How To Save The Internet From Trump & His Cronies
Republicans have have always said that they're the party of liberty and freedom.
So why are they now trying to make our internet more like China's?
Yesterday, tech companies and activist groups alike held a day of action to rally the public against FCC's plan to kill net neutrality -- the legal principle that bans internet service providers like Comcast from blocking websites they don't like or grabbing all your personal information from your emails to the websites you visit.
To give just one example how companies participated, Reddit greeted users who visited its homepage with a pop-up window warning them about what will happen to the internet without net neutrality.
The pop-up window also directed Reddit users to a petition page.
So, a few years ago Reddit user named Quinky created a graphic showing how without net neutrality, a fictional service provider named Telco might offer a basic service for $29.95 a month - but that will only get a user access to very, very basic websites.
Want to do a little research under Telco's plan? That'll cost you another $5 a month to use any search engines.
Want to read USA Today? That's another $5 package for US news - and if you want to read the BBC? That'll be another $5 for foreign news.
How about your favorite sports and cat videos on ESPN and YouTube - guess what? That's another $10.
Want to do some online shopping? It'll cost you $5 to even see what's in stock on Amazon or Ebay.
Is this what conservatives really want the internet to look like?
Comments
pay per click is exactly what republicans want the web to look like. they have, after all, paid for the best congress money can buy.
"Pay per click" ...has a nice ring to it. Was about to say, don't give em ideas. But bad ideas are their thing, so them all done thunk that one up awready fer sure.
"Buttons, links, mouses, purdy gurls, any damn thing ya touch, fools!"
deepspace: I'm extremely cynical about this. I agree with you. In my opinion it's really about total control of the message. In a Fascist State, that's everything. It's how Crooked Donny ended up where he is. Putin successfully used Foxaganda and the corpse media in general to install the numbnuts we're stuck with. The only ray of truth left is via social media....the Fascists are going to plug this leak asap.
What number do we rank now? ...Something like 43rd in freedom of the press? For christ sakes, this country is just as bad off as fnnn Russia.
Two things never mentioned on ABC, NBC, or CBS.....single-payer and climate change. I see Koch industries advertises on NBC's Meet the Teapublicans.
It's government to the highest bidder and those same bidders own the corpse media....resist Fascism now! It's all going to end very very ugly.
It is the Fascist control moving in s-l-o-w-l-y.
There will also be content that cannot avoided or removed - at any price. We have all been waiting for that state run media channel where the news is not fake.
Imagine being a poor multi-millionaire having to stoop so low, down to the level of of the common people, having to use the same internet as them. What is the world coming to, it's just not fair. I want more, it's mine. gimmie, gimmie.
Control thought, control everything.
The PETA protest, throwing paint (symbolic blood) on furs, was and is quite effective. I think it is a model for taking on the folks that have their ears packed and can't hear us and continue to work against the public interest.
I propose a anarchic-lite tactic to throw symbolic blood money at the more infamous billionaires, the uber-political donor class and bought public officials and politicians.
Use play money and theater blood only, nothing dangerous, just continuous public humiliation and reinforcing persona non grata status. Rude, sure, but nothing on the scale of damage they have and will cause without intervention. PETA's tactic worked for fox, mink and ermine. Could work for us.
Make sure you post the video to social media for bragging rights. Make sure the billionaire target knows the symbolism that it's 'blood money!'.
What keeps getting over looked is the fact that the Internet was and isa public resource paid for by tax money. To allow it to scam users one way or another should be an outrage... but isn't as we are devoted to the idea nothing should exist if some enterprise cannot profit from it. I began in TV Broadcasting... as a studio engineer at Channel 6 KOTV in Tulsa Oklahoma... I still recall whn the news broke of Kennedy assassination and the staff around me in the control room cheered as if a game score had just been posted...thier tem won... like it was OSU beating USC. That was a horrifying image of what could be what we are headed for nationwide. .. whn dissent is a thing of the past.
America is still farce vis a vis it's "amrketing collateral" that touts the US Constitution... particularly the 14th Amendment. There is no separation of Church and State possible in the Republican Side of the Government as the REpublican Party proudly implements laws and policies that are consistent with their Calvinistic Core Theology (Chosen vs not chosen social constructs) which is intended by their "God" to deny anything to those of us that cannot afford it.. housing, food, shelter, healthcare. I still amazed no legal entity as not exposed via law suits against the passage of laws that "respect" their religion and not mine.
Al Gore invented it, let him sort it out.
No, he introduced legislation that allowed a military program to evolve for civilian use, which later became known as the "internet," for which he should be applauded. Your willful ignorance is appalling!
If Lieberman had not been on the ticket Al Gore would have won the election and we wouldn't be fighting for internet freedom today.
The Internet, like most transformational technologies, has become an ESSENTIAL aspect of our lives. I no longer have a land-line phone, and my phone service is through the internet so every aspect of my personal security is dependent upon uninterrupted, un-filtered access. Call the cops...internet; call the fire department...internet; call an ambulance...internet. The internet is not just about access to entertainment or information anymore, it is a full-blown essential service. Just like electricity or gas, it should be considered a public utility...everyone MUST have unfettered, lowest-cost access. There are plenty of towns and cities across the US that now provide FREE WIFI service to their citizens. I'd gladly pay a few extra bucks in taxes to log into a publicly-owned, non-profit fiber-optic service to get rid of the exorbitant prices I currently pay for minimal bandwidth. How much evidence do we need to see that profit-motives have never, and can never support the general welfare, nor secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posteriety..especially when it comes to essential services?
@ #15
Putting all your faith communication wise in the fact you need internet to function sounds like a really, really bad idea. Perhaps it is time to regress a bit and protect yourself with more than one alternative.
...Thus, "reactionary Republican." What next -- two cans and a string? Somehow the greed-masters will figure out how to monopolize that too.
Hard to image that the republicans in the room are on board with making the internet a public service like #15 suggests. Nothing would prevent anyone from upgrading to pay a private company for internet, kind of like the USPS and its private competitors. Notice how private mail carriers rely more and more on utilizing services by outsourcing to the USPS for those more pesky delivery routes?
Hopefully TusconJack that you do not also have your amateur radio rigged up to the internet, which would defeat the purpose. If you don't ham then you could resort to messenger pigeons. After listening to the segment earlier this week about the book Raven Rock, who knows what is in store for us with the billionaires in charge of everything. We better pick up a Farmers Almanac and see if anyone has messenger pigeons for sale. Otherwise smoke signals seem to have been very popular.
Maybe someone #16 can explain to us what would happen if the internet stopped working in the private for profit market free-for-all. Maybe "Pharma Bro" will start providing internet access next. We the people do, well most of us, do put all of our faith in the United States Constitution and in the United States Government and have allegiance to this country. That is why the internet needs to be a public service so we can put our faith into its robustness as well. The postman always delivers; we need the postman to deliver internet access as a public service.
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Republican politicians love regulations that benefit the overbearing, all-powerful monopolies and tycoons who fund their campaigns; they hate regulations that benefit everyday people who have almost no real political clout unless they organize. And what is the popular venue these days to foment resistance? That's right, an open internet!
So, of COOOURSE!, it must be manipulated and controlled and profitized, picking winners and losers! Let's cede our "freedom and liberty," which the hypocritical right always harps about when it suits their own selfish purposes, to the monolithic "communication" (brainwash) giants and their tender mercies. I'm sure they only have our best interests in mind.