Posted on 03/02/2015 10:10:21 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
By the way, the FCC's Internet power grab is a bigger deal than executive amnesty.
If it seems insane that Google at one point lobbied hard for so-called "net neutrality," you have to realize that the biggest and most influential players always figure they can benefit when a market becomes more political. That's because they figure they're in a better position to manipulate the market to their benefit.
So imagine Eric Schmidt's horror when he realized that last week's power grab from the FCC was no ordinary bit of regulatory meddling in an otherwise free market. The heavy-handed move of three FCC commissioners to put the Internet under the same federal regulatory structure as decades-old telephone companies will have an absolutely devastating effect not only on the free use of the web, but on innovation and the free working of markets.
And no, Google, you won't be able to use your influence to make sure it works in your favor. Because these people answer to no one and don't even care if what they do makes any sense. Way to create a monster:
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler justified Obamanet by saying the Internet is “simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee.” He got it backward: Light-handed regulation made today’s Internet possible.
What if at the beginning of the Web, Washington had opted for Obamanet instead of the open Internet? Yellow Pages publishers could have invoked “harm” and “unjust and unreasonable” competition from online telephone directories. This could have strangled Alta Vista and Excite, the early leaders in search, and relegated Google to a Stanford student project. Newspapers could have lobbied against Craigslist for depriving them of classified advertising. Encyclopedia Britannica could have lobbied against Wikipedia.
Competitors could have objected to the “fast lane” that Amazon got from Sprint at the launch of the Kindle to ensure speedy e-book downloads. The FCC could have blocked Apple from integrating Internet access into the iPhone. Activists could have objected to AOL bundling access to The Wall Street Journal in its early dial-up service.
Among the first targets of the FCC’s “unjust and unreasonable” test are mobile-phone contracts that offer unlimited video or music. Netflix , the biggest lobbyist for utility regulation, could be regulated for how it uses encryption to deliver its content.
Until Congress or the courts block Obamanet, expect less innovation. During a TechFreedom conference last week, dissenting FCC commissioner Ajit Pai asked: “If you were an entrepreneur trying to make a splash in a marketplace that’s already competitive, how are you going to differentiate yourself if you have to build into your equation whether or not regulatory permission is going to be forthcoming from the FCC? According to this, permissionless innovation is a thing of the past.”
I say this is a bigger deal than executive amnesty simply because it will have a greater and more direct day-to-day effect on more people. Everyone uses the Internet. Everyone benefits from the innovations that drive it daily. And everyone will pay the price when they're much harder to develop because things get bogged down in regulatory permissions and approvals. What if online streaming had to be approved by federal regulators, who operated at the same pace as those doing that "comprehensive review" of the Keystone XL pipeline - all because they were being lobbied by someone who wants it delayed and made the right campaign contributions to the right people?
The knuckleheads who thought net neutrality was about making the Internet "equal for everyone" about to get bitchslapped by reality. With the Obama Administration, everything is about putting whatever you can under political control.
Congress could stop this, by the way. And if they're as effective in that effort as they've been stopping executive anmesty, God help us all.
I did a "Bing it on" challenge. Google had NPR and Bing had WSJ... Time to stop searching with Google
Well, the innovators would have to recognize the situation and counter-bribe. The regulators bosses in the Oval Office would become bribe-neutral, and collect the toll from both parties. /S
Come to think of it, in many areas, I think it may work that way now.
This whole thing will turn into an arena of big-money bribery: where giant players will seek advantage and or waivers in exchange for giant contributions, to one party or another. Exactly like 0bamacare, exactly like all the green energy companies that went bust, exactly like the great majority of pro sports arenas, and exactly like common core. But this time, I guess we’ve learned our lesson. Not.
I’m sure Al Gore is sad.
After all, he invented the internet, and it looks like fellow Democrat Obama will be responsible for shutting it down.
The Mozilla Firefox home page was cheering about it yesterday.
Well Goog, don’t just whine about it - help us elect a conservative president who will use his pen to reverse this crap.
You’re absolutely correct; I tried the search on Startpage which uses Google and got the “Google” liberal results.
I searched on Yahoo and Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor topped out.
Problem is of course...no one under 30 will ever understand it or care.
Forget it.
Google is highly wired-in to the federal government. Any move to the right would endanger their situation in myriad ways. Not the least of which would be bye-bye Moffett Field, which they kind of like having.
Plus, they know perfectly well that they can kick as much sand in the faces of Republicans as they like, and nothing will happen as a result. Republicans don't know how to use power. Doing so is beneath them.
It amazes me that they were against SOPA, but a minor rewording and a name change to Net Neutrality and they slobberingly supported it.
You don’t find out what’s in it until it is voted in!
Not even then. We still don’t have a copy of the ruling. 300+ pages that affect a significant part of your life, and you’re not allowed to see it.
We may all soon discover that Google is nothing more than a facade CONTROLLED by the NSA.
I have been listening to Rush, too. Sounds like the push will be to censor traditional and conservative thought, while pushing the progressive thought and agenda. Companies like Google have so much money they can buy just about anything in this world. It is dangerous stuff.
WOW. That was an eye opener. EVERYTHING returned by Google was leftist. Aljazeera was the 2nd return! I’ve switched to Bing. Screw google.
This is straight out of Atlas Shrugged.
Where’s our clapping seal?
After I read this, I copied and pasted and then I sent it to everyone in my e-mail Contact List.
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