Live data from Hacker News

More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

hackernoon.com

51–60 of 343 posts

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#51

The centralization of the web is what worries me. I suppose non-neutral net can contribute to that, but even with a neutral net we've seen extraordinary centralization around a few major sites. Will neutrality really save us?

It might not be enough to create exactly the net you want. But yes, net neutrality is strictly better for decentralisation than the alternative.

That is because neutrality creates a (somewhat) level playing field. Without it, Facebook could, theoretically, pay Comcast to slow down a new competitor that is just emerging.

I say "theoretically", because such an action, if taken overtly, would probably still run afoul of competition law. But there will be other, more subtle, ways to achieve similar results. I would expect the result to be worse for data-heavy and latency-sensitive applications, as well as anything using a non-standard protocol (i. e. peer-to-peer networking etc).

It's possible, although not certain, that current service levels might remain accessible for new startups. But any future improvements would be tied to signing contracts with any provider whose customers any new startup would want to reach. Prices will tend to be exactly the value of these customers to the startup, minus one cent–or as close to that as can be measured.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#52
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better yet, make it a tax break. You can choose where $100 of your tax goes by writing in the organizations. This is a thing in Poland for donating to nonprofits, except it's 1% of your tax. It seems to work alright.

How will this help stop, if not even do more to empower, ambitious billionaires seeking public office to further their own goals?

My alteration specifically or the idea generally?

The only reason I suggested a tax break is because it would work as a good motivator for people to actually engage themselves a bit. They're paying the money anyway, why not do something with it?

The idea generally... in an ideal world where you simply could not fund campaigns from money except from public donations like this, it'd just even the odds a little bit for non-billionaires.

I don't know of a way to make the existing money and power of billionaires not matter in politics at all, though. There's always loopholes and workarounds.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#53

What needs to happen for shit like this not to happen anymore.

Get money out of politics. No more superPACs. No more third party bullshit. My proposal: only contributions from individuals to official campaign organizations. Each person can donate a total of $100, split any way they want. I’m tired of so many decisions being made at the behest of some campaign funder whispering in a politician’s ear. Our democracy is being corroded by all this money.

Your solution has a clear result: only the wealthiest would be able to run for office.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#54
post #9

I got a bunch of emails from senators thanking me for contacting them this week... before I had contacted any of them. Who knows what was said in my name.

I got some too. In my case they were from battleforthenet.com. Maybe yours were too? I had signed up quite some time ago, so I was surprised to see these. I guess they only recently sent them or the senators only recently responded.

Same. Came just last week for me.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#55
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Just like the election This seems far worse than what happened with the election. The hacked emails at issue in the election were real, and they revealed bad things that the Clinton campaign was involved in. I have always found it laughable that the complaint seems to be “we lost because the Russians uncovered the bad things I was doing, and it’s not fair that people found out about them”. If the emails had all been…

There was evidence that some of the leaked emails were subtly altered to make them look worse [1]. Additionally every campaign, company, even private individual has emails that wouldn't look good if they were leaked to the public with no context. I'd bet there were emails from the other side that would have been just as damaging had they been leaked. In fact we know there were, because several damaging emails from Do…

Your reference, [1], refers to documents from Guccifer 2.0, which Salon uses to extrapolate that "emails hacked from the Hillary Clinton campaign may not have been as reliable as the anti-Clinton camp would like to believe." But then there's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DomainKeys_Identified_Mail#Non....

As far as damaging e-mails from the other side, they would probably need to go further than: mocking people with disabilities, attacking gold star families, insulting POWs, admitting to sexual assault, etc. because all of that is on tape.

As far as Russia being involved with the pizza nonsense, I'd like to see some citations on that. Here's one accounting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory#Ge...

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get money out of politics. No more superPACs. No more third party bullshit. My proposal: only contributions from individuals to official campaign organizations. Each person can donate a total of $100, split any way they want. I’m tired of so many decisions being made at the behest of some campaign funder whispering in a politician’s ear. Our democracy is being corroded by all this money.

Here in Europe the same deals happen, but it just happens behind the scenes, so you don’t know what’s going on. In the US PACs are required to disclose their donors, so you at least have some idea who is trying to push their agenda.

No it doesn't.

First: it can't happen "behind the scenes" because almost all the money goes into TV advertisement. You can't hide TV ads.

Second: it just doesn't happen.

Third: It's counterproductive to push such cynical, almost nihilistic, conspiracy theories. If you just accuse any politician of corruption, you remove all incentives for them not to be corrupt.

I have met many politicians, and worked for some. And by and large, they're hard-working, and exhibit remarkable integrity, as in: doing the right thing, even when nobody's looking.

Imagine being a politician who leaves his office to use the payphone across the street for campaign calls. Not because it's illegal, but because they consider it unethical to use government property for this purpose. Even though the call would have 0 marginal costs, what with flat-rates and everything.

Now that politician does a town hall, and he gets is people, red in the face, screaming at the tops of their lungs that he's bought by X or Y, or a lying, stupid, fascist and communist.

I've personally seen a 60+ year old man silently cry in the car after such an event. Yet it wasn't because he felt insulted, but because he remembers a time when the level of public debate was worthy of his dedication. And when everyone argued with basic decency, and with a shared purpose (such as healing the scars of World War 2).

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#57
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Just like the election This seems far worse than what happened with the election. The hacked emails at issue in the election were real, and they revealed bad things that the Clinton campaign was involved in. I have always found it laughable that the complaint seems to be “we lost because the Russians uncovered the bad things I was doing, and it’s not fair that people found out about them”. If the emails had all been…

I'd love to see Trump's emails. But, very curiously, wikileaks didn't release anything negative about Trump. Only seeing one side's dirty laundry is the problem. Don't kid yourself that only one side had it.

You already got its public twitter for that.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#58

What needs to happen for shit like this not to happen anymore.

Get money out of politics. No more superPACs. No more third party bullshit. My proposal: only contributions from individuals to official campaign organizations. Each person can donate a total of $100, split any way they want. I’m tired of so many decisions being made at the behest of some campaign funder whispering in a politician’s ear. Our democracy is being corroded by all this money.

I'm generally with you, but what do you mean by third part bullshit? I think the parties themselves are the problem, so independent s and third parties are what is needed. (Not looking to get into another argument about the mistakes in duvergers law, just curious for some clarification.)

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#59
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Just like the election This seems far worse than what happened with the election. The hacked emails at issue in the election were real, and they revealed bad things that the Clinton campaign was involved in. I have always found it laughable that the complaint seems to be “we lost because the Russians uncovered the bad things I was doing, and it’s not fair that people found out about them”. If the emails had all been…

There was evidence that some of the leaked emails were subtly altered to make them look worse [1]. Additionally every campaign, company, even private individual has emails that wouldn't look good if they were leaked to the public with no context. I'd bet there were emails from the other side that would have been just as damaging had they been leaked. In fact we know there were, because several damaging emails from Do…

> There was evidence that some of the leaked emails were subtly altered to make them look worse

This is a lie. The emails were cryptographically signed, they have not been altered.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#60

FCC has explicitly said that they have ignored any opinion comments. They have only considered comments which bring new facts or a legal opinion. So the fact that many comments were faked is irrelevant anyway.

Which would hopefully bite them in the ass if I had any faith in a Trump-appointed judicial branch. The FCC is required to take public comments into account when making regulations, this should be a fairly straightforward lawsuit.
Post reply on HN