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A Federal Communications Commission lawyer faced a skeptical panel of judges today as the FCC defended its repeal of net neutrality rules and deregulation of the broadband industry.
FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson struggled to explain why broadband shouldn't be considered a telecommunications service, and struggled to explain the FCC's failure to protect public safety agencies from Internet providers blocking or slowing down content.
Oral arguments were held today in the case, which is being decided by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. (Audio of the four-hour-plus oral arguments is available here.) Throttling of firefighters' data plans played a major role in today's oral arguments.
[...] The lawsuit seeking to overturn the net neutrality repeal was filed by more than three dozen entities, including state attorneys general, consumer advocacy groups, and tech companies such as Mozilla and Vimeo.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 04 2019, @11:46AM (25 children)
A man isn't a man, a woman isn't a woman, understanding is racism, and telecommunications isn't telecommunications. We confuse the simplest of issues beyond human understanding, so the exploiters feel free to confuse other simple issues beyond understanding. And, while the masses huddle and quiver in confusion, those exploiters are free to rape all the masses, en masse.
That word, "telecommunications"? "Talking afar". "Communicating further than you can shout". It's really that simple. Of course the internet is telecommunications. All the rationalizing is meaningless - just as meaningless as all the new genders being discovered on a weekly basis.
Ajit Pai needs to be booted out of the FCC, and the orange bastard needs to apologize to all of us for being such a stupid fuck.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by pkrasimirov on Monday February 04 2019, @11:57AM (6 children)
> the orange bastard needs to apologize to all of us for being such a stupid fuck.
Is he really? Did you just assume his goals? Oh wait, did I just assume its gender...
(Score: 4, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 04 2019, @01:45PM (5 children)
Enough leaks about the orange that is consistent with the premise "stupid fuck" that it would appear to be true.
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Make hay whilst the intervening mass is insufficient to diminish received solar radiation below the threshold required for the drying of grass.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @03:24PM (4 children)
Enough leaks about the orange that is consistent with the premise "stupid fuck" that it would appear to be true.
The truism "never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity" is often a reasonable default position to take, but it ignores the danger of ascribing to stupidity what is in fact malice, and thereby giving the malicious actor a "free pass" by dismissing him as stupid or ill-informed, rather than the malevolent, irredeemably evil *?%! he is.
In the case of Trump, I've gradually moved from thinking what a stupid prick is he, to what a malicious, wicked, vicious, evil *?%! he--according to mounting evidence--appears to be.
It is as big a mistake to attribute to stupidity what is in fact malice, as it is to go the other way, and arguable much more dangerous.
Trump is a master con-artist. He is a master of spin, dodging responsibility, defecting, projecting, and outright deceiving on a mass scale. He's done it his whole life, to pretty much everyone, and has been pretty damn successful at it. He's chosen ignorance over being informed (oh no, he might have to "read") on pretty much every geopolitical subject that matters, because it doesn't matter to him. He may be stupid in many ways, but whatever his mental limitations in particular fields, his arrogance, and his maliciousness dwarf any ignorance and stupidity he can lay claim to.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday February 04 2019, @05:47PM
You make great points and I agree. But reflecting, and thinking bigger-picture (as I can't help doing), I wonder what is the point of all of this blaming, name-calling, bashing, criticism, etc.?? It seems that government and politics have devolved to the point that mostly only idiots, crazies, etc., get involved. Whether ignorance or malice, what's the difference? The system does NOT in fact have working "checks and balances" that we're all lulled into believing exist.
The once-great system (US govt. structure) has been eroded little-by-little over the past 240+ years. Our govt. (USA and others) is rife with conflict of interest. Ajit Pai's work and involvement at Verizon should have disqualified him for FCC chair.
I don't have time to list them but I'll pick on one: lobbying. That means if you have lots of money, and/or control of money (corporations), you can hire lobbyists to swamp the senators and representatives (and news media) and sway things your way. We're all out here communicating but the govt. doesn't hear us. Unfortunately many engage in very negative bashing and are viewed as fringe crazies, so their otherwise good points go unheard.
The good news is that through the Internet, we're able to communicate, collaborate, and some senators, reps., local govt. are slowly starting to hear us.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday February 04 2019, @06:15PM
Bingo. I've referred to that tipping point for years now as the point where Hanlon's Razor loses its edge.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by mobydisk on Monday February 04 2019, @10:24PM
I don't agree. Trump said "The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible." [realclearpolitics.com]
Trump is a terrible at spin and his deceits are blatantly obvious. His success lies in the fact he was a celebrity who aligned himself with a party. That point it literally didn't matter what he said. The media didn't understand that running quotes of him contradicting himself all day long didn't do anything to convince people he was a liar. It just made him seem more and more important.
The same thing kinda happened with Bush Jr. There were people saying "this guy is a lightweight" (a polite way to say he was dumb) but it didn't matter to party loyalists.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday February 04 2019, @10:32PM
The problem with the aphorism is that it assumes that stupidity and malice are exclusive of each other. One can be both.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by MadTinfoilHatter on Monday February 04 2019, @11:58AM (5 children)
I'm not sure I'd consider snail mail telecommunications, but yeah, that's a bit of a nitpick and not really relevant to this case, and I pretty much agree with your other points.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 04 2019, @01:43PM (4 children)
Fair point - I believe telecommunications was conceived in the era of the telegraph, to describe near-instant communication farther than you can shout.
Snail-mail is more like recordkeeping, where the records can be hand carried.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday February 04 2019, @04:27PM (3 children)
Wikipedia suggests first use of the word was 1904. Telegraph and telephone were well established though not universally entrenched. (Semaphore, too, come to that). The new player was radio - you had something no longer dependent on wires. Finally there were enough entities to require a taxonomic grouping.
None of which disowns what y'all were trying to say really. picky, picky, picky lawn......
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday February 04 2019, @05:52PM (2 children)
> Telegraph and telephone were well established though not universally entrenched. (Semaphore, too, come to that).
Hey, don't forget the other photonic communication: smoke signals. You're welcome Buzzy.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday February 04 2019, @06:07PM (1 child)
Hmm..... flattered or insulted? Life is full of such massively important quandaries. Maybe I'll defer until the mistaken identity is confirmed by smoke signal.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday February 04 2019, @07:54PM
Questions abound. Like, they're no good on a windy day, so what then? And, they dissipate fairly quickly, so were people assigned to look for them? Was there a set time of day to send them? How about at night? Someday I'll study up on smoke signals.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @01:34PM (3 children)
Why should one apologize for one's own stupidity? Isn't that the same as expecting one to apologize for being gay (or any of the other rainbow letters)?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday February 04 2019, @06:18PM (1 child)
That kind of stupid is very much a lifestyle choice, and it directly harms other people. What possessed you to make such a poor comparison? Malice, or ignorance?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday February 04 2019, @08:19PM
That kind of stupid is very much a lifestyle choice...
It's amazing how they can just turn it off and on, too.
All of a sudden it's just too darn confusing to figure out whether the internet is a telecommunications service or not. But that custom router build to keep the evil Googles off your internet, no problem!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @07:19PM
That depends on the situation. Trump should apologize because his stupidity and corruption are yuuuugely hurting the US.
I can see a gay person hitting on a straight person, getting a "wtf" response and saying "sorry about that, I'm gay and find you attractive, have a good night."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 04 2019, @01:41PM (5 children)
>the orange bastard needs to apologize to all of us for being such a stupid fuck.
Wouldn't that be a classic moment? It's 100% out of character, but he's just unstable enough that it might happen.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Monday February 04 2019, @02:43PM (4 children)
Sorry loosers & haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest. And you all know it. You know. Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault!!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 04 2019, @03:00PM (1 child)
It's that unique, upside down perspective that got the orange elected.
When you divide by near zero, you get a very high number indeed.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @04:03PM
Hellary got Trump elected when she bought out the DNC... It's as simple as that. Bernie should've got it, and he'd be POTUS instead of Trump. Hellary turned off more voters than Trump... So the least evil of the twins won.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Monday February 04 2019, @03:20PM
Wait, shouldn't that have been 'My IQ is Huuuuuge, the biggest! Soylent news is fake news!'
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 04 2019, @05:10PM
Not sure what Donnie's IQ is - has it been published? Oh, WTF, maybe I'll look at Snopes . . .
Can we put that baby to rest now? Or, if you want to insist that you're Really Fucking Smart™ give us some evidence?
Other "fact checking" sites seem to be less generous than Snopes.
But, we need to attempt to understand something. 100 is "average". Meaning, roughly half of the population has an IQ higher than 100, and roughly half of the population has an IQ lower than 100. 110 is just a little over average, 120 a little more over average, and so on. The number being thrown around, of 156, doesn't make anyone really exceptional. That only puts you in the 99.97 percentile. Good - damned good, actually - but not great. For every 10,000 people in the country, there's another person as smart as you. 156 doesn't put you anywhere near a Stephen Hawking, or an Isaac Asimov, or Arthur C. Clarke . . . need I go on?
Would you care to estimate how many Soylentils are as smart, or smarter, than Donnie? That is presuming, of course, that he actually has an IQ of 156. As stated above, I'm not believing it.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday February 04 2019, @04:27PM
We confuse the simplest of issues beyond human understanding, ...
Well, the conservatives are certainly TRYING to but it's actually not that complicated.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:48PM
Now you've got it! About ... 5, borrow the 1, borrow the 1 again ... 35 years late, but better that than never. Welcome to the party, comrade.