Free Republic

UPDATE: The implementation of Barack Obama's takeover of the Internet is less than 45 days away. And as Marsha Blackburn says, if Congress does not take action to stop Barack Obama, the government will "control the Internet" in a little over the month. Make no mistake, the Internet as you know it will never be the same if we let Barack Obama implement this takeover. You'll pay more for less service and the government will use this draconian ruling as a club to bludgeon Internet freedom, including ultimately your free speech. And if you think we exaggerate, consider what Rep....

I have noticed a significantly slower Internet bandwidth speed lately. I'm decently savvy with computer. I have cleared the cache, checked for browset helper objects, viruses, trojans, reset the modem and router and have connected directly from the modem to the computer; still have a slow connection. Even disconnected other computers and access points on the network. I called my ISP and they say they haven't had any outages. So my question - is anyone experiencing this?

This week, the FCC voted 3-2 in favor of implementing net neutrality policies. These rules will prevent internet service providers like Verizon or Comcast from blocking or throttling traffic, ban giving priority to providers who are willing to pay for faster service, and reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service. This means that internet service will now be regulated under stricter, utility-based laws the government currently uses to control wired telephone and other similar services. The pro-NN moves made by the FCC have come under attack from both activists, and members of Congress. A recent poll shows that only 1 in...

Republicans invoked Star Wars’s evil galactic emperor in their attacks on new broadband regulations on Friday, warning that the public and Silicon Valley were in for an unpleasant surprise. Quoting Emperor Palpatine, Republican Ajit Pai, a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said: “Young fool … Only now, at the end, do you understand.” Meme wars between the two sides of the debate continued through the day, as internet advocates Fight for the Future, Demand Progress and Free Press flew an airplane towing a 2,000 square foot banner over the towering corporate headquarters of the cable giant Comcast, in...

WASHINGTON – For years, top Catholic bishops have argued for stronger federal oversight of the Internet superhighway. The alternative is intolerable, they said; big cable companies will force noncommercial religious speakers to pay more or assign them to slower lanes. On Thursday, the bishops saw their dream move one step closer to reality after the Federal Communications Commission voted for strict network neutrality or “open Internet” rules. Bishop John C. Wester, chairman of the communications committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), endorsed the FCC’s approval in a statement.  “From the inception of the Internet until the...

A Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission wants to see changes that could narrow the scope of new net neutrality rules set for a vote on Thursday. Mignon Clyburn, one of three Democrats on the FCC, has asked Chairman Tom Wheeler to roll back some of his provisions before the full commission votes on them, FCC officials said. The request — which Wheeler has yet to respond to — puts the chairman in the awkward position of having to either roll back his proposals, or defend the tough rules and convince Clyburn to back down. It’s an ironic spot for...

As the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Election Commission toy with regulating aspects of the Internet, critics on those agencies are warning that speed and freedom of speech are in jeopardy. In a joint column, Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai and Federal Election Commission member Lee Goodman, leveled the boom on the Obama-favored regulations, essentially charging that it will muck up the freedom the nation has come to expect from the Internet. In one key passage of the column published in Politico, the duo wrote Monday that heavy-handed FCC regulations like those imposed in Europe will significantly slow down

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai is out with a new message to fight net neutrality: “If you like your wireless plan, you should be able to keep it.” Borrowing the phrase from President Obama, the Republican commissioner penned an op-ed with Federal Trade Commissioner (FTC) Joshua Wright, raising concerns with Obama’s 332-page plan to regulate the Internet. While the president insists his plan is for a “free and open Internet,” Pai and Wright said net neutrality is anything but. “If you like your wireless plan, you should be able to keep it. But new federal regulations may take away your freedom...

Republicans in Congress are doing a 180 on net neutrality as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to issue new rules within weeks. For years, GOP lawmakers have adamantly opposed any rules requiring Internet service providers to treat all Web traffic equally, calling them unnecessary and an example of Washington overreach. But now that the FCC is moving toward issuing a tough net neutrality order that would subject broadband to utility-style regulation — an approach endorsed by President Barack Obama — top Republicans in both chambers are making plans to legislate their own rules to ensure the agency doesn’t go too...

As a New Year’s resolution, I thought I would look at making 2015 the Year of Neutrality.  The idea of Net Neutrality is so absurd that it I thought we might apply it to everything.  Here’s just a few I came up with. Airline Seat Neutrality.  Oh, you bought a business class seat?  Great!  You paid the airline to fund that seat and we’re very proud of you, but there’s a rule saying that the airline has to give the seat to whomever the government tells them.  You get to sit in coach while some schmo is sitting in the...

President Obama thrilled liberals and Internet activists last week by calling for the "strongest possible" net-neutrality regulations to ensure that all Internet traffic is treated equally. **SNIP** "The net result is that every single American broadband customer will have to pay a new tax or taxes to access the Internet," Ajit Pai, a Republican FCC commissioner, warned in a speech last week. "That translates into less broadband adoption, especially among the millions of families that still struggle to make ends meet in this lackluster economy." Technically, the FCC does not have the authority to "tax." But the agency already collects...

Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, As spring unfolds here in the Northern Hemisphere, the future of the free and open Internet hangs in the balance. As such, I strongly believe everyone should have at least some understanding of what is at stake. When most people hear or read the words “net neutrality” their eyes glaze over with a feeling of confusion and despair: “I can’t remember, am I supposed to be for or against this?” This is exactly how the lawyers and lobbyists in D.C. want it, but unless the citizenry is informed we could lose the...

Well, it appears that TRADOC is now well into the process of attempting to destroy the greatest armed force that the world has ever known. Training and Doctrine Command has launched “two major efforts in support of this full integration of women soldiers.” TRADOC has started a scientific review working with U.S. Army Medical Command, U.S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine and Army Research Institute to assist in the development of gender-neutral physical standards for all Areas of Concentration for commissioned officers and military occupational specialties for enlisted soldiers.In addition, the “TRADOC Analysis Center is examining the institutional and cultural...

Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton has described Ireland’s position on military neutrality as “narcissistic”, but conceded it would be difficult for Fine Gael to win public support for a major shift in defense policy. A report on Ireland by one of France’s main EU think tanks, due to be published today, quotes Creighton saying she is “very supportive” of Ireland joining common European defense, but doesn’t believe her party could gain “political traction for that in the short term”. … The report by Notre Europe (Institut Jacques Delors), published to mark the 40th anniversary of Ireland’s EU accession, concludes...

Late last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took what is being called "the final step" towards implementing their illegal Net Neutrality regulations. You may recall, that back on December 21, the FCC bypassed government regulations and seized control of the Internet -- delivering what many believe is a knockout blow to one of the last, great free-market frontiers our nation and the world has ever seen. According to the organization Less Government, regardless of a multiple lawsuits, a move by the House of Representatives and a D.C. Circuit Court unanimously ruling that the FCC had no authority to take...

...In fact, Section 706 calls for the expansion of broadband via deregulation, not further regulations. The Court of Appeals for D.C. even ruled that Net Neutrality cannot be justified under this particular section of the Telecommunications Act. As has been seen in The Netherlands, Net Neutrality is extremely detrimental to the telecommunications industry. The largest Dutch wireless company, KPN, has been forced to increase their prices by a significant percentage in order to recoup their financial losses as a result of the new, onerous regulations. In the current economic status, furthering the financial and regulatory burden on companies, and, consequently,...

It's one sentence. And it has thrown Minnesota's largest school district into the national debate on gay rights. "Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation including but not limited to student led discussions." Controversy over that line within Anoka-Hennepin schools' Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy has hung over the suburban district for more than two years. The policy itself is the only known one like it in Minnesota. Parents of students who are gay, bisexual or transgender, or perceived to be, say the directive leaves their children vulnerable to bullies. Teachers...

Cold War Neutrals Now Taking Sides, Timidly Europe's Cold War neutrals now taking sides, timidly, as they redefine security policy The Associated Press By KARL RITTER Associated Press STOCKHOLM April 9, 2011 (AP) Swedish fighter jets are roaring into action over Libya under NATO command. Ireland is offering itself as a transit hub for U.S. military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Even famously independent Switzerland has peacekeepers in Kosovo. For Europe's once-staunchly neutral countries, much has changed in the two decades since the Cold War ended. With no East-West conflict as a reference point, the concept of neutrality has been...

Search neutrality, the belief that search results ought to be impartial, is quickly becoming a hot-button issue in Washington. Critics have accused Internet giants Bing and Google of producing self-serving results, implying that, say, the latter engine's algorithm has been tweaked to push links to Google Maps or YouTube, rather than a competitor's site. Though Google has denied any such action, the question now is: Should federal authorities be tasked with regulating search results on Google and Bing, or might that amount to a "government takeover" of the Internet? According to a new report by Rasmussen, the vast majority of...

Milton Friedman had it right. Business is no friend of free markets. The Federal Communication Commission’s “net neutrality” ruling is more evidence of this. What the FCC should have done is called it a year, went on holiday and left the Internet alone. Instead, it found a solution in search of a problem. And that solution was more or less supplied by Verizon and Google last August. To a great extent, the new rules codify that blueprint, which — at least as those companies see things — acknowledged both the inevitability of some government rule-making and the need to better...