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Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

arstechnica.com

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Re: Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

#21

Post by s73ver »

bkeroack wrote: post #8
epistasis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is kind of BS. Let's contrast what Pai says: >Net neutrality, if it means a free and open internet, is something that everybody agrees upon, Meanwhile, in the Ars article, we have a sponsoring Senator who hates Obamacare saying: >In the announcement, Cruz repeated his charge that net neutrality is "Obamacare for the Internet." So not sure what you're trying to do other than misinform us.

I'm not sure it's inaccurate to describe Title II regulation as heavy-handed and unnecessary when the most rapid and beneficial growth of the Internet occurred in the 90s when there was little/no regulation.

But we're not in the 90s anymore. And large ISPs have demonstrated their willingness to screw their customers to make more profit.

Re: Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

#22

Post by MrFantastic »

bkeroack wrote: post #3

As a counterpoint to some of the outrage/hysteria over the new net neutrality policy, check out this interview with the new FCC chairman Ajit Pai: https://thefederalist.com/2017/04/26/fcc-chairman-ajit-pai-s... He makes some really good points and generally comes across as well-informed and well-intentioned. In this climate of crazy media hype it's good to keep an open mind and listen to the actual people working on…

All the examples of small ISPs not spending on infrastructure were small rural areas where the ISPs had a monopoly.

Why would they invest in improvements when they have no competition?

It's a total spin job.

Re: Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

#23

Post by arca_vorago »

mikhailt wrote: post #10
epistasis wrote: post #2

This is why politics is important, even in tech. We need some grownups to represent us. If you spend ~$50/month on home internet access, and $50/month on cell phone access, that's $1200/year for internet connectivity. How much do you spend on hardware per year? Do you buy a >$1200 laptop per year? How much money does Google make off of your info? The ISPs are rolling in cash. They have terrible customer service. They…

Wasn't there a bill back in 80s/90s to pay the ISPs to modernize the grid with 100mbps across the entire country? Politics isn't the sole problem, lobbying in the company interests instead of the customers is the other problem. There has to be strict federal laws to outlaw lobbying and any type of incentives for all federal employees including the politicians. No gifting, no promises for the future (job), and so on.…

What lots of people don't know is many ISPs across the country took that money and shoved it in exec pockets and then raised rates and never invested in infrastructure. An exec of one in my area for example was caught embezzling millions of that grant money.

Re: Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

#26

Post by arca_vorago »

shmerl wrote: post #6

How much are they paid for this crookedness?

5k I believe is the congressional donation limit, but only by one person or org. Generally when digging through public finance statements from congress (that's the sort of crazy I am), I often see the 5k limit hit by multiple entities in the same industry around the same timeframe, so that 5k limit ends up being 50-100k, not including all the other ways to pay for a legislator.

That's not even adressing the issue that ISPs have so much data they could probably run their own blackmail ops and similar dirty tricks if donations weren't enough.

Re: Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

#28

Post by Karunamon »

snickerbockers wrote: post #25

Then don't do business with terrible companies that invade your privacy.

Okay. I'll become less effective at my job, because the only search engine worth a darn is the second largest dataminer in the world.

In fact, scratch that, I won't even have internet access, because the ISP datamines me. Now I'm out of work and homeless.

No bank accounts either. The only stuff near me are instances of corporate banks that datamine my spending habits all to hell. Same for credit cards.

When you figure out how to do this "just don't do business with companies you don't like" thing in a way that doesn't turn me into a homeless pariah, please let me know.

Re: Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

#29

Post by alphang »

socrates1998 wrote: post #11

Why aren't google, facebook, amazon and apple fighting against this? They are some of the biggest companies in the world and they just seem to be rolling over at this. What gives?

It seems to me that reaction to this has been tame so far. I believe EFF and phone calls alone aren't going to do anything. You basically need awareness on the level of blackouts.

Re: Proposed “Internet Freedom Act” permanently guts net neutrality authority

#30

Post by jonomw »

arca_vorago wrote: post #23
mikhailt wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't there a bill back in 80s/90s to pay the ISPs to modernize the grid with 100mbps across the entire country? Politics isn't the sole problem, lobbying in the company interests instead of the customers is the other problem. There has to be strict federal laws to outlaw lobbying and any type of incentives for all federal employees including the politicians. No gifting, no promises for the future (job), and so on.…

What lots of people don't know is many ISPs across the country took that money and shoved it in exec pockets and then raised rates and never invested in infrastructure. An exec of one in my area for example was caught embezzling millions of that grant money.

Do you have a source that shows their misuse of funds?

I don't believe it to be wrong, I have parroted this fact many times myself. But I just realised that I don't have any evidence of it either.

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