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Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

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Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#331

Post by drspacemonkey »

heydonovan wrote: post #56

The marketing for Net Neutrality is very poor. Just asked a few non-technical friends about it. A few responded with "Do you believe everything you read on the Internet?". Now if all their favorite websites were shutdown for a day, that would get everyones attention.

The worst is when a non-technical person tries to bring up the Fairness Doctrine, as if net neutrality is in any way related to the government regulating content. But it is a handy way to identify people who get their news from bullshit sources.

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#332

Post by studentrob »

rf15 wrote: post #14

Can I contribute without being an US citizen? It seems to be an US-internal issue, but considering that most of the net belongs to the US, this might actually be a far more global question than is legally coverable/definable by US law.

Good question. You could donate to the ACLU or Fight For the Future.

Also, certainly being active online and discussing it openly helps.

I think you'd want to refrain from commenting on the FCC website or otherwise pretending to be American. While there are anti-NN folks doing impersonation, it's not a good behavior to copy.

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#333

Post by mayneack »

nine_k wrote: post #315
hoorayimhelping wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Workflow: 1. I pay an ISP to provide me with internet service 2. Google cuts off services from my ISP I've already paid. 3. I call my ISP and say "google told me to complain to you," they say, "thank you for your feedback." 4. I look for a competitor. There aren't any, or the competitors don't suit my needs. Which is why this problem happens in the first place. If I could go to a competitor, I would. This is the key…

For the technically literate, three letters: VPN. Unfortunately, they (we) are a minority. Also, it's double expense, especially if you do something like Netflix.

What's to stop them from de-prioritizing or blocking traffic recognizable as VPN?

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#334

Post by erikpukinskis »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #221
komali2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this idea because I read too much cyberpunk. Why doesn't Twitter flex its muscle and cause a national crisis by tweeting "watch out China, nukes are coming" from Donald Trump's Twitter? That ruins trust in the platform, but what if they just banned the US president's account for TOS or something? Enormous amount of power. What if Musk's first ship to Mars had a hidden Railgun on it? "Anybody else that wants to…

It's going to happen. It's not question of if, but when. If a corporation succeeds in building General AI with enough hooks into basic infrastructure, and a loyal enough employee base, then they will have a more powerful weapon than any nuclear bomb. They can then build their own drone army that no conventional military could stand up against.

First of all, General AI is science fiction and there's no detailed theory to suggest it is even possible, beyond hand wavy neuron/transistor-count models. All evidence so far suggests a human-like gestation/development is necessary, and such a development would negate any advantage such an AI would have over traditional human cyborgs.

Second, what about an AI would give them an advantage over cyborgs in building drone battalions? Aren't conventional human cyborgs doing that right now?

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#335

Post by quanticle »

mabbo wrote: post #19

If Google were actually serious about Net Neutrality, they would use their insane market power to protect it. How? Well, a simple statement saying "any ISP who abuses net neutrality will have their customers cut off from Google products". No Google search, no YouTube, no Gmail. Have those requests instead redirect to a website telling the customer what their ISP is doing, why Google won't work with them, and how to c…

>Is this an insane idea?

It's not even that insane. MTV did exactly this to gain an edge when negotiating with cable companies. They ran ads telling people to call their cable companies and say, "I want my MTV!" The campaigns were largely successful, and MTV quickly became a standard offering on cable TV.

Google has far more negotiating power than MTV did. If Google actually cut off ISPs and told people to call their ISP and say, "I want my net neutrality!" it would have a good chance of working.

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#336

Post by valuearb »

unityByFreedom wrote: post #317
valuearb wrote: post #304

I have never understood the need for net neutrality. That doesn't mean we don't need it, it means that no one has ever explained the need to me in a way that makes sense. Give me real world examples. What has any ISP done that would violate Net Neutrality that I would object to?

> What has any ISP done that would violate Net Neutrality that I would object to? Here's a list: https://www.freepress.net/blog/2017/04/25/net-neutrality-vio... Excuse me for being blunt, but you're being willfully ignorant if you ask this question. A simple Google search of the exact wording of your question reveals this [1] > "Internet providers have attempted to throttle traffic by type or by user (Comcast in 2007…

Thanks for the first link, it's a pretty good summary of the arguments for. My question would be why don't most of those fall under fraud statutes.

The second link is the example of crap I've read about the issue that never resonated with me, please don't tell why arguments against are bad, tell me why I need it the the first place.

And calling me "willfully ignorant" is a good example of why net neutrality has failed to get wider support. I'm a full-time developer, I do read a lot about a lot of issues, but I'm also busy with a full life. Guess what, my governments tax, drug, school funding, and police policies get more of my attention than a poorly explained argument for limits on ISPs.

Advocates should learn to tell their audience clearly and concisely why Net Neutrality benefits them. And without being dismissive or condescending. I mean, only if they want to build more support.

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#337

Post by School-Cotton »

bdamm wrote: post #301
briandear wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly true. There is a two man rule to launch. On paper the president has the power, but there are extensive safeguards in place.

Not so. The nodes in the command chain have little if any ability to question the order they've been given. Officers are even selected based on their ability to carry out orders unthinkingly. In the US military, an order from POTUS is the ultimate command. The only part of the chain that matters is at the very top, specifically, the armed individuals who surround the President. They can choose to stage a coup or decl…

They have little authority to stop the order, which is not the same thing as saying they have no ability. In practice they are human beings and a Stanislav Petrov situation is totally possible.

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#338

Post by SolarNet »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #48
SolarNet wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were net neutrality actions before 2015, and net neutrality has applied ever since they were using phone lines for internet service (as, for example, those - phones - are where the original legislation was targeted, and where net neutrality came from). The 2015 Title II was a specific decision about specific ISPs (namely mobile data plans). So yes you are wrong.

There were net neutrality actions before 2015 Actions such as what? I'm talking specifically about regulations that prevent a company from throttling traffic in a discriminatory way.

Well you could google it. It also has it's own wikipedia page with like a hundred entries. Maybe don't be dense.

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#339

Post by ismarc »

valuearb wrote: post #307
seiferteric wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There would be no time. He literally has a phone on the desk that he can launch all the nukes in a few minutes notice, and NOBODY can stop him without illegally refusing to follow orders (hope to god they would obviously) but assuming everything works as designed the world would end.

For the US military its not illegal to refuse to follow an illegal order. The US Marines have this drilled into them, not sure about the other services.

I can confirm it's drilled into Army soldiers as well, so I'd bet on the air force and navy being the same way.

Re: Net Neutrality Day of Action: Help Preserve the Open Internet

#340

Post by enneff »

komali2 wrote: post #203
zabana wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I love this idea because I read too much cyberpunk. Can you recommend some novels ? (I'm also a cyberpunk nerd) Thanks in advance

+1 to jacquesm's suggestion, as well as pretty much the entirety of Neal Stephenson's library of work. Diamond Age and Anathem in particular. For me there's a lot of crossover between Cyberpunk/scifi, the only difference being time period, so I'd throw in the Culture series and the Revelation Space series. The Stars my Destination (grunge as fuck) Neuromancer, though I'm sure you've already read it.

> The Stars My Destination

Just wanted to chime in and say that this is one of the great SF books. Alfred Bester at the height of his powers. Gritty, fantastic, political, emotional, psychedelic, and epic. A truly astounding work, especially when you consider it was written in the early 1950s.

If you like science fiction: READ THIS BOOK.

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