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The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#161

Post by callcallcall »

enobrev wrote: post #62
callcallcall wrote: post #26

Please do not complain into the echo chamber of comments here. Please take a moment to support the EFF, call your representatives, and speak to friends and family. EFF: https://www.eff.org/ Find your reps: https://tryvoices.com/

I think discussion is absolutely essential. I already saw this one coming, but I learn about political issues like this from here and other forums fairly often. Of course, said discussions are pointless without action.

Of course! Sorry I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I'm just frustrated and doing my best to channel that into action.

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#162

Post by ComradeTaco »

tomohawk wrote: post #130
ComradeTaco wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't just say the regulations are old and therefore invalid because they're old. Remember, the telephone industry was regulated because telephone companies merged and cooperated to create regional monopolies and destroy competition, all at the expense of consumers. Comcast, Time Warner and the like have all been doing the same.

You also can't just say that the internet is the same as POTS. The FCC has scarcely been better than these companies. It has a history of being a revolving door for companies. Consider what RCA/FCC did to Armstrong back in the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Howard_Armstrong Just because the FCC does something doesn't mean its good, legal, or whatever. It's just what 3 of 5 unelected, unaccountable appointee…

I understand that a phone connection is different from an internet connection. But I couldn't think of two more similar industries. Wasn't dial-up,the first real consumer internet delivered through via telephone lines and switches?

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#163

Post by tbrownaw »

toss1941 wrote: post #31
pnathan wrote: post #19

This, right here, is the consequence of the withdrawal from politics many geeks advocated very strongly in an earlier time. "Everything is corrupt, it doesn't matter"... turns out to only be a viable philosophy when things mostly work well enough . What we have in protections and freedoms were purchased through a ton of hard work by prior generations: the liberty to slack and think that it just works ok is a nice sid…

I always interpreted that resignation as "both sides are terrible, so I'm going to keep voting for my side". I wonder how many people really felt strong enough about politics to claim both sides are equally bad and then decided not to vote on that basis alone.

I wonder how many people really felt strong enough about politics to claim both sides are equally bad and then decided not to vote on that basis alone.

Since both sides are astonishingly bad, I usually end up voting third party in races where there is one.

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#164

Post by callcallcall »

antisthenes wrote: post #90
callcallcall wrote: post #26

Please do not complain into the echo chamber of comments here. Please take a moment to support the EFF, call your representatives, and speak to friends and family. EFF: https://www.eff.org/ Find your reps: https://tryvoices.com/

If my rep already voted Nay, what else can I realistically do?

You can call up their office and thank them. Seriously. Reps need to hear that people stand by their decisions. Also, you can spread the word to friends and family.

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#165

Post by masonic »

callcallcall wrote: post #26

Please do not complain into the echo chamber of comments here. Please take a moment to support the EFF, call your representatives, and speak to friends and family. EFF: https://www.eff.org/ Find your reps: https://tryvoices.com/

  support the EFF
Not to say that most of what EFF does isn't valuable, but this privacy exposure has been going on for over a year and a half already. Why didn't the EFF call attention to it until now?

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#166

Post by mmcconnell1618 »

tomohawk wrote: post #130
ComradeTaco wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't just say the regulations are old and therefore invalid because they're old. Remember, the telephone industry was regulated because telephone companies merged and cooperated to create regional monopolies and destroy competition, all at the expense of consumers. Comcast, Time Warner and the like have all been doing the same.

You also can't just say that the internet is the same as POTS. The FCC has scarcely been better than these companies. It has a history of being a revolving door for companies. Consider what RCA/FCC did to Armstrong back in the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Howard_Armstrong Just because the FCC does something doesn't mean its good, legal, or whatever. It's just what 3 of 5 unelected, unaccountable appointee…

POTS == Plain Old Telephone Service for those who didn't recognize the acronym

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#167

Post by Pharylon »

slang800 wrote: post #109
afarrell wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem is that legislators need to make decisions on a wide range of domains. This leaves them subject to influence by expert lobbyists and party whips. Critical thought about an issue requires much more time and study than most people have except for their own specialization. I assume you know how to pitch manure, program a computer, and cook a tasty meal. Yet tell me, how long would it take you to butcher a ho…

> One problem is that legislators need to make decisions on a wide range of domains. Maybe we should reduce that range of issues by cutting down the amount of regulation that the government is responsible for maintaining.

That's what they just did.

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#168

Post by pseudalopex »

vancan1ty wrote: post #80
asimjalis wrote: post #35

Is there another side to this debate or is it really this black and white?

One thing that I think is being ignored and was not mentioned in the article is that the referenced regulations were passed by the FCC near the tail-end of the Obama administration and never actually went into effect. So, strictly speaking, this vote did not change ISP regulations, it just keeps them the same as they have been in the past.

The FCC regulations were meant to provide protections that were previously enforced by the FTC. This vote keeps ISP regulations different from what they were in the past.

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#169

Post by gwu78 »

Aaron1011 wrote: post #156
gwu78 wrote: post #56

This thread may grow long and maybe turn to the topic of HTTPS. SSL with SNI exposes plaintext hostnames/domainnames on the wire for anyone to read, aggregate and sell, not to mention tamper with. It should be an optional extension. For many users it adds no benefit. For some users, it breaks their software and adds needless complexity. Now the privacy advocates have a reason to dislike it too. Just say no to SNI.

> not to mention tamper with Modifying the SNI hostname in transit is pointless - the client still knows what hostname they sent. Changing the SNI hostname would only cause the server to send back a different certificate, which would immediately be noticed by the client.

And break the connection. Mission accomplished.

Re: The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

#170

Post by anigbrowl »

tomohawk wrote: post #114

Before getting all spun up, I'd dig a little deeper on the issue than what the WaPo does in this piece. These regulations were only voted on late in 2016 and never went into effect. To do the regulations, the FCC reclassified the internet as basically ye olde telephone system, which then made it subject to their purview based on laws created in the 1930s. This is classic overreach. Congress never gave this authority…

Procedural arguments are a way to avoid dealing with the substantive issue. The elephant in the room is that one political party thinks it's totally fine to exploit your information for as much commercial gain as can be mined from it.
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