Posted on 11/10/2014 5:25:38 PM PST by abb
WASHINGTON -- Republicans were quick Monday to condemn President Barack Obama's declaration that the Federal Communications Commission should block internet providers from striking deals with cable companies and other content providers to stream their material at faster speeds.
"Today's attempt by the President to have the FCC reclassify broadband Internet as a public utility is yet another example of the Obama Administration's radical effort to have the government take over more aspects of our economy where there is no justification," said House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson.
Joining Scalise in expressing opposition to the president's proposal were House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the incoming Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
But Netflix broke with other providers and endorsed the net neutrality position advocated by the president.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
I hate the big telecoms like Comcast. This isn’t about for or against Obama. We should be able to subscribe to a channel as we do a magazine or newspaper. Start with ZERO and have subscribers pay only for what they want to watch. Al Jazeera would disappear after one week. Let the market rule.
“But Netflix broke with other providers and endorsed the net neutrality position advocated by the president.”
Looks like I am looking for a new movie/tv site. Any suggestions? HULU? etc?
Gotta love that headline. Those mean old conservatives are objecting to equal access. BS. They are objecting to government control over something that is working just fine without government getting its grubby paws on it.
This issue is all over the place. I’ve seen techies fight it, and then be for it. I’ve seen libertarians all over the place on it. Count me in as confused.
I will state this. I do NOT want the Federal government with regulatory control over the Internet like they do tv/radio broadcasting. I don’t know where I fall on the idea of government mandating that all internet traffic is equal. Seems one could have the later without the former.
Subscribe to channels?
Most channels would go under within 24 hours. No one pays the true cost of all of these networks, and it would be naive to think individual network subscriptions would.
Cut the cord like many of us have. There is plenty to be found with just a Chromecast and YouTube.
Isn’t the CEO of Comcast one of obummers golf partners? This is a False Flag!
Pardon my stupidity, but wouldn’t this be nationalization, similar to what happens in Communist countries?
It’s hard to see what is really going on here. The first sign of trouble was when Barry appointed Tom Wheeler to head the FCC. Wheeler formerly worked as a Comcast lobbyist, so seemed like a bad choice and a strange choice for Barry to make. I’m guessing that Barry appointed a Comcast lobbyist to head the FCC, so that he could react to the encroachment by now implementing “Net Neutrality” as a means of getting his nose under the tent to heavily regulate the internet in the near future. Sort of a high-tech Fast and Furious strategy. The fox is getting into the henhouse.
Yeah, since when net neutrality meant government intervention
Well, government has destroyed the healthcare system now it’s time to move on to the internet.
“But Netflix broke with other providers and endorsed the net neutrality position advocated by the president.”
Of course they would. Government is picking business winners and losers again while the customers get screwed over.
I have an iPad with a digital av adapter and a digital av adapter for my laptop. Can hook either into my big screen Tvs. There is free streaming of everything all over the net. I don’t understand why anyone pays for Netflix, Hulu, etc.
Try to look at an Internet Service Provider the same as the post office. Where you put a 1st class stamp on your envelope and it gets treated the same as everyone else’s mail. Net neutrality is all about making the ISP’s behave like the post office and prevents them from prioritizing service based on the contents of those letters. How would you like it if the post office routinely viewed the contents of your mail and decided that... this one has a check for the NRA membership (toss it in the slow boat pile)... this one has a check to the DNC (fast jet!)... this one has a love letter to an armed service person overseas (slow boat).... this one has words of praise for the Hamas leadership for their latest terror attack (fast jet!)
Can’t believe I actually support Obumer on anything!
Making the ‘net a utility won’t be for the reason of “net neutrality”.
Once it is a utility, it will be made “fair”, “inclusive”, won’t allow “bullying”, no insults to any religion, no promotion of harmful things like gun ownership or tobacco use, it will have “reasonable” and “common sense” regulations of political speech, “balance” may be required, and in many states will be subject to state-imposed regulations as well.
Like telephony, ISPs will be forced to participate in government surveillance operations, retroactively by mandatory recordkeeping.
And that will just be the first five years.
And you know it’s not going to just stop there don’t you?
Anything this government gets its hands on gets screwed up massively.
It’s an old negotiating tactic.
Create a NEW outrage as a negotiating token to be given up in exchange for leaving prior outrages in place.
Counteroffer should be “You’re not getting away with ANY of these outrages!”
Yes, Netflix now wants “Net Neutrality” because its business model needs a telecommunications backbone with free enterprise driven from it, with rules that consider all users “equal”, which is not the case with Netflix itself but is what Netflix wants the backbone providers to have to do.
Hate to say it, but Al Jazeera is one of the few channels that actually covers live news. It’s reporting on the Middle East is better than what you hear on MSNBC. If you don’t believe me, watch it sometime. The most biased reports I have seen are their anti-fracking screeds.
Why are you mad at Netflix?
Comcast brought this on themselves. Comcast intentionally slowed the internet speed of users trying to stream Netflix films until Netflix ponied up millions in extra fees. Netflix paid. So did you.
Only government regulation can stop Comcast’s abuse of a public asset — the internet. It is Comcast’s privilege, not their right, to leverage the superhighway the United States created and which the people own. Comcast doesn’t own jack. Neither does NBC. That’s why they’re regulated, too.
Comcast acted like Tony Soprano with a public asset — pay us whatever we say — OR ELSE.
So now they get regulation, just like the electric company. Who also can’t charge whatever the hell they want without public oversight.
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