Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
On Thursday, the FCC voted 3-2 to reinstate "net neutrality" rules. The proposal will essentially classify internet service providers as public utilities governed under Title II instead of Title I. The FCC claims the rules would prevent broadband providers from blocking or throttling traffic unless companies paid more, among other things.
Today's vote is the second time the Commission has voted to assign itself as the governor and regulator of private ISPs. The first time was in 2015 under the Obama administration. Those rules were then repealed in 2017, also along party lines, during the Trump administration.
Despite protests and cries that it was the end of a "free internet," nothing much seemed to change, and the fervor died out. There were some early lawsuits and claims alleging throttling, but nothing came of them. Eventually several states including California and Montana created their own net neutrality laws and mandates.
While proponents still claim that the government needs to regulate ISPs to prevent them from trying any funny business, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel says it is now a matter of "national security."
"Today, there is no expert agency ensuring that the internet is fast, open, and fair... Today, we begin a process to make this right. We propose to reinstate enforceable, bright-line rules to prevent blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization," said Rosenworcel. "When we stripped state-affiliated companies from China of their authority to operate in the United States, that action did not extend to broadband services, thanks to the retreat from Title II. This is a national security loophole that needs to be addressed."
However, opponents are calling it a power grab. Commissioner Brendan Carr points to the 2017 repeal and the fact that the internet "didn't break" as an example of why the rules are unnecessary.
"When my FCC colleagues and I voted in 2017 to overturn the Obama Administration's failed, two-year experiment with Title II, activists and politicians alike guaranteed the American public that the internet would quite literally break without it," Carr said in a Wednesday statement, a day before the vote. "Since that didn't happen, the FCC shouldn't reimpose the rules now. We already have a free and open internet today, without Title II."
Evan Swarztrauber, Senior Advisor at the Foundation for American Innovation, agrees with Carr. He points out that the fear-mongering rhetoric failed to materialize after the 2017 repeal, and internet service got better and cheaper when adjusted for inflation. Swarztrauber also believes that the FCC is barking up the wrong tree.
[...] Even though the Title II rules passed the vote, the issue is far from over. The Commission will now open the proposal up for public comment, which includes a period for rebuttals and ex parte presentations and critiques. After peer review and potential revisions prompted by sound arguments and feedback, the FCC will vote again.
If passed, it will most assuredly face legal challenges just as the first implementation and the subsequent repeal did. In both cases, the courts upheld the FCC's decision, saying that the agency can impose or repeal rules as it sees fit as long as it provides reasonable justification.
As noted in a figure caption in the article: No matter which side of the argument you are on, John Oliver's 2014 break down before the first Title II implementation satirically explains what's really going on and it's just as valid to day as it was then.
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The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled an April 25 vote to restore net neutrality rules similar to the ones introduced during the Obama era and repealed under former President Trump.
"After the prior administration abdicated authority over broadband services, the FCC has been handcuffed from acting to fully secure broadband networks, protect consumer data, and ensure the Internet remains fast, open, and fair," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said today. "A return to the FCC's overwhelmingly popular and court-approved standard of net neutrality will allow the agency to serve once again as a strong consumer advocate of an open Internet."
[...]
In a filing with the FCC, Turner wrote that "ISPs have been incredibly bullish about the future of their businesses precisely because of the network investments they are making" and that the companies rarely, if ever, mention the impact of FCC regulation during calls with investors."We believe that the ISPs' own words to their shareholders, and to industry analysts through channels governed by the SEC, should be afforded significantly more weight than evidence-free tropes, vague threats, dubious aggregate capital expenditure tallies, or nonsensical math jargon foisted on the Commission this docket or elsewhere," Turner wrote.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2023, @03:23PM
Or is this Hunter's laptops fault? Or Hillary's emails? I'm confused on who to blame.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2023, @07:49PM (2 children)
The ruling will just be reversed again when Trump wins
(Score: 5, Funny) by Tork on Sunday October 22 2023, @12:59AM (1 child)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈 - Give us ribbiti or make us croak! 🐸
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday October 23 2023, @03:21PM
Corporal Klinger was the portrayal of a recruit trying to get thrown out of the army. Just, without a court martial. The character may have been more sane than the others.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bussdriver on Sunday October 22 2023, @05:33AM (1 child)
If it's so useless and not necessary then how come so many millions have been spent fighting to prevent any rules? Why pay homeless people to fill up public comment sessions? Why bribe so many politicians and appoint corrupt officials to the FCC?
Did the rules destroy the economy and "innovation" like the crooks claimed it would?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Sunday October 22 2023, @08:58PM
The reason the ISPs are so against net neutrality is that when the rules got repealed, they successfully ran an extortion racket against Netflix and other major streaming companies to demand big piles of cash from those companies. So while your average consumer didn't see a big immediate change, the streaming companies definitely did, and they of course passed that cost along to their subscribers (sometimes by introducing ads rather than raising subscription fees).
Really, the ISPs are utility monopolies and ought to be regulated like them. The pricing and service in the USA are basically a joke compared to what happens in a lot of other countries.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Informative) by MonkeypoxBugChaser on Sunday October 22 2023, @10:39AM (5 children)
Even though net neutrality seems good on the surface, I don't trust this government to do anything but use it against us in some way. We somehow end up with more censorship or more expensive internet because of this.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Sunday October 22 2023, @04:57PM (3 children)
So, are you saying "The rule is good, so long as I like the people implementing it"? Because that seems an awful lot like abandoning the rule of law in favor of the arbitrary rule of men. Which, you know, is exactly what the USA was supposed to be getting away from.
If you want to criticize it, fine, but the way to do that is to read it and say "this is the part right here that could be abused", rather than assuming it must be bad.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2023, @05:57AM (2 children)
It does seem there is a large segment of the population willing to throw themselves (and us) to the mercy of a dictator, as long as it's "their guy". Basically what you said. Not realizing all their precious freedoms they crow about - especially no. 2 - were fought for and won off dictators of the past. That's the thing about dictators - they are fickle.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday October 24 2023, @02:38AM (1 child)
I don't think you know your history very well.
When the Revolutionary War started, private gun ownership was widespread, and the citizen militia basically was the military of the colonies. The British authorities wanted the colonists to all have guns to defend themselves against attacks by Native American nations and occasionally the French. The fighting really got going not over guns, but over taxation, because the colonial leaders were mostly the rich guys who didn't want to pay the taxes, and it was only after the Brits began to understand those guns might be aimed at them rather than at the enemies of Britain that they started trying to confiscate powder and shot.
The Second Amendment did not say what you think it said until 2006, when the Supreme Court decided to adopt that meaning of it for the first time in US history.
Also, for a significant percentage of the population, the Second Amendment is and pretty much has always been a fiction, because if they own a gun the police can and sometimes do kill them for it without any trial or evidence they committed a crime, and receive no repercussions at all for doing so. The people in this situation are largely descended from those who were not infrequently killed by police or random groups of private citizens for all sorts of minor or even imagined offenses.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1) by MonkeypoxBugChaser on Wednesday October 25 2023, @09:00PM
Not trusting the government somehow means I want a dictator? And if that is the case for me, or a significant portion of the country, this implies that somehow we should disarm as it's much better to throw rocks in the face of authoritarians or government oppression.
Geez.. do you even listen to yourself?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2023, @05:38PM
Sounds like you need some therapy