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from the about-headlines:-don't-use-no-double-negatives dept.
The Register has a story about a court ruling that possibly puts one nail in the coffin of the attempt by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to prevent states from banning municipal ISPs.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said on Wednesday [PDF] that the American regulator lacks the authority to overrule state laws that prevent cities from operating their own ISPs.
Last year, the watchdog declared it was unfair of North Carolina and Tennessee to block community-run broadband. Now an appeals court has said the FCC overstepped the mark by trying to undo that block with a preemptive order. In other words, in this case, the US states can't be pushed around and overruled by the communications regulator as it lacks the clear authority to do so.
"This preemption by the FCC of the allocation of power between a state and its subdivisions requires at least a clear statement in the authorizing federal legislation," the judges noted.
"The FCC relies upon S706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 for the authority to preempt in this case, but that statute falls far short of such a clear statement. The preemption order must accordingly be reversed."
We obviously have not seen the last of this, especially since the amateur lawyer in me believes the court decision was in error.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday August 11 2016, @06:42PM
The bread and circuses works really well because there is a certain tipping point the people must reach on average before they are willing to fully invest themselves in protest. Ghandi and MLK really had the best methods, but in both cases things had gotten so bad that they had a major following. The problems in our society are so dispersed at the moment that you can't bring people together for one cause. The "Occupy" movement was the closest we've come in a while, and we all saw how that was marginalized and discounted. Too many people thought it was about lazy freeloaders, but 5 years later I think more are waking up to the reality of what Occupy was about.
Now we have BLM which is being similarly discounted. Sure there are lots of examples of how BLM screwed up in a variety of manners, but what movement doesn't have that happen?
I wish the powers that be would see this as a real indicator that things ARE that messed up and we need solutions NOW. When BLM started every police force should have immediately taken steps to address the grievances, but few to none did. The result was multiple shootings of police officers. Our culture has promoted violence in so many ways, and restricted the ability for people to address their grievances, so this is the result.
For everyone on here, you may be pissed and want a revolution, but a violent path is not the way forward. That will only give the government justification to imprison masses of people and send us into a truly dystopian nightmare. Right now we are in the idyllic dystopia, where the thin veneer of freedom still exists and certain lines can not be crossed. If a segment of the general populace turns to violence then you can forget gaining enough majority support, and expect the military to step in with soldiers that think it is justified. Then the whole US will really understand what fascism is all about.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 11 2016, @06:50PM
The truly sad part is you are too oblivious to reckon a portion of that revolutionary spirit is directed at your ilk.
Comparing a lack of municipal ISPs to Occupy and Ghandi?
Oh please.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 11 2016, @07:22PM
Banning municipal ISPs is one out of countless examples of widespread corruption. But it looks like you chose to be disingenuous.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 11 2016, @07:34PM
I'm sorry, I wasn't aware they suspended elections in North Carolina and Tennessee, and that the only possible remedy to this is an appeal to the FCC to then regulate ISPs in ALL states because apparently it is too much bother to petition their local representatives.
Which they even can, but... gasp! ...it will require, you know, due process of law.
Maybe they should send in the national guard to bring cost effective internet service to those poor huddled masses too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 11 2016, @07:38PM
I'm sorry, I wasn't aware they suspended elections in North Carolina and Tennessee, and that the only possible remedy to this is an appeal to the FCC to then regulate ISPs in ALL states because apparently it is too much bother to petition their local representatives.
Yet again, you're being disingenuous. First you pretend that the matter is solely about the banning of municipal ISPs and not the widespread corruption that this points to, and then you change the topic to how North Carolina and Tennessee still have elections, which is completely irrelevant and doesn't prove that there isn't widespread corruption. I, at least, didn't say anything about the FCC being the only solution.
(Score: 2) by fnj on Friday August 12 2016, @12:54AM
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
(Score: 2) by fnj on Friday August 12 2016, @12:56AM
Suspending elections is not the only way to subvert the electoral process.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday August 11 2016, @07:26PM
clearly, it will get very very bad if we have a violent revolution.
but I see no sign that a peaceful one that works 'inside the system' can ever work.
I just don't see it. sorry. the system is too self-serving to fix itself any other way.
yes, a revolution will suck and we will be far worse off for a long time. but like a forest fire, the forest regrows after such a disaster.
it could grow into a mad-max world, its true. its a chance that we may have to take. there's the chance we can fix ourselves once we endure a huge tragedy.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday August 11 2016, @07:42PM
Its not a chance we have to take, at that point it is something that will be forced upon us. The "powers that be" think they are so superior to the peons, but they can't get it through their thick skulls that the good of all spreads to themselves. Their greed has blinded "the system" and will result in the crash, where if they were truly smart then these problems would be addressed and the entire nation would prosper. Idiots, morons, troglodytes in top hats.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday August 11 2016, @07:47PM
In a small town pushing for a muni-ISP, TheGratefulNet rouses the rabble:
yes, a revolution will suck and we will be far worse off for a long time
"They can take our Internets, but they canna' take, our FREEDOM!!!!"
"Um, hey, Grate, the Pokemon are gone!"
"What do you mean, the Pokemon are gone? How many?"
"All of them, Grate! I was in the middle of Pokemon Go!, and suddenly they all just disappeared. It was like they were never really there at all!"
"Ok, that's it! Give the FCC whatever they want. Give Comcast whatever they want! Give Verizon . . . "
Sometimes capitulation can go too far. Way too far.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday August 12 2016, @08:57PM
That's coming very quickly. Bread and circuses is actually dying, along with our economy. What happens when the entire fast food industry moves towards automation? Those slave wagers, already taking state benefits, will swell the numbers of homeless people. There's a point I'm making with that, because a man in our neighborhood has fucking lost it over homeless people. Right next to his property he has major issues keeping homeless people from attempting to bivouac in the open property behind him. He's rented back hoes, invested thousands in strong metal fencing, and has engaged in a futile attempt to place obstacles to the homeless around him.
He's not happy. There are no bread and circuses at this guy's joint, that is quickly turning into a barbed wire, closed circuit surveillance, no trespassing, ill-fucking-shoot-you-if-step-on-my-lawn happy town.
The stresses and pressures are quickly overtaking people's ability for peaceful enjoyment, whether or not they still have the means to do so. I must stress, I'm in a very nice area of the country situated next to Silicon Valley. You would think we wouldn't suffer from this, but it's very clear that the service worker demographic in Northern California is tanking, and nobody gives a fuck.
No. A revolution will result in the 99% killing of much of the 1%, specifically that part that doesn't escape to another country. What sides are there going to be in the revolution again? White conservative nationalists against liberal minorities? I'm sure that fits some narrative for a race war, but the truth is the most hated and visible opponents are law enforcement and the 1%.
We've already seen the beginnings of it. Angry black men with military training becoming so convinced the only path to safety is killing the enemy. In this case, the enemy is law enforcement killing innocent unarmed, and predominately, black males. That's super hard to argue with, because that is exactly what the media portrays constantly. On both sides of the Republican and Democratic parties you have hordes of angry pissed off people convinced that the 1% are the problem, and that their party brings the solutions against them.
The numbers [prisonpolicy.org] are staggering. 2.3 million people locked up, at costs [vera.org] that are quite sobering.
At the averaged cost, that is ~$71 billion dollars per year. The actual number of all 50 states is higher, and those numbers are 2012 numbers. For each and every single one of those 2.3 million people, they contributed nothing to GDP and the tax base, and in fact, only contribute to private prison profits. Those profits come back in the form of taxes? Depends on what corporate inversions are occurring, and just how low the adjusted tax rate actually is. In any case, slave labor isn't subject to OSHA or the Federal Minimum wage laws.
Were the fucking 99% dude. Let's see them scale up the prisons that fast, let's see them deal with the collapse of the economy, and let's see them continue to make the rest of the middle-heading-to-poor class pay to house all of their friends and relatives fighting the good fight. Putting everyone in prison only works when you can afford it, and who is going to pay up that much money?
You know what a prisoner is afraid of when escaping prison? Going back to prison put simply enough, and that is fear based on the rest of the people outside of prison. So what happens when you have a prison of 10,000 Americans held of political activism (excuse me, revolution) and they realize that they fantastically outnumber the guards, and not everyone outside of prison agrees that a new prison should be built to house them at all. That's because those 10,000 people can actually tear the prison down and render it unusable in a matter of hours without the national guard moving in to pacify them lickety-split. How many former national guard members and trained ex-paramilitary might be in there too?
No, dude. You can't imprison a revolution. Not at this scale.