As Expected, FCC Approving Net Neutrality Rules That AT&T Wants
from the not-like-we-didn't-warn-you... dept
For years, we've been pointing out that while the concept of net neutrality is important, any attempt by the government to put it into law would inevitably involve lobbyists twisting it to be quite favorable to the telcos and others. So, really, it should come as no surprise that the FCC is planning to approve a "net neutrality" plan that was heavily influenced by AT&T and from which long term supporters of "net neutrality" rules are distancing themselves. In other words, pretty much exactly what many folks had warned early on. We shouldn't confuse the concept of the end-to-end principle of the internet with the need for laws that start to regulate parts of the internet, because we've seen time and time again how the telco lobbyists will shape anything along those lines to their own advantage, and it appears this was no exception.
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Filed Under: broadband, fcc, net neutrality, telcos
Companies: at&t
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Does anyone really want this type of organization, with no regard for law, regulating anything?
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I guess it boils down to the usual backhanders and corruption. Shit, money really is everything in this world.
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The FCC has no power to enact laws or change them, only Congress does.
"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." --Supreme law of the land.
Is there any case law about "regulations" being unconstitutional due to the fact only Congress can create laws?
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You repugnant troll
One the US is run by the mob, and AT&T ( pretty much the same thing) and religious right zealots and nut jobs.
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Regulatory capture at its finest
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Re: Regulatory capture at its finest
The reason that the politicians continually let the fox guard the hen house, is that the fox hands them large bags of cash.
For the right amount of money, our farmers (politicians) are willing to turn the hen house (the county) into a game ranch for the foxes (vested interests).
Until they grow some moral fiber (not likely), or make such blatant payoffs illegal (even less likely since those that make the laws are collecting the payoffs) expect it to get worse before it gets better.
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A few things:
2) Everyone knows it.
3) Getting out and remaining relevant means they bend over backwards for lobbyists.
I can't say more than that. The FCC can't regulate, they have a history of close ties with those already in the field, and quite frankly, it's only marginally useful. If anything, they should be closed down. Seriously what CAN they do?
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I also think that congress would adopt similar rules anyway. The Republicants are on the upswing, and they are pro-business, not a bunch of tree hugging socialists. It is doubtful that the US will ever get net neutrality laws that will satisfy the torrent lovers.
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The Internet has become so fragile that we lost half of our internet connectivity (and no one could come in from outside) when a node more then 500mi away died (next state over). The node was only down for 20min, but we had some fairly serious backlash.
That's why I think they do what they do. The hardware can handle it, but the network is so poorly put together if one thing dies, everything dies.
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The internet services all of my needs for communication and content over one line and it does it on my terms. Cable TV can do what, bring me TV? Land line phones can connect me to local numbers and, for additional fees, non-local numbers? Can either of those, on their own, bring me all of my information, communication, and entertainment provided by the internet? No, they can't. That's why the legacy services are sub-par.
Some day, there will be no "phone" nor "TV". There will only be the internet and internet devices. Wireless "phones" will connect wirelessly over the internet like an IM client. There will be no more "minutes". Entertainment will no longer have a schedule. Content will be created and consumed at-will, without region locks. The incumbents are hindering this progress by retarding the quality and efficiency of the network in order to keep you dependent on divided services that don't integrate into nor propagate through each other.
Imagine the wireless for a moment. If mobile phones communicated entirely through the internet instead of legacy land-lines like they do now (non-adjacent cell nodes communicate through copper land-lines). Now, imagine there's a pervasive wireless network for any device to connect to the internet. You would be able to seamlessly transition from the public network to your personal network at home or office. You could reliably use your mobile device indoors without worrying about reception because the device will automatically connect to the access point with the strongest signal it has permission to that it can find. You can be talking on your mobile as you walk into your home/office and the phone makes a quick change from public to private network with only a minor interruption. Interesting idea no? We just need the incumbent service providers to get out of the way so people can execute it.
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Content companies hate the internet
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I second that !
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Here are some better headlines:
FCC to Pave the Way for Corporate Takeover of the Internet
FCC Gives Up on Net Neutrality - Bows to Corporate Interests
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Uh, what?
So let me get this straight. They will vote on the rules and change them afterwards? Excuse me? Do I smell fish?
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if you mean pelosi'ish "we have to pass the bill to find out what's in it" then yes you smell fish
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Allowing them to essentially subsidize their wireless networks at the expense of the content providers gives them something to point to when they claim they can't afford to maintain and upgrade their wired networks anymore. We'll be expected to ignore the fact that they've been able to afford those upgrades for decades and still pull in massive profits.
In the end we'll be stuck with a bunch of wireless walled gardens where innovation and competition will cease to exist and corporate censorship is the norm (I highly doubt that is a negative in the eyes of the FCC). The wired connection will be too unreliable and too expensive to be a viable option.
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Thanks obama for campaigning on something and then doing the EXACT opposite.
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Optional Network Neutrality
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