recognition and wifi capabilities, which allow the company to store information and use it to...

WASHINGTON D.C. (INTELLIHUB) — Thursday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on and approved the end of the Internet as we know it. That’s right the ‘information superhighway’ has just been obliterated by the passage of “Net Neutrality” which allows the FCC to regulate the once free and independent Internet. Essentially it’s like putting a person or a checkpoint between point A and point B in which one may eventually have to check in with. Call me a conspiracy theorist but that would be a “gatekeeper” which proponents of the plan promised wouldn’t exist. Although this analogy may seem far-fetched...

... The two Republican FCC Commissioners (out of a total of five) know exactly how important this new plan really is. Commissioner Ajit Pai has called the new FCC plan “a massive shift in favor of government control of the Internet…everything from your wireless service plan, to your wire line connection at home.” These new rules would not only affect your services, it would also give FCC regulators the power to decide what content on the Internet was “just and reasonable.” Commissioner Tom Wheeler makes the absurd comment that the FCC would never use those powers. But in a February...

Federal regulators voted Thursday to impose sweeping net neutrality rules that supporters say are critical to protecting the freedom of the Internet. In a party-line 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission moved to embrace an approach advocated by President Obama to treat the Web like a utility in order to prevent major companies such as Comcast or Verizon from slowing, blocking or creating “toll roads” for people’s access to the Internet. "We cannot have gatekeepers who tell us what we can and cannot do and where we can and cannot go online," said Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the FCC's three...

Dallas Mavericks owner and investor Mark Cuban predicted that proposed FCC Internet regulations will end up impacting TV and “your TV as you know it is over” on Thursday’s “Squawk Alley” on CNBC.

(Reuters) - U.S. regulators are poised to impose the toughest rules yet on Internet service providers, aiming to ensure fair treatment of all web traffic through their networks. The Federal Communications Commission is expected Thursday to approve Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed "net neutrality" rules, regulating broadband providers more heavily than in the past and restricting their power to control download speeds on the web, for instance by potentially giving preference to companies that can afford to pay more. The vote, expected along party lines with Democrats in favor, comes after a year of jostling between cable and telecom companies and...

Feds look to adopt 322 pages of fresh taxes, regulations; FCC Chair Refuses to Testify before Congress Another wild power-grab. Power without accountability. The net is the very last frontier for free speech. — Despite google algorithms that consistently render — day in day out, year in year out — always render left-wing sites on first page search results; — Despite filters that block my site and sites like mine (Jihad Watch, The Religion of Peace, Creeping Sharia, Sharia Unveiled, et al) at work, school, and even US army bases and government agencies; — Despite search engines refusing to include...

we are deeply concerned that the FCC’s new rules will include a provision that sounds like a recipe for overreach and confusion: the so-called “general conduct rule.” According to the FCC's own "Fact Sheet," the proposed rule will allow the FCC to review (and presumably punish) non-neutral practices that may “harm” consumers or edge providers.