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We're a bit late to the party, but for those who haven't seen on the Internet, today is a protest day for Net Neutrality, where sites across the internet are disrupting their normal operations to get the word out and get people to send a message. Ars Technica already has a fairly decent summary of who's doing what, and we stand with them and the rest of the Internet.
Due to real life issues, I was late on getting this together, but for the rest of the day, this article will remain on the top of the page and we will be blacking the theme of the site in protest [Technical issues among others precluded our doing so today --martyb].
If you're a US citizen, and want to get the word out, check Battle for the Net, and get the word out. In addition, there are long discussions going on reddit and other sites throughout the internet
Let's get the word out!
~ NCommander
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:56PM (5 children)
I love the fact that ISPs have managed to claim "Unlimited Access" means "you can use it at any time", vs "unlimited data". I personally agree with this, but let's fight one battle at a time.
Still always moving
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:03PM
No, the point goes deeper than that.
"Internet Access" means that you get access to the whole, unmoderated, unfiltered thing.
No caps nor exploitative agreements, sure.
But also:
* No preferential boosts for given providers or vendors
* No interference with content
* Full disclosure of all rules, editing policies and so on ahead of time
* No unilateral changes in terms without a new contract
Basically, by adequately defining internet access, we can render the FCC's definition irrelevant to the question of informing people on what they're paying for, which is three quarters of the battle.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:16AM (3 children)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqxwtEdxOCw [youtube.com]
Today, we have relatively few gatekeepers. Google is one of them. The ISP's (among others) hope to become gatekeepers in their own right. My own ISP serves only a few tens of thousands. Comcast, on the other hand, serves a significan portion of the US population. If Comcast can become that population's gatekeeper, Comcast might sway the next election - among other things.
Alright, so the Matrix is fiction. But, the concept stands. Gatekeepers are powerful entities. An entirely new form of cyber warfare will develop. People like many of us on Soylent will have to learn how to track down information that our ISP's don't want us to have. At best, data that the ISP's will be served up slowly, and data that we don't want or need will be served up quickly. At worst, the data that the ISP does NOT want us to have will just disappear down the rabbit hole.
The question is, who has the right to stand as gatekeepers?
“Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.”
— Pravin Lal from the game Alpha Centauri by Sid Meier.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:22AM (2 children)
Disrupt Comcast on all levels?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:37AM (1 child)
Yeah - except - disrupt them badly enough, and you've effectively DDOS'd millions of people.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:01AM
Keeping things like they are will have people experience DDoS by corporate policy down the line. Better to make it clear right now that such corporate behavior will be shunned by most peers and be unworkable financially in the end. It might be the time to make passive financial support of assholes a painful experience.
Maybe internet could benefit from the Athenian Greek democracy procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state for ten years if they were deemed to be a threat to the state or potential tyrant. So the internet community could exert a Usenet death penalty (UDP) to the entity that it deemed to be the most damaging to a functioning internet in the last year. This could range from legal procedures, public relations, technical disconnect and refusal, campaigns to erode customer base etc all at the same time to make sure it pays to not be the entity deemed the worst and largest asshole. Other assholes entities could watch and know that they might be next should they continue to screw people.