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SecretAsianMan

Net Neutrality

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In a 3-2 vote in favor of, the FCC voted to pass the Open Internet Order which will basically reclassify the Internet as a Title II utility.  As stated before, this classification does have some differences from a normal utility.  For example, the FCC will forbear certain sections of Title II for ISPs such as sections regarding market entry/exit.  The most critical rules are still in effect, such as the ones prohibiting unreasonable discrimination, the requirement for just and reasonable service and charges, requirements for consumer privacy, and processes for filing complaints to the Commission.   The rules will also extend to wireless communications, namely mobile internet.

 

ISPs like Comcast and Verizon are no doubt preparing to challenge this ruling in court but this is still a pretty great step forward.

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It is both fitting and depressing that my last post in this thread was to announce that the FCC put the internet under Title II rules.  The new FCC is proposing to undo all of that with the unbelievably ironically named "Restoring Internet Freedom" proposal.  The proposal is currently a draft, but it is open for public comment.  I strongly urge people to submit a comment to the FCC about this.  You can do so by going to this page and on the left hand side clicking +New Filing to upload an attachment or +Express if you just want to comment without an attachment. It should be noted that in order to comment you will need to provide your name and address, all of which will be available on public record.  Last time the FCC opened something like this for comment they got 4 million comments and crashed their site.  They have since upgraded their network so it probably won't crash again.

 

Read the text of the proposal here

 

Submit a comment

 

Gizmodo breakdown of some of the bigger points

 

Ars Technica Article Ars Technica article about how the current FCC says throttling would help customers

 

Washington Post Article

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Is this just gonna be something that flares up every few years until people get tired of complaining about it? It seems like anyone who knows how the internet works understands that deregulating ISPs is a bad idea, but they already understood that three years ago. If we successfully fight this are we just gonna have to fight it again in another three years? I don't understand how this is a logical way for the government to function.

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39 minutes ago, Cleinhun said:

Is this just gonna be something that flares up every few years until people get tired of complaining about it? It seems like anyone who knows how the internet works understands that deregulating ISPs is a bad idea, but they already understood that three years ago. If we successfully fight this are we just gonna have to fight it again in another three years? I don't understand how this is a logical way for the government to function.

 

Potentially yes.  It's what happens when you have an administration that is so committed to undoing everything it can from the previous administration whether it makes sense or not.  While I really hope it doesn't turn out this way, I have the feeling that regardless of how many people show their opposition to this change they're going to do it anyway because they can.

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I wanted to make a snarky joke but I'm so tired of this bullshit that I just can't.  Net Neutrality be dead.  It was clear this was going to happen so I'm not surprised in the least but still.  I'd be less upset about it if Pai weren't such a complete tool.

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Yeah, at least one California senator is going to move to get net neutrality in place at a state level too http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/365058-california-state-senator-to-propose-statewide-net-neutrality-laws

 

Which is why it's a good idea to take a moment to make sure you're registered for your state and local elections.

PLEASE REGISTER TO VOTE IF YOU'RE A US CITIZEN

PLEASE VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION, FROM SCHOOL BOARD TO PRESIDENT.

PLEASE.

 

If you live in california you can vote by mail! It's awesome! I highly recommend it! You can sign up to do it online! (thank you forever to @tabacco for telling me about this)

http://registertovote.ca.gov/

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It technically is not dead yet, I was being a bit dramatic because of how pissed I was about the vote.  And where there are a number of groups and individuals out there trying to fight it or get other protections in place, I'm not overly optimistic about the outcome.  I'd very much like to be wrong.

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I've followed up on state level net neutrality stuff recently, since I was wondering how a lot of these sorts of protections would be implemented in the event only certain states maintain them.  This article does a decent job of outlining how states would intend to do that.

 

I'm a bit skeptical of the implementation here, mainly I'm not optimistic this will be anything more than a temporary victory at best.  Recently comcast has shown a willingness to spend incredible amounts of money on even local government efforts to construct community broadband networks, not to mention how a lack of net neutrality could potentially make these networks walled off from Tier 1 services owned by or in exclusivity deals with bigger ISPs.  The state could refuse to issue future contracts to violators of net neutrality, but the ISPs could just go to the federal level and get a law passed outlawing such a practice.  The same is true with any legal challenge to state net neutrality laws, where the conflict would inevitably get elevated to the federal level which the likes of Comcast are willing to spend infinite amounts of money to maintain control of.  Also, if a state successfully adopts net neutrality laws in a regulatory sense, it is notoriously difficult to prove the slowdown to that site was intentional, and there are no apparent regulatory bodies at the state level that would be able to enforce any penalties.

 

I suppose net neutrality isn't officially dead yet, but there are enough wealthy people out there who want to kill it that I don't think it will be around in any sense for very long.  Also, before you put your faith in democratic leadership to make this change, it's important to remember that they were some of the biggest recipients for Comcast's lobbying efforts in 2016.  Personally I'm putting my hope in wireless, and a decentralized data network running on a blockchain as the thing that will settle this question once and for all, but who knows when that will come around.  In the meantime everything is fucked, nothing you do matters and we all die alone.

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