Last month, Congress voted to repeal FCC rules that would prevent internet service providers from selling your personal web browsing and app usage data. It was a decision that's unpopular across the country, regardless of party affiliation. If the politicians that voted in favor of the reversal thought no one would notice, there are some big ass signs in their districts that say otherwise.
The internet activists at the non-profit Fight for the Future have crowdfunded four billboards, so far, that shame the members of congress that voted for the repeal. The lawmakers that have the honor of being called out will now have to see their face along the highway when they return home. Those lucky few are Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Dean Heller (R-NV), John Rutherford (R-FL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). These four lawmakers accepted a combined $196,905 in campaign contributions from the telecom industry in the last election cycle. Blackburn, in particular, has been a longtime enemy of net neutrality. Just last year, she brought up SOPA and tried to frame it as an initiative that would have increased cybersecurity.
Related Stories
John M. Donnelly, a senior writer at CQ Roll Call, said he was trying to talk with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly one-on-one after a news conference when two plainclothes guards pinned him against a wall with the backs of their bodies.
“Not only did they get in between me and O’Rielly but they put their shoulders together and simultaneously backed me up into the wall and pinned me to the wall for about 10 seconds just as I started to say, “Commissioner O’Rielly, I have a question,” Donnelly said Friday.
Donnelly said he was stopped long enough to allow O’Rielly to walk away.
Donnelly, who also happens to be chair of the National Press Club Press Freedom team, said he was then forced out of the building after being asked why he had not posed his question during the news conference.
O'Rielly apologized to Donnelly on Twitter, saying he didn't recognize Donnelly in the hallway. "I saw security put themselves between you, me and my staff. I didn't see anyone put a hand on you. I'm sorry this occurred."
According to the publication for which the reporter works (archived copy),
Senators, including Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, are warning the Federal Communications Commission about its treatment of reporters after a CQ Roll Call reporter was manhandled Thursday.
“The Federal Communications Commission needs to take a hard look at why this happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. As The Washington Post pointed out, it’s standard operating procedure for reporters to ask questions of public officials after meetings and news conferences,” the Iowa Republican said. “It happens all day, every day. There’s no good reason to put hands on a reporter who’s doing his or her job.”
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:36PM (8 children)
You think this Republican party cares whether something is popular with the public?! The healthcare replacement had 17% approval rating and they rammed it through with zero discussion and zero budget. I guess this is what decisive leadership looks like to those who hate all that namby-pamby listening and thinking about stuff. Watch Theresa May get her mandate for "Strong Leadership" in the UK next month. It's be hilarious if it wasn't not funny.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:59PM (4 children)
If you think corruption is a partisan issue, you need to pull your head out of your ass.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:22PM
Thank you for you internet usage - this message will be recorded along with your IP and sold to 3rd party advertisers. Click HERE to agree, oh actually no need.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:15PM (1 child)
You think this Republican party cares whether something is popular with the public?! The healthcare replacement had 17% approval rating and they rammed it through with zero discussion and zero budget. I guess this is what decisive leadership looks like to those who hate all that namby-pamby listening and thinking about stuff. Watch Theresa May get her mandate for "Strong Leadership" in the UK next month. It's be hilarious if it wasn't not funny.
No matter how much I search for various permutations of "corruption" I just can't find anything... but don't worry I think my browser's search functionality is broken. I searched for "asshat" and it somehow highlighted The Mighty Buzzard.
But in all seriousness, at least the ACA did help some of the neediest people. I still don't like it, but it managed to accomplish something even after the GOP bastards got through with it. Your defense here? The Democrats aren't angels either? They're not the ones shoving this turd through Mr. Strawman for brains.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday May 08 2017, @01:50AM
Wasn't a strawman. It was a tangent. Learn your idioms.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Wootery on Monday May 08 2017, @08:29AM
AC never said they think the Democratic party is above corruption. You're just reading what you want to read.
What is it with Americans assuming that whenever someone attacks one of their two parties, they must automatically be endorsing the other one?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:42PM (2 children)
>they rammed it through with zero discussion and zero budget.
Does the phrase "We have to pass it to find out what's in it!" have any meaning to you at all?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @11:14PM (1 child)
Both sound like symptoms of a fundamentally broken political system.
I'd get that replaced in the next 100 miles if I were you. Or don't, but the walk to the payphone at the gas station will be for your own good.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday May 08 2017, @03:10PM
> I'd get that replaced in the next 100 miles if I were you.
It is broken beyond repair. Cannot be fixed. Congress will resolve the JIRA issue with "Won't Fix", "Working as intended".
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 5, Informative) by idiot_king on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:55PM (22 children)
This is an excellent case of using Free Speech to fight back against the Republicans. Raising public awareness of their treachery and corruption will hopefully sway things back in our favor. But of course we need to keep the heat on for the next 4 years as much as we can.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:00PM (15 children)
Sounds good. Now if you'd do the same to the Democrats we'd be in business.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:13PM (11 children)
Who said anything about Democrats? This article is about something the Republicans did wrong, and it's screwing ordinary Americans.
Every time anyone says anything negative about the Republicans, do we always have to say, "But the Democrats are bad too!"? Is this some kind of political correctness so that conservatives can avoid being offended or something? Everyone is equal, Kumbaya?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:20PM (3 children)
It's a false dichotomy. Making the distinction on party is a distraction from the core issue of privileged people doing bad things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:24PM (2 children)
If privileged people weren't able to get away with doing bad things then they wouldn't be privileged now would they.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @11:27PM (1 child)
It's possible to become privileged without doing really bad things.
However some people can't help themselves being psychopaths.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday May 08 2017, @03:14PM
I will agree that it could be possible that someone could become privileged without doing bad things.
Once someone is privileged, it is impossible for them to not do bad things and become psychopaths from that point on. They can soothe their conscience with charitable foundations and the like. But the things they do to help a few can not make up for the bad things they do that screw over everyone else.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:23PM (5 children)
Oh, I'm sorry, did you miss the implied "Us vs. Them" in the OP's post that I was correcting the definition of "Them" in? I can write up a journal on spotting the blindingly obvious if you think it'd help.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Whoever on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:43PM
Because the Democrats also voted to allow ISPs to sell browsing history..... oh wait, they didn't.
What TMB is trying to do is deflect legitimate criticism of the Republicans by attempting to push a false equivalency.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:18PM (3 children)
Hey, fuckstick, the GOP has complete control over the government. So now they don't get to blame anyone else. "You won, get over it," as it were. Shut your useless corpse-molesting beak with the false equivalencies already; we can ALL see what you're doing.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:50PM (1 child)
While the factual assertion is literally true, the Democrats were also quite corrupt. Just with a slightly different base. The Democrats, after all, gifted us with the DMCA. Written and paid for by MPAA and RIAA lawyers.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:39PM
Well, yeah, no argument there. I'm an Independent, not a Democrat, I just vote lesser of two evils (which isn't, by the way always Democrat...though nearly always). Still, when the difference is crap pop culture vs healthcare, there's not a hell of a lot of comparison, you know? :/
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday May 08 2017, @01:48AM
Did I say any different? You should try arguing with what I actually say instead of a strawman once in a while.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @10:34PM
No, you dumb bitch. People who complain about one party as if their party is virtuous is what is being complained about. You government loving, partisan morons are the problem. Both your stupid parties are the vilest of whores.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @11:16PM (1 child)
Chelsea Manning!
Does that work with you as well as it works with Runaway?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday May 08 2017, @01:47AM
Nah. I don't give a shit if you call him Brad, Chelsae, or Sparkle the Wonder Pony.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @11:25PM
They couldn't afford 100 billboards.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:30PM (3 children)
Don't watch Trump and his party.... WATCH THEM ALL!!
You think Hillary wouldn't have fecked you hard some other way?
WATCH THEM ALL and as George Carlin said, "Don't trust anything the government tells you" You watch them, ignore what they say and look between the lines, but DON'T TRUST YOUR GOVERNMENT.
I wish GC was alive and on TV today to give us some insight on how hard the motherfuckers and cocksuckers are shitting and pissing and fucking us. Tits. Cunts.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:26PM
Ah yes... It's All Of Them (c), everyone's responsible, who knew it was so complicated?
(Score: 2) by http on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:51PM (1 child)
Carlin has already given us the necessary insight.
I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday May 07 2017, @11:30PM
What was Carlins general insight?
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Sunday May 07 2017, @08:09PM (1 child)
Raising public awareness of treachery and corruption is a good plan. But what happens in 4 years? I hope the plan at that time is something better than "replace some of the scumbags with different scumbags who will fuck us over in slightly different but mostly the same ways."
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday May 08 2017, @12:36AM
> But what happens in 4 years?
Length of term Two years
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:10PM (15 children)
Crowdfunded billboards could be used to recruit coders to work on GNU HURD? Is there an old photo of RMS from when he was in his mid-20s that we could use? Since that's the age of hipster coder we need if we want FINISH THE HURD to go viral on Twitter? If only we could make GNU HURD look like a hip project for young people? Was RMS ever clean shaven or should we have to use GIMP to make him look not like a crazy hippie?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:22PM (4 children)
People that must have a billboard to find a open source project to take interest in might not be the people you want on such project. The intelligent ones will find it anyway.
(hmm,, what does that say about politics..)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:28PM
Sorry no, only pseudo intellectuals will find your project for intelligent people because they heard about it from word of mouth at the posers club.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:52PM (2 children)
I'm not sure that the Hurd is actually a good way forwards. The microkernel theory seems to entail excessive interprocess communication. Of course, if those 256 CPU processors ever show up, that might become reasonable.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Sunday May 07 2017, @11:38PM
There are overhead with the microkernel and HURD approach. But given that CPUs don't seem to get any faster anytime soon. But they do get more cores and it becomes easier with time to interconnect many CPUs into clusters. It seems it makes sense to exploit just that. The same way assembler made sense for 8-bit 1 MHz while C is a better choice for more powerful computers. With a few megabytes of RAM and fast storage, multi-user-process OS makes sense. And so on. I think the time is right for a microkernel. Another factor is the sheer complexity of kernels and software is a liability and then there's the always-up demand.
One thing I like with HURD is that it's possible for each user to create their own filesystem not seen by others and not needing root.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @06:44AM
Hurd is a dead end in microkernel design. The idea that some things should be kept in-kernel for performance and that more featureful primitives will reduce IPC overhead has been consistently shown wrong with L4-based microkernels. SeL4, in particular, has incredibly low IPC overhead thanks to formal verification letting them optimize the crap out of their code. At this point, I think the main thing holding back microkernels is simply getting software written for them, not performance. Drivers specifically are a big pain because there has to be extensive compatibility layers written for other kernels code or they have to be written from scratch. There has been some work in getting netbsd drivers working on sel4 with rump kernels, and 2.4 linux drivers on some other L4 (pistachio iirc), but nothing ground-breaking yet. And of course, since it's such a niche field, the number of people who can actually do this right now is pretty small.
But yeah, hurd is definitely not the way forward. It's a shame that there's been so much work put into it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:28PM (6 children)
Was RMS ever clean shaven or should we have to use GIMP to make him look not like a crazy hippie?
Have you seen hipsters lately? Big bushy beard are all the rage, he just needs to put that long luxurious hippy hair into a big man bun.
Unfortunately since he doesn't use all the latest hipster communication (see surveillance) apps and HURD isn't some kind of pump and dump SaaS the hipsters won't touch it.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:35PM (4 children)
Oh FECK yeah! The only time i saw a man bun looking anything manly was on old Samurai movies such as The Seven Samurai (watch it, then watch Teh Magnificent Seven.... yeah, same movie, same characters, same lines even at times).
Man buns look like feck, asses 'wearing' them look plain sad.... "Please look at me and appreciate how Samurai i look!...... please?.....PLEASE!!....."
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:57PM (3 children)
Hair styles are styles. They don't mean anything, and your reaction to them says more about what you are used to than anything objective.
That said, you may be disliking the social group that things those are a good thing. I've never noticed one, so I don't know, but I remember being relieved when the Beatles made long hair acceptable so I could save the money I'd been spending on barbers. That meant people called me a hippie, but that didn't bother me much. In the area I lived there were enough divergent styles that it didn't matter.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:32PM (2 children)
Not getting a haircut because you want to save money is not a style.
Putting your hair up in a bun because you want to look like Brad Pitt or a samurai, but just end up looking stupid IS a style choice... And a bad one from all I've seen.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:26PM (1 child)
Not getting a haircut because you want to save money is not a style.
Agreed, but I took GP as clearly equating "style" with "something that shouldn't matter," which seemed clear once it was declared that "they don't mean anything."
"Style" is obviously a social construct with great meaning to those who partake in it. In fact, one might argue that style is ONLY about [social] "meaning," rather than, say utility (which is often contrasted with purely "stylistic" features).
Someone who is declaring "I'd prefer to just not cut my hair at all and let it be what it will be because style is meaningless" is obviously not in any sense an arbiter of "style."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @12:32AM
. ...let it be what it will be because style is meaningless" is obviously not in any sense an arbiter of "style."
Oddly enough, since I stopped going to barbers (I hated them as a kid), long hair seems to have gone in and out of style several times. It's slightly amusing to watch the trends...
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday May 07 2017, @11:43PM
Unhip and perceived boredom works as a hipster deterrent? *yummy* ;-)
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:32PM (2 children)
Crowdfunded billboards could be used to recruit coders to work on GNU HURD?
Well, sarcasm aside and serious for a moment, let's consider some of rms's policy items...
1. He perceived a need for a free OS as a base to run free software...
2. He conceived GNU, a proposed free drop-in Unix-replacement OS...
3. Many pieces of GNU were written, enough to make an OS save for a useful kernel...
4. Linus Torvalds released his kernel Linux under the terms of the GPL...
5. People could, and did, combine the Linux kernel with GNU tools and parts and make an OS.
So far so good.
5. And people credit Linux for the system, since Linux made the disparate parts a system in the first place...
6. And so they listen to the philosophy of Linux creator Linus, who thinks proprietary software is okay *shrug* and doesn't see the big deal...
7. Instead of listening to rms, the FSF, and the GNU folks who promote the view that software should be free as a matter of ethics...
This bothers rms, and understandably so, because of course he'd like people to listen to him, thus spreading his philosophies.
Time passes...
Now, after lots of software progress over the years, from the Linux point of view, the "lots of other pieces" needed to make a free operating system out of linux could come from multiple places, not necessarily GNU. A lot of that is in busybox alone, for example. Sure, the GNU tools are often nicer, or more feature-rich, but the point is there are other usable, working tools in place right now to make a complete free operating system out of linux + other things that are not GNU.
But from the GNU/rms point of view, after those same years, that "one remaining piece" needed to make a free operating system out of GNU (the Kernel, "HURD") is still a steaming pile of unusability: no 64-bit, no USB support, no drivers to speak of, crashy-memoryhogging-unstable. It's fun to play with--Debian GNU/HURD is a nice technical preview that's even easy to install--but you wouldn't run a server, much less your workstation, with it.
Seems like the things Stallman is complaining about (at least in the OS -> spreading philosophy area) would clear up pretty quickly if someone would either "finish HURD"* or otherwise write a kernel that the FSF could combine with in-house GNU projects and release as "GNU 1.0: Gnu's Not Unix". Presto, shiny operating system composed of all free software, put out by folks who live the ethical free software life in the free world.
*This (finishing HURD/Making a GNU non-linux operating system) isn't a goal, by the way; according to gnu.org [gnu.org] (bottom of page), any continued work on the HURD happens "because it is an interesting technical project."
But maybe it should be a coherent goal: Maybe that might help Stallman, and allies that he has, also gain mindshare in the fight for things like digital rights and digital privacy at issue with Congress' pimping of its constituents' private data created with their relationships with ISPs.
In a sense, crowdfunding billboards to shame slimeball lawmakers, and crowdfunding billboards looking for HURD coders, are two aspects of the same mindshare campaign.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday May 08 2017, @12:21AM
Actually lack of USB support can almost be seen as a security benefit ;-) but quite unpractical.
Driver support tend to come with many developers using the system and commercial entities using it.
The interesting concepts that can be developed into a "killer" OS for the feature can be:
* Using a microkernel can get rid of a lot of system instabilities, provide security compartmentalization, make development easier etc.
* By having interprocess handling, services, drivers and filesystem running as user mode processes both security and development becomes easier. Having a filesystem crash right now usually crashes the kernel too.
* When the CPU is abstracted as a service, other processors that are physically elsewhere may be integrated with less special case handling. So that it looks like the local processor have many more cores than it actually has.
* The microkernel decreases the attack surface in comparison with monolithic kernel.
The microkernel may possible be equipped with system monitors that thwart unauthorized system operations from other security "rings" (hint -2). Moving processes between distant CPUs may perhaps also be implemented. And hypervisor alike functionality without the need for the CPU to support it.
All software projects are a pile of crap until it's developed into something better.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday May 08 2017, @12:26AM
[...] the "lots of other pieces" needed to make a free operating system out of linux could come from multiple places, not necessarily GNU.
Possibilities include Darwin, OpenSolaris, Plan 9, Inferno, Minix and *BSD. The initial release of the Linux kernel was 17 September 1991 and 386BSD came out just six months later, on 12 March 1992.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/386BSD [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @12:02AM (3 children)
...crowdfunded Congresspeople.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday May 08 2017, @12:23AM (2 children)
Trump used circa 50 million US$ asfaik. So 50 000 people could possible fund such venture. It will however require the right candidate to pull it of, or at least 10x the money is needed.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Monday May 08 2017, @10:22AM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday May 08 2017, @10:27AM
But it has been mentioned several times that Trump used a very small budget to be elected.