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posted by janrinok on Friday December 15 2017, @08:05AM   Printer-friendly

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to dismantle rules regulating the businesses that connect consumers to the internet, granting broadband companies the power to potentially reshape Americans' online experiences.

The agency scrapped the so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government will also no longer regulate high-speed internet delivery as if it were a utility, like phone service.

The action reversed the agency's 2015 decision, during the Obama administration, to have stronger oversight over broadband providers as Americans have migrated to the internet for most communications. It reflected the view of the Trump administration and the new F.C.C. chairman that unregulated business will eventually yield innovation and help the economy.

It will take weeks for the repeal to go into effect, so consumers will not see any of the potential changes right away. But the political and legal fight started immediately. Numerous Democrats on Capitol Hill called for a bill that would reestablish the rules, and several Democratic state attorneys general, including Eric T. Schneiderman of New York, said they would file a suit to stop the change.


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:03PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:03PM (#610276)

    No phone call neutrality meant super expensive "long distance" charges. It meant $10/minute international calls (adjusted for inflation-- a typical charge in the 1970s was $3/minute). It meant 900 numbers. It even meant 800 numbers that were very expensive to the businesses that knew they had to have them.

    Right, that was what made the costs high... not the fact you had no wireless technology, had to run wires everywhere (across the fucking ocean) and the data was ANALOG, and you had no automated switchboards SO YOU HAD TO PAY PEOPLE TO MAKE CONNECTIONS. Yeah that couldn't have been the reason for the fucking costs being high... it had to be some made up bullshit called "phone call neutrality".

    Jesus Christ man, are you one of those retarded Socialists that doesn't understand how business works?

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:15PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:15PM (#610285)

    OR it was companies with monopolies "increasing shareholder value" by maxing out marketing strategies. You need the local call package and the metro package and the state-2-state package and the international package and the multiple lines package and the non-ATT phone package.... in order to get functional phone service.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @04:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @04:14PM (#610332)

    Hey jackass, phones were automatically switched for a long time before ma bell was broken up. Ignoramus.