This Could Seal Net Neutrality's Fate
By Thom Hartmann A...
While all eyes have been on the GOP trying to steal people's healthcare, Donald Trump has nominated a corporate telecom lawyer named Brendan Carr to serve as the FCC's third Republican commissioner.
And on a commission that only has 5 commissioners, that could mean the end of net neutrality as we know it.
According to Think Progress, FCC Chair Ajit Pai has welcomed Carr's nomination - claiming that "he would be "an added voice at the commission in efforts to reduce senseless regulations and install sound policymaking".
In other words - he would help Pai destroy net neutrality.
Why are conservatives so committed to making it easier for monopolists like Verizon to charge consumers more for worse services?
And really, shouldn't we be going the other way and recognize broadband access as a human right as most European countries and Canada have done?
Comments
#2
Thom is sort of saying all eyes have been on the GOP trying to steal millions of people's Medicaid plans and increase costs for those on the for profit health insurance plans.
Those same eyes need to be redirected to Single Payer. We all need to start saying this.....I want my taxes to pay for Medicare for all, instead of the government takeover crap the righties throw out there. Big difference with the semantics here. Repeat that government is our servant, not our dictator. The Fascists need to know we the people are still aware of what our founders intended.
The Fascists are using Net Neutrality as another step in suppression of truth and complete control of the message.
BTW: Watch for Trump and Putin to use a fake Syrian agreement to leverage for an end to the sanctions .
#3
yesterday Deepspace suggested I go to the Rockies and chill. Truth is my friend I have a place in the beautiful Kootanay Valley near Radium Hot Springs, BC. Canada. It backs onto a crystal clear creek that the Salmon spawn on ever fall. Yes Deepspace you are right it is Awsome. The reason I bring this up is you can buy $1.30 CAN for $1,00 US. Makes for a very inexpensive holiday. Check Westjet For flights they have some deals on as we just celebrated Canada's 150 th birthday and go to many US cities. You will be shocked when you see the airport fees here though triple of yours. Most Canadians are far left of me so you will feel at home here. Oh ya same with booze. In some cases 10 times what you pay. That's why we have free healthcare.
#4
Citizens need to refer to Single-Payer as a, "We the People," takeover of heath insurance. We need to take back the message with simple phraseology.
#5
Your health insurance is not free Kend... everyone contributes based on ability to pay. It's called progressive taxation.
#6
Health insurance.. it's not for just anybody. Ask a Republican (AKA Calvinist). Most of us know there could.. should .. be a universal insurance program system for all of us... not just those that have so much money they can afford all risks and associated premiums. My former Congressman, Robert Hurt, when asked why not just provide the same tax payer supported insurance that he had to all US citizens.. and he said they did not deserve to get it. When challenged about what he had via a life time benefit paid for by taxpayers.. he stated emphatically that he deserved it as he was "serving" his country implying the rest of us don't even the fact we "losers" are paying his $50,000+ per yr for life retirement pay and for his lifetime Federal health insurance. McCain said at a rally when running for President how the free market was his "religion." That coming from a military family that has never worked for a living. America sucks in that it is devoted (as McCain said he was) that nothing should be provided unless someone can make profits from it... affirming it was his and America's "religion." We will never change...because as Antonin Scalia remarked when interviewd when first appointed to Court.. asked what he saw his role to be.. he stated that his obligation was to see that nothing will happen for the first time. May God Damn him too. Thus we can never be what the "marketing collateral" of the founders wrote.. that we are all created equal and all are endowed... not just them.. Calvinists. Marketing hype was used to "sell" independence. Slave owners.. profiteers... Trump is just follwing in the foot steps of a Calvinist theology. Sadly, he doesn't know that as he never read anything but Superman comics. We need to put taxpayer resources into aggressive space exploration.. seeking intelligent life elsewhere.. there isn't any on this planet.
#7
I agree whole heartily that all those senseless tweets Trump puts out are a smoke screen designed to help disguise what he is really doing. I agree that Trump can't be trusted. He is a tycoon, a businessman and businessmen become rich by insuring their capacity to make a profit. They are driven by greed, no matter how they paint themselves before the public but the Internet? That is something that has worried me since it's creation.
Why? Well, freedom of comunnications sounds very nice but the type of freedom found in the Internet doesn't really favor the public. I mean, I could rant all I want. I could start my own blog. I could do many things but that doesn't mean someone is going to listen to me, or that what I say will have any weight on anything. It just means that I could write stuff until my fingers fall of. So, who does that freedom benefit?
It benefits private enterprises that can now interfere freely on our comunications with ads that just will not shut up and that slows down our equipment. Now, thanks to the Internet, they, private enterprise has direct acess to us and can spy on us as they do, all the time. They know what we see, they know what we viisit, they know what we buy and they know about everything we search for. We worry about the government spying on us but the people that re spying on us are people who work for private enterprises and they don't (if I'm to believe the press) collude with the government.
It also benefits criminal enterprises, the pornography market, pedophiles, all kinds of hackers, identity thiefs and so forth. A drug dealer can now maintain direct comunications with their contacts world wide. Slavers can now make deals to sell their human cargo to who ever is interested around the world. Terrorists can use the Internet to find recruits and drive them into doing horrible things. I don't really think that the Internet is such a good thing.
Now, talking about terrorist, I don't really believe in terrorism as it's put out in the news. I believe that someone is finding vulnerable people out there who want to die but would like to leave a mark on the world. Anyone can claim that the person is working for any number of terrorists organizations but who is doing it for other reasons and, that person, can find the people it needs to create the fear and cofusion that terrorism creates using the Internet.
In my mind I would think that any nation that wanted to protect their people that the first thing they would do is to limit the Internet. That way, a hacker in, lest say, Russia, would not find it easy to hack our voting machines, or destroy our infrastructure. Of course, that would mean that no one could use the Internet to create another Ärab Spring".
As for what we pay for Internet services (and it's the same for cable and other services we like to have in the house), that is something we can control. The government can decide what ever the government wants but if we stand for what we believe and if we defend our interests, those prices would come down and those services would improve. The reason that they are lousy is thata we don't do anything but cry and complain. We think those services are awful and expensive but we rather go hungry that to get rid of the celular, Internet and cable services. We are addicted to those things and that addiction makes us weak.
Just saying.
#8
I don't care if you want to be rich. All I want is enough left over for me to have a car, clothes, shoes, computer, and maybe even a small house. A little money to eat out once in a while.. These guys are greed driven. They want EVERYTHING. For the life of me, I can't understand. I'm in my '60's and know that the "parking meter" is reaching the expiration point on my life.. What ever I have I will not keep when I die. So what is the point of hoarding things??
#9
Anybody that thought they were voting for something other than making the 1% wealthier is a fool.
#10
@ #4 More accurate terminology would be calling it "Healthcontrol"
@ #9 You have absolutely no knowledge of what drives people to pull the lever and select their candidate. There are fools on both sides of the aisle. Choose a winning candidate and stop fretting over others motivation.
#11
Kend,
Sounds like a beautiful setting. Yeah, I should explore BC. Been to Alberta, hiking and camping in Jasper and Bannf National Parks, then East of the mountains to Edmonton, Calgary, etc. Very friendly people everywhere, and was treated well for being a "Yank." Grew up close to the border where a lot of Canadians came down to ski in the winter and hang out at our warm(er) lakes in the summer, so in Ireland my hybrid accent is often mistaken for Canadian, eh.
Happy 150th!
#12
Diane, I am sure that you can give us examples of the Republicans doing legislation for the 99%????
#13
F G Kaye,
Good one!
Here's Trumpo meeting with his cabinet, plotting their next move:
#14
They have kept the Press 'genie" in the bottle for hundreds of years. Soon they will pull the "evil"; as they will make you believe, socialized internet Press 'genie' back into their little vile to keep order while they continue to pilfer society and prevent a healthy, wealthy, and wise population.
#15
I heard this woman from the AEI today talking about net neutrality and had to wonder what world she lives in. Her argument that we need to eliminate it to allow for more choice on the internet is the worst sort of bunk. All you have to do is to look at cable TV to see how wrong she is.
If what she said were true I would have choices on my cable TV package to only get the stations that I want. I would prefer to just eliminate all sports channels from my subscription. I NEVER watch them and will never watch them. In spite of this, every package available not only has dozens of sports channels, but I am charged a local sports fee. In other words, allowing cable companies to decide what content I get just allows them to bundle things in ways that are most profitable for them, ignoring the specific needs of many of their subscribers.
The same thing will happen with the internet. Instead of paying for access based on speed, eliminating net neutrality would allow them to charge extra to get to certain sites, meaning that I need to know what sites I am going to visit before I subscribe. It would stifle innovation, because it will become harder for startup companies to make their sites accessible to a large number of people. It will NOT allow choice or flexibility, but will in fact do the opposite.
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While in the Navy serving on FBM Submarines I had many a discussions with men qualifying. It always lead to who can stop an nuclear launch. The answer is no one can stop a launch, but one could be delayed by anyone, who was well qualified on the ships systems. The same can be applied to the internet. People in the right positions could turn off them all or sections of the internet, randomly. Make it so problematic it would not be partible for the people who want to control it to operate any structure. It does not have to be destroyed or rebuilt just interfered with!