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posted by takyon on Wednesday May 06 2015, @03:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the hands-off-my-interwebs dept.

CNSNews reports:

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member Ajit Pai said over the weekend that he foresees a future in which federal regulators will seek to regulate websites based on political content, using the power of the FCC or Federal Elections Commission (FEC). He also revealed that his opposition to "net neutrality" regulations had resulted in personal harassment and threats to his family.

Pai, one of two Republicans on the five-member FCC, has been an outspoken critic of net neutrality regulations passed by the agency on Feb. 6. The rules, which are set to take effect on June 12, reclassify Internet providers as utilities and command them not to block or "throttle" online traffic.

However, Pai said it was only the beginning. In the future, he said, "I could easily see this migrating over to the direction of content... What you're seeing now is an impulse not just to regulate the roads over which traffic goes, but the traffic itself."

"Is it unthinkable that some government agency would say the marketplace of ideas is too fraught with dissonance? That everything from the Drudge Report to Fox News... is playing unfairly in the online political speech sandbox? I don't think so," Pai said.

That in contrast to a Department of Defense article here in which the Pentagon's chief spokesman admitted, "When bad things happen, the American people should hear it from us, not as a scoop on the Drudge Report."

The Drudge Report is singled out as an example in both articles, but such changes have the potential to affect all political speech online, some people believe. As for Pai's point of view, is it valid, or is it partisan sour-grapes fearmongering?

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 06 2015, @04:13AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 06 2015, @04:13AM (#179384)

    I have been saying this for quite some time. Read the "new" net neutrality legislation. There are all kinds of provisions for "lawful content". This does not mean "legal" content. "Lawful Content" means that which is expressly permitted by law. Unlawful content does not mean illegal content, it also covers anything not expressly permitted by the legislation, such as new protocols, P2P, political speech, podcasts, hosting online games, etc.

    Net neutrality WAS about making sure there was no internet slow lane everyone but the big guys got shunted into, but now it also has a ton of regulatory shite. I'd rather the slow lane than no lane.

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  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 06 2015, @07:48PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday May 06 2015, @07:48PM (#179640) Journal

    I have been saying this for quite some time. Read the "new" net neutrality legislation. There are all kinds of provisions for "lawful content". This does not mean "legal" content. "Lawful Content" means that which is expressly permitted by law. Unlawful content does not mean illegal content, it also covers anything not expressly permitted by the legislation, such as new protocols, P2P, political speech, podcasts, hosting online games, etc.

    Net neutrality WAS about making sure there was no internet slow lane everyone but the big guys got shunted into, but now it also has a ton of regulatory shite. I'd rather the slow lane than no lane.

     
    I disagree with your conclusion completely. But, you posit it in a logical and cogent manner, without reverting to mindless character assassination and other fallacies. Unlike the article itself and half the posts in here...
     
    Well done.