I live in the same region as the Verizon headquarters complex, and I'd like to claim that as member of law enforcement*, I have responded to complaints and found a Verizon executive, Mr. Ajit Pai, standing in a neighboring farmer's field, sans trousers, among some very nervous-looking sheep**.
"...consumers have the freedom not to subscribe to ...broadband service..."
The fact that we all find that so ludicrous points right back to that notion the Pai/neocon bunch can't grasp: data network access should clearly be recognized as a public utility under Title 2. For the vast majority (with some off-grid exceptions), living unconnected is no more of a choice than opting out of connecting to municipal water and sewerage systems.
When CASE president Matthew Kandrach ran the "60 Plus Association", he was bold enough to warn seniors that switching electric generation away from coal foretold their economic doom, calling non-fossil sources "radical". Today, as president (owner?) of CASE, he's still banging the drum for coal, whether anyone's listening or not... presumably, the payments are still arriving. But he's moved up a notch in the hired-gun world, apparently... seems that checks from cable/telco interests are probably helping him protect all consumers, not just seniors, from the ravages of NN.
(Yawn) What's that overused "definition of insanity" trope... "repeating the same behavior but expecting different results". The write-a-letter thing is only one step removed from calling a Congressional hearing, the pure embodiment of doing nothing at all.
Real action would come from mobilizing a ruthless, cutthroat squad to neutralize the threat. Maybe teaching young Mafiosa to code... or an afterschool MS13 Hacker Club.
Wow.. that last bit would be a dream come true... Oliver so peeved by the SLAPP-y nature of Murray's suit that he does a full-frontal SLAPP piece. And featuring the TD story (which would only make sense) would likely mean exposing Ayyadurai's folly in that way only Oliver can! Poor Shiva would become so enraged he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his next promising invention, sliced bread.
This is why so many of us find investing so terrifying. Stocks rise meteorically on unfounded, ill-sourced rumors; and dramatic negative shifts apparently can't be foreseen until the bloodletting has already begun. Are these people just dull-witted, or does greed engender some special form of myopia?
No, TD Scotch is Canadian... just like the bank, Toronto Dominion... there's some kind of Commonwealth-y link to Scotland, which apparently ought to be called Scotchland, since that's where it all seems to come from. Wait, that's it! The Scotchland Whiskeymakers' Guild sues Techdirt because Scotch needs to be Scotch, dammit. Or Scottish, or whatever. Just like Feta and Parmigiano cheese can't be made in New Jersey. Another TD Scotch, please. Neat.
This is the latest in a series of small, otherwise unnoticed policy decisions that are shifting Verizon's trajectory slightly away from the rest of the thugpack; Chairman Pai must be mightily miffed at his alma mater. Of course, all it takes to invalidate it all is one senior executive transfer...
HHS Secretary Tom Price: "States should decide" whether vaccinations/immunizations are required.
Sean Spicer: Trump feels transgender rights "... is a states' rights issue."
Betsy DeVos: Carry guns in schools? “I think that’s best left to locales and states to decide.” Also whether schools can allow discrimination against LGBT folks.
Then why is Ajit Pai, the Great Deregulator, seeking Federal regulatory legislation to deny states the right to control privacy and measure performance? What happened to all the "bureaucratic overreach" and "anti-competitive" rhetoric?
Looks like the AT&T/Charter lobbyists need to pack up their legislation-writing tools and get out of Tennessee; that legislature has already been bought. Get a cool motorhome, and start a 50-state road trip to enact identical, non-Federal-seeming regulations to enshrine the Pai agenda. Just like states' rights, only better!
Re: Market Harm? No, Benefit...just not ALL OF IT!
Hold on, now... fair is fair! The Seuss Estate probably stayed up late nights and weekends thinking up all those witty rhymes, and based on the copyright dates, even the as-yet-unborn beneficiaries of the Estate must have worked their prenatal fingers to the bone drawing all those whimsical characters. They richly deserve the spoils of the good Doctor's mighty labors.
(I'd insert a Seussian parody here, but everything I come up with seems to rhyme with "Nantucket"...)
So much of this traces back to the Title II issue. To me, data connectivity is a public utility, like water, electricity, sewer and natural gas. Since it's impractical to have multiple providers' gas pipes, for instance, pass everyone's homes, we agree, in the case of utilities, to suppress good ol' American commercial competition and allow single-supplier markets, albeit with strong regulation.
It was an odd evolution that found CATV operators, also regulated utilities, generating content that competed across delivery platforms (with satellite and telco), effectively creating a competitive commercial market somewhat within their regulated utility-intended space... a chimera that, apparently, defies regulation today.
Other utilities have come to grips with this without needing to bribe legislators and mislead the public. Electric customers, in most cases, can select a competitive generation provider... the power then travels the "last mile" over regulated, utility-maintained cabling. While copper still reigned, telcos dipped a toe in competitive markets via CLEC's, again delivering over the regulated last mile. It makes sense that our utility-grade data network can also serve as a noncompetitive last mile... and in so doing, make our networks neutral. I think this is the part that everyone can understand, and which shows up in polling.
IPKat's synopsis is great, but there's a leap in the WAZ story that I can't follow. On its face, we're talking about unauthorized publication of a slightly classified ("lowest level of secrecy" in that German source document) report; and an instant later, it's copyright infringement. Is that a German thing... government docs subject to copyright by the government? Or is the state just verärgert (upset) that it was made public? Is this one of those cases where espionage charges won't stick, so they move on down to something civil?
On the post: The FCC Insists It Can't Stop Impostors From Lying About My Views On Net Neutrality
I live in the same region as the Verizon headquarters complex, and I'd like to claim that as member of law enforcement*, I have responded to complaints and found a Verizon executive, Mr. Ajit Pai, standing in a neighboring farmer's field, sans trousers, among some very nervous-looking sheep**.
* - I'm not
** - I didn't
On the post: AT&T Claims Forced Arbitration Isn't Forced... Because You Can Choose Not To Have Broadband
Re: Re: I don't have "broadband"
On the post: Gov't Intercepted Millions Of Conversations In Single Drug Investigation, Netted Zero Convictions
Encrypted voice calls need backdoors!
"I would like you... to deliver... a pizza... to my home."
I think we all know what that really means; but thanks to leftie technologists, impenetrable wetware has encoded the underlying messages.
(Like busting encryption, simply hoovering up massive amounts of voice calls is no substitute for actual investigative work.)
On the post: AT&T Claims Forced Arbitration Isn't Forced... Because You Can Choose Not To Have Broadband
"...consumers have the freedom not to subscribe to ...broadband service..."
The fact that we all find that so ludicrous points right back to that notion the Pai/neocon bunch can't grasp: data network access should clearly be recognized as a public utility under Title 2. For the vast majority (with some off-grid exceptions), living unconnected is no more of a choice than opting out of connecting to municipal water and sewerage systems.
On the post: 'Free Market' Group: FCC Comments Show Nobody Really Wants Net Neutrality
On the post: As A New Wave Of Cyberattacks Rolls Out, Rep. Ted Lieu Asks What The NSA's Going To Do About It
"[BADNESS] is threatening our nation! Must stop!"
Congressperson sends a letter...
(Yawn) What's that overused "definition of insanity" trope... "repeating the same behavior but expecting different results". The write-a-letter thing is only one step removed from calling a Congressional hearing, the pure embodiment of doing nothing at all.
Real action would come from mobilizing a ruthless, cutthroat squad to neutralize the threat. Maybe teaching young Mafiosa to code... or an afterschool MS13 Hacker Club.
On the post: Cheerleader Fraudulently Obtains Court Order To Scrub Web Of Her Boyfriend-Beating Past
Live, love, cheer!
FOUR
SIX
EIGHT
Who can I
E-MAS-CU-LATE?
BOYFRIEND!
BOYFRIEND!
DEF-a-ma-tion
DEF-a-ma-tion
YAY!
On the post: 40 ISPs, VoIP And VPN Providers Tell FCC They Like Having Net Neutrality Rules
Opponents are right, of course
Having 40 providers contradict you... that's a really onerous burden.
On the post: As Predicted, Cox's Latest Appeal Points To SCOTUS' Refusal To Disconnect Sex Offenders From Social Media
Cox is the white hat?
On the post: Bob Murray's Lawsuit Against John Oliver Is Even Sillier Than We Expected
On the post: Wall Street Is Starting To Get Very Nervous About Cable TV Cord Cutting
On the post: Facial Recognition Software Brings Personalized Ads To The Supermarket
Re: "More relevant"
On the post: Sheriff Defends Deputies' Lies In Court By Saying Officers Didn't Know They Were Supposed To Tell The Truth
Re: Re: Re: And in related news...
On the post: Verizon Bucks AT&T And Comcast, Supports Utility Pole Reform For Faster Fiber Deployment
On the post: Cable Lobbyists Try To Scuttle State Inquiries Into Shitty Broadband Service, Slow Speeds
"Let states decide..." unless that's inconvenient
Sean Spicer: Trump feels transgender rights "... is a states' rights issue."
Betsy DeVos: Carry guns in schools? “I think that’s best left to locales and states to decide.” Also whether schools can allow discrimination against LGBT folks.
Then why is Ajit Pai, the Great Deregulator, seeking Federal regulatory legislation to deny states the right to control privacy and measure performance? What happened to all the "bureaucratic overreach" and "anti-competitive" rhetoric?
Looks like the AT&T/Charter lobbyists need to pack up their legislation-writing tools and get out of Tennessee; that legislature has already been bought. Get a cool motorhome, and start a 50-state road trip to enact identical, non-Federal-seeming regulations to enshrine the Pai agenda. Just like states' rights, only better!
On the post: Comicmix Wins Against Dr. Seuss Estate On Trademark Infringement Claim, Copyright Claim In Serious Jeopardy
Re: Market Harm? No, Benefit...just not ALL OF IT!
(I'd insert a Seussian parody here, but everything I come up with seems to rhyme with "Nantucket"...)
On the post: New York Legislators Trying To Make A Bad Publicity Law Even Worse
On the post: Mozilla Poll Again Shows Net Neutrality Has Broad, Bipartisan Support
It was an odd evolution that found CATV operators, also regulated utilities, generating content that competed across delivery platforms (with satellite and telco), effectively creating a competitive commercial market somewhat within their regulated utility-intended space... a chimera that, apparently, defies regulation today.
Other utilities have come to grips with this without needing to bribe legislators and mislead the public. Electric customers, in most cases, can select a competitive generation provider... the power then travels the "last mile" over regulated, utility-maintained cabling. While copper still reigned, telcos dipped a toe in competitive markets via CLEC's, again delivering over the regulated last mile. It makes sense that our utility-grade data network can also serve as a noncompetitive last mile... and in so doing, make our networks neutral. I think this is the part that everyone can understand, and which shows up in polling.
On the post: Two Big Copyright Cases Sent To Top EU Court: One On Sampling, The Other On Freedom Of The Press
IPKat's synopsis is great, but there's a leap in the WAZ story that I can't follow. On its face, we're talking about unauthorized publication of a slightly classified ("lowest level of secrecy" in that German source document) report; and an instant later, it's copyright infringement. Is that a German thing... government docs subject to copyright by the government? Or is the state just verärgert (upset) that it was made public? Is this one of those cases where espionage charges won't stick, so they move on down to something civil?
On the post: Report Falsely Blames The EFF For Fraudulent Net Neutrality Comments
"If NLPC had looked closely... they would have noticed the difference... Apparently, they did not."
Edit: "Apparently, they did not give a crap, because it didn't align with their narrative."
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