Net Neutrality

[Winehole23]

looks like Verizon will get away with it:


Under the 2015 Open Internet Order, the Federal Communications Commission did two things. First, it established that all broadband Internet service providers were common carriers subject to the federal laws that protect consumers, promote competition, and guard user privacy. Second, it established a set of “net neutrality” rules based on its Title II authority through the bright line rules of “no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization” as well as a general conduct rule.
So when the FCC repealed that order, it not just ended a ban on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization, it also declared federal laws that would be directly applicable to Verizon’s conduct to no longer apply.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/08/verizons-throttling-fire-fighters-could-go-unpunished-because-fcc-repealed-open

[ElNono]

get em Santa Clara FD

Facing 'Net Neutrality' Criticism, Verizon Suddenly Lifts Data Caps On All Public Safety Workers

Verizon testified Friday before a California State Assembly committee about why its "throttling" of county firefighters was completely unrelated to net neutrality. Then they surprised everyone by announcing that they were lifting all data caps on public safety workers (https://www.siliconvalley.com/2018/08/24/throttling-firefighters-verizon-admits-mistake-says-net-neutrality-is-very-unrelated-at-state-assembly-hearing/)with unlimited data plans, including federal justice agencies like the FBI, CIA and Secret Service.

Verizon claimed this was completely unrelated to the fact that 13 California Congressmen are now demanding that the FTC investigate Verizon's throttling of firefighters (https://eshoo.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rep.-Eshoo-Letter-8.24.18.pdf) battling California's 290,692-acre wildfire. "It is unacceptable for communications providers to deceive their customers," the Congressmen wrote, "but when the consumer in question is a government entity tasked with fire and emergency services, we can't afford to wait a moment longer."

Meanwhile, the California Professional Firefighters, which represents more than 30,000 firefighters and emergency personnel, came out in support of a strict new California law that restores net neutrality provisions, saying their group had "come to conclude that if net neutrality is not restored, the effect could be disastrous to the public's safety (https://www.siliconvalley.com/2018/08/24/verizon-throttling-a-net-neutrality-issue-firefighters-ex-fcc-chairman-say-yes/)."

One county fire chief even testified this was the third time in eight months they've been throttled by Verizon (https://www.siliconvalley.com/2018/08/24/throttling-firefighters-verizon-admits-mistake-says-net-neutrality-is-very-unrelated-at-state-assembly-hearing/).

[Winehole23]

caved to the threat of regulation and even worse PR

[boutons_deux]

Golden State passes gold-standard net neutrality bill by 58-17

SB 822, passed by Senate and Assembly, now has to be passed by, er, the Senate again


The bill received a 58-17 majority vote from the state assembly following a heated debate and amendment process.

Because some provisions of the bill were changed by the Assembly, it will have to once again be voted on by the state Senate before it can head to the desk of Governor Jerry Brown.

Backers of the bill hailed the vote as a major milestone in the effort to get net neutrality legislation on the books in California.

“California just took a huge step toward restoring protections that prevent companies like AT&T and Comcast from screwing us all over more than they already do.

This historic Assembly vote is a testament to the power of the internet,”

Big ISPs spent millions on campaign contributions, lobbyists, and dark ads on social networks,

but in the end it was no match for the passion and dedication of net neutrality supporters using the Internet to sound the alarm and mobilize.”

The passage of the bill comes after a bitter fight in Sacramento between

tech companies and digital rights groups who had backed the bill and

telcos and conservatives who saw the bill as an unnecessary government effort to control the internet. :lol

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/31/california_net_neutrality/



https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/31/california_net_neutrality/

[Winehole23]

ISPs lobbying FCC to ban state regulation:


The shorter version: the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom order effectively cripples the FCC’s ability to protect consumers, then shovels any remaining enforcement authority over to the FTC, which is ill-equipped (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180517/08080239849/no-ftc-is-not-going-to-do-good-job-policing-net-neutrality.shtml) to actually police the telecom market. Predicting that states would then try to jump in and fill the oversight accountability vacuum (which is precisely what started happening (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180220/08225739269/more-than-half-us-states-now-pushing-their-own-net-neutrality-rules.shtml) on both net neutrality and privacy), ISPs have also been urging both the FCC and the FTC to ban states from doing so.


This is all being done under the pretense that blind deregulation of the telecom sector magically results in greater industry investment and broader deployment. But as we’ve explained countless times, that’s not how the U.S. telecom sector works. With neither competition nor reasonable government oversight to constrain it, natural monopolies like Comcast are simply free to double down on all their worst behaviors. To ignore this historical fact, one is required to pretend that the broadband industry is actually competitive
https://abovethelaw.com/2018/08/comcast-is-trying-to-ban-states-from-protecting-broadband-tv-consumers/?rf=1

[boutons_deux]

My guess is the Repugs will pass legislation to pre-empt CA (and any state) from setting fuel economy standards and requiring net neutrality.

Repugs invoke "states rights" only when Repugs want to oppress the non-whites.

[boutons_deux]

Ajit Pai calls California’s net neutrality rules “illegal”

CA enforcing neutrality because "Pai abdicated his responsibility," senator says.

California's attempt to enforce net neutrality rules is "illegal" and "poses a risk to the rest of the country," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said in a speech on Friday.

Pai's remarks drew an immediate rebuke from California Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who authored the net neutrality bill that passed California's legislature (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/calif-senate-approves-net-neutrality-rules-sends-bill-to-governor/) and now awaits the signature of Governor Jerry Brown.

California's net neutrality rules (https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB822) are "necessary and legal because Chairman Pai abdicated his responsibility to ensure an open Internet," Wiener said in a press release.

"Unlike Pai's FCC, California isn't run by the big telecom and cable companies," Wiener also said.

"Pai can take whatever potshots at California he wants.

The reality is that California is the world's innovation capital, and

unlike the crony capitalism promoted by the Trump administration,

California understands exactly what it takes to foster an open innovation economy with a level playing field."

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/ajit-pai-calls-californias-net-neutrality-rules-illegal/

If the Repugs don't pass a law or ruling to screw CA's net neutrality, then Repug political hack judges will rule CA down, including SCOTUS.

Running country through the judiciary polluted with their right wing political hacks, rather than with legislation, is the oligarchy's strategy.

[boutons_deux]

FCC angers cities and towns with $2 billion giveaway to wireless carriers

Cities will get less revenue, and carriers won't face any new requirements.

The Federal Communications Commission's plan for spurring 5G wireless deployment will prevent city and town governments from charging carriers about $2 billion worth of fees.

The FCC proposal (https://www.fcc.gov/document/streamlining-deployment-next-generation-wireless-infrastructure), to be voted on at its meeting on September 26,

limits the amount that local governments may charge carriers

for placing 5G equipment such as small cells on poles, traffic lights, and other government property in public rights-of-way.

The proposal, which is

supported by the FCC's Republican majority,

would also force cities and towns to act on carrier applications within 60 or 90 days.

The FCC says this will spur more deployment of small cells, which "have antennas often no larger than a small backpack."

But the commission's proposal doesn't require carriers to build in areas where they wouldn't have done so anyway.

Philadelphia is one of numerous local governments that objects to the FCC plan.

"The City respectfully disagrees with the Commission's interpretation of 'fair and reasonable' compensation,"

Philadelphia officials told the commission (https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/109192671202479/City%20of%20Philadelphia%20Comments%20to%20Draft%2 0Declaratory%20Ruling%20and%20Third%20Report%20and %20Order%20(WT%2017-79%3B%20WC%2017-84.pdf) this week.

"For many cities, public rights-of-way are the most valuable and commonly used public asset."

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/fcc-angers-cities-and-towns-with-2-billion-giveaway-to-wireless-carriers/

How Many Ways Can Repugs Screw Americans? Let Us Count the Ways.

[boutons_deux]

Here's the oligarchy getting their little whore Pai to kneecap cities, states as they work on 5G with BigNetwork,

costing the cities $Bs in revenue, enriching BigNetwork by $Bs forever

FCC to limit fees cities can charge for 5G deployment

The FCC says the new rules will cut red-tape, but critics say they weaken the ability of municipalities to negotiate with big carriers.

The Federal Communications Commission is about to pass rules that

will limit how much local governments can charge wireless companies to attach small radios to utility poles, part of the deployment of next-generation 5G service.

Critics argue, however, that the new rules leave little room for municipalities to negotiate with wireless carriers.

the new rules could "stifle local policy innovation, including efforts to bridge the digital divide."

the FCC proposal would prevent cities and towns from charging more than it costs them to process applications and manage rights of way, which the FCC estimates at $270 a year per cell site.

By contrast, cities such as New York City charge as much at $5,100 a year in some neighborhoods,

but as little as $148 a year in areas where it's trying to encourage broadband deployment,

On average, carriers pay about $500 per pole per year,

(https://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-to-limit-fees-for-5g-deployment/#ftag=CAD590a51e)states have passed laws limiting the fees localities can charge to process construction and permit applications for small cells.

They also require local governments to approve or reject small cell deployments in a set period of time.

Now the FCC wants to make those policies consistent across the country.

(https://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-to-limit-fees-for-5g-deployment/#ftag=CAD590a51e)https://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-to-limit-fees-for-5g-deployment/#ftag=CAD590a51e

[boutons_deux]

HOW BAD MAPS ARE RUINING AMERICAN BROADBAND

ISPs are painting over US broadband problems, and the FCC is letting it happen

Like countless other American cities, Cleveland, Ohio, suffers from a lack of meaningful broadband competition.

With only one or two largely apathetic ISPs to choose from, high prices, slow speeds, limited deployment, and customer service headaches (https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/19/6004131/comcast-the-worst-company-in-america) are the norm.

It’s particularly bad in the city’s poorer, urban areas. AT&T has avoided upgrading lower-income minority neighborhoods (https://www.digitalinclusion.org/blog/2017/03/10/atts-digital-redlining-of-cleveland/) at the same rate as higher-income parts of the city,

despite decades of subsidies and tax breaks (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141212/05543829410/throwing-tax-breaks-att-verizon-shockingly-not-creating-promised-jobs-investment.shtml) intended to prevent that from happening,

Even in more affluent neighborhoods, users are lucky if they have an ISP that can deliver speeds over 50 Mbps.

The problem is much bigger than Cleveland, but the FCC isn’t ready to do much about it.

US customers pay some of the highest prices for broadband (https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/1/8321437/maps-show-why-internet-is-more-expensive-us-europe-competition) in the developed world, and

broadband availability is sketchy at best for millions of Americans (https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2018/db0207/DOC-349074A1.pdf).

But instead of tackling that problem head on,

the FCC is increasingly looking the other way, relying on ISP data that paints an inaccurately rosy picture of Americans’ internet access.

And as long as regulators are relying on a false picture of US broadband access, actually solving the problem may be impossible.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/24/17882842/us-internet-broadband-map-isp-fcc-wireless-competition

Just another fleecing screw job, among 1000s over decades of your lives, how the unregulated/unenforced Capitalist oligarchy blood-sucks your wealth.

[boutons_deux]

These maps show why internet is way more expensive in the US than Europe

https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/1/8321437/maps-show-why-internet-is-more-expensive-us-europe-competition

================

Price Rankings by Country of Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) (Utilities (Monthly))

Select Region: Africa (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?displayCurrency=USD&itemId=33&region=002) America (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?displayCurrency=USD&itemId=33&region=019) Asia (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?displayCurrency=USD&itemId=33&region=142) Europe (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?displayCurrency=USD&itemId=33&region=150) Oceania (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?displayCurrency=USD&itemId=33&region=009)


1.
United Arab Emirates

99.53 $


2.
Qatar

83.42 $


3.
South Africa

65.22 $


4.
Saudi Arabia

61.29 $


5.
United States

61.10 $


6.
Iceland

60.68 $


7.
Switzerland

60.22 $


8.
Costa Rica

58.02 $


9.
Ireland

57.87 $


10.
New Zealand

56.44 $


11.
Canada

55.89 $


12.
Puerto Rico

55.87 $


13.
Norway

54.24 $


14.
Australia

53.42 $


15.
Panama

51.46 $


16.
Dominican Republic

50.43 $


17.
Belgium

49.85 $


18.
Jordan

46.63 $


19.
Spain

46.46 $


20.
Cyprus

45.62 $


21.
Lebanon

44.50 $


22.
Netherlands

42.83 $


23.
Iraq

41.19 $


24.
Japan

40.36 $


25.
Peru

39.93 $


26.
Chile

39.70 $


27.
Ecuador

38.67 $


28.
Malaysia

38.18 $


29.
Philippines

37.97 $


30.
United Kingdom

37.70 $


31.
Denmark

35.95 $


32.
Slovenia

35.07 $


33.
Algeria

34.32 $


34.
Portugal

34.21 $


35.
Germany

33.78 $


36.
Malta

33.77 $


37.
Greece

32.90 $


38.
Uruguay

32.53 $


39.
Palestinian Territory

32.30 $


40.
Colombia

32.22 $


41.
Italy

31.98 $


42.
France

31.94 $


43.
Sweden

31.90 $


44.
Singapore

31.89 $


45.
Indonesia

31.85 $


46.
Austria

30.88 $


47.
Brazil

30.77 $


48.
Morocco

29.69 $


49.
Montenegro

29.32 $


50.
Iran

29.32 $


51.
Bangladesh

28.35 $


52.
Hong Kong

27.96 $


53.
Argentina

26.94 $


54.
Finland

26.83 $


55.
Taiwan

26.41 $


56.
Croatia

26.02 $


57.
Mexico

25.34 $


58.
Estonia

25.03 $


59.
Israel

24.90 $


60.
South Korea

24.07 $


61.
Bosnia And Herzegovina

23.12 $


62.
Pakistan

22.23 $


63.
Thailand

22.19 $


64.
Serbia

21.70 $


65.
Albania

21.36 $


66.
Czech Republic

20.18 $


67.
Slovakia

18.52 $


68.
Nepal

17.99 $


69.
Tunisia

16.96 $


70.
Latvia

16.82 $


71.
Egypt

16.74 $


72.
Georgia

16.64 $


73.
Macedonia

15.47 $


74.
Hungary

15.14 $


75.
Azerbaijan

14.80 $


76.
China

14.65 $


77.
Poland

14.09 $


78.
Belarus

14.07 $


79.
Sri Lanka

13.82 $


80.
India

13.60 $


81.
Turkey

13.36 $


82.
Lithuania

12.57 $


83.
Kosovo (Disputed Territory)

12.25 $


84.
Bulgaria

11.59 $


85.
Kazakhstan

11.04 $


86.
Vietnam

10.60 $


87.
Moldova

9.59 $


88.
Romania

8.92 $


89.
Russia

7.17 $


90.
Venezuela

5.12 $


91.
Ukraine

4.14




https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=33

[dbestpro]

What I don't get is you pay for the Internet to your phone, and then have to pay for it a second time, if you connect your phone to another device. Don't care what side your own, that just ain't right.

[boutons_deux]

Trump administration plans to sue California over net neutrality law

The Trump administration plans to sue California over the new net neutrality law the state enacted on Sunday

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-california-trump/trump-administration-plans-to-sue-california-over-net-neutrality-law-washington-post-idUSKCN1MB150?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

[boutons_deux]

Senate voted to override Pai and to retain net neutrality

If Dems win the House, the House could vote with the Senate to override Pai.

[baseline bum]

Senate voted to override Pai and to retain net neutrality

If Dems win the House, the House could vote with the Senate to override Pai.

And then get vetoed by the orange shithead

[Th'Pusher]

Trump administration plans to sue California over net neutrality law

The Trump administration plans to sue California over the new net neutrality law the state enacted on Sunday

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-california-trump/trump-administration-plans-to-sue-california-over-net-neutrality-law-washington-post-idUSKCN1MB150?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

States rights bad now.

[Winehole23]

"someone" faked public input:

1052046475138658305

[CosmicCowboy]

States rights bad now.

Yeah the internet can't cross state lines.

[boutons_deux]

Yeah the internet can't cross state lines.

the issue is that killing net neutrality is BigNetwork's cheap whore PAI enabling fleecing of Americans, more $$$ for less access.

This is why Trash's mob voted Repug, to get even more screwed, along with more polluted air, water, land, and rural post offices, hospitals, clinics closed.

[boutons_deux]

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of DC Circuit Decision Upholding Net Neutrality Rules

The D.C. Circuit Court found that the FCC was well within its authority to adopt net neutrality rules that prevented Internet service companies from blocking, throttling, or otherwise degrading traffic.

The Supreme Court’s rejection of this appeal ensures the

D.C. Circuit’s decision remains in the record as binding precedent for the FCC’s authority to adopt strong net neutrality rules.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is push-back against FCC Chairman Pai's effort to get rid of net neutrality.

Although his majority at the Commission has repealed the net neutrality rules, today's decision should weaken those who are contesting the now-binding 2016 DC Circuit Court's decision upholding the rules.

Proponents of Pai's repeal – monopoly phone and cable companies – are on shakier grounds than they thought as they try to dismantle an open internet.”

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2018/11/05/supreme-court-rejects-appeal-dc-circuit-decision-upholding-net-neutrality-rules?cd-origin=rss

[boutons_deux]

The net neutrality fight isn’t over. Here’s what you need to know

The rules have been rolled back.

But the battle is just heating up.

Here's everything you need to know.




https://www.cnet.com/news/the-net-neutrality-fight-isnt-over-heres-what-you-need-to-know/#ftag=CAD590a51e

[boutons_deux]

ATT, etc did EXACTLY what they said they wouldn't do

AT&T, Dish point fingers after HBO blackout

HBO and Cinemax are no longer available on Dish or Sling TV.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/01/hbo-dish-att/

Programming will be cartelized by BigNetwork exactly the way health care is cartelized by BigInsurance networks.

You may not be able to get some programming, or if so, you'll pay for it expensively.

Just another way the bullying, predatory oligarchy fleeces Americans.

[Winehole23]

Northeastern University study tells you what you already know about violations of net neutrality:




Nearly every US cellular ISP (CISP) throttles (i.e., sets a limit on available bandwidth) at least one streaming video provider.

No ISP in our tests throttles all the video providers in our tests, meaning some video providers can stream at higher resolution than others (potentially unfairly).
Across the US, there is a wide range of throttling rate (i.e., bandwidth limits) set by CISPs. In some cases, the same CISP uses multiple throttling rates depending on the user’s service plan. This can make it difficult for video providers to give their users a uniformly high quality streaming session across different networks.


The FCC rules permitting net neutrality violations went into effect on June 11th. Our data shows that all of the US CISPs that throttle after June 11th were already throttling prior to this date. In short, it appears that US CISPs were ignoring the Wheeler FCC rules pertaining to “no throttling” while those rules were still in effect.
Throttling is not limited to video. We found that the telephony app Skype is throttled by Sprint and Boost.

We investigated the Sprint cases and found them to occur mainly for Android users. We are confident of the detected throttling, but cannot reproduce this behavior in the lab so we do not know why it is so prevalent for Android.
Skype throttling was detected regularly over the course of the year, and spread geographically across the US.


We observed that T-Mobile has implemented what we call “boosting” behavior that is targeted at specific video streaming apps.

With “boosting” T-Mobile removes throttling for the beginning of a video streaming session. After a fixed number of bytes have been transferred, T-Mobile throttles the connection.
Different apps get different amounts of boosting, and YouTube gets none.
Our analysis indicates that such boosting detrimental to the video streaming session by causing network inefficiencies and confusing bitrate adaptation.


https://dd.meddle.mobi/USStats.html

[boutons_deux]

FCC Denies NY Times, BuzzFeed Logs Linked to Fake 'Russian' Comments, Made-Up Cyberattack (https://gizmodo.com/fcc-denies-ny-times-buzzfeed-logs-linked-to-fake-russi-1830835916)

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Monday applauded his agency’s decision to keep secret months’ worth of data logs

sought by reporters trying to shed further light on suspicious activity last year involving millions of fraudulent net neutrality comments.

The agency rejected two record requests filed by major publications, the New York Times and BuzzFeed,

arguing that turning over the logs would violate the privacy interests of Americans who commented on its net neutrality repeal.

The decisions comes after the Federal Communications Commission consistently misled major news outlets about a purported cyberattack against its comment system in the runup to its repeal of net neutrality rules in 2017.

Only this summer did Pai finally admit that this so-called attack never occurred, even though he’d claimed the opposite publicly on numerous occasions.

FCC officials defend their false claims that the comment system had been targeted by malicious hackers, even though Pai was himself aware that it wasn’t true (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pai-knew-fcc-cyberattack-was-fake-for-seven-months-1828394235#_ga=2.183705824.770717763.1543802810-2100675449.1537904885).

Both requests were denied upon appeal, marking a new chapter in the

FCC’s ongoing efforts to keep potentially pertinent details about the 2017 incident—and others—from the public record.

https://gizmodo.com/fcc-denies-ny-times-buzzfeed-logs-linked-to-fake-russi-1830835916?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

This is the MISgovernance and corrupt governance that all y'all rightwing assholes voted for, right?

[boutons_deux]

fucking Repug lame dick House to vote on Senate's net neutrality protection bill.

Bill to save net neutrality is 46 votes short in US House

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/bill-to-save-net-neutrality-is-46-votes-short-in-us-house/

[boutons_deux]

With Deadline to Save Net Neutrality Days Away, Here Are the 18 Democrats Still Siding With Telecom Donors Over Open Internet

"It's clear that these congress members are deep in the pockets of lobbyists at Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T. These telecoms have given them hundreds of thousands of dollars in 'campaign donations.'"

The 18 House Democrats who still haven't signed on to the Congressional Review Act (CRA) measure to restore net neutrality protections are:

Reps.

Brandon Boyle (Pa.),
Robert Brady (Pa.),
G.K. Butterfield (N.C.),
Matt Cartwright (Pa.),
Jim Costa (Calif.),
Henry Cueller (Texas),
Dwight Evans (Pa.),
Vicente Gonzalez (Texas),
Josh Gottheimer (N.J.),
Gene Green (Texas),
Tom O'Halleran (Ariz.),
Brad Schneider(Ill.),
David Scott (Ga.),
Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.),
Filemon Vela (Texas),
Pete Visclosky (Ind.),
Frederica Wilson (Fla.), and
Mary Gay Scanlon (Pa.).

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/05/deadline-save-net-neutrality-days-away-here-are-18-democrats-still-siding-telecom?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=With%20Deadline%20to%20Save%20Net%20Neutr ality%20Days%20Away%2C%20Here%20Are%20the%2018%20D emocrats%20Still%20Siding%20With%20Telecom%20Donor s%20Over%20Open%20Internet&utm_campaign=%27We%20Have%20Not%20Come%20Here%20to %20Beg%20World%20Leaders%20to%20Care.%20We%20Have% 20Come%20to%20Let%20Them%20Know%20Change%20Is%20Co ming%27%20%7C%20Your%20Week%20in%20Review&utm_content=email&utm_source=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software-_-email-_-%27We%20Have%20Not%20Come%20Here%20to%20Beg%20Worl d%20Leaders%20to%20Care.%20We%20Have%20Come%20to%2 0Let%20Them%20Know%20Change%20Is%20Coming%27%20%7C %20Your%20Week%20in%20Review-_-With%20Deadline%20to%20Save%20Net%20Neutrality%20D ays%20Away%2C%20Here%20Are%20the%2018%20Democrats% 20Still%20Siding%20With%20Telecom%20Donors%20Over% 20Open%20Internet

The oligarchy corrupts whores to give the oligarchy what it wants. And the whores are not held accountable.

[Chris]

Study: U.S. Internet Speeds Skyrocket One Year After Net Neutrality Repeal

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/14/study-u-s-internet-speeds-skyrocket-one-year-after-net-neutrality-repeal/

[ElNono]

Getting close to Hungary

http://www.speedtest.net/global-index

[Chris]

https://twitter.com/ptbrennan11/status/1079583780883582976

[Pavlov]

https://twitter.com/ptbrennan11/status/1079583780883582976Hey Chris, in your own words describe the concept of net neutrality.

[boutons_deux]

"Patrick Brennan
(https://twitter.com/ptbrennan11)✔@ptbrennan11
(https://twitter.com/ptbrennan11)
(https://twitter.com/ptbrennan11)
In the year since net neutrality was repealed,"

asshole with a lie and bow fucking tie, obviously a propagandist, immune to the facts.

Net neutrality repeal became effective only 6 months ago, in June 2018

Big investment / total implementation by the oligarchy, BigNetwork division, to fleece Internet users even more, is going slow because ...


Here's everything you need to know about net neutrality on the anniversary of its repeal


The rules may be gone, but the battle continues

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-net-neutrality-fight-isnt-over-heres-what-you-need-to-know/


No doubt BigNetwork is pouring $Ms into knocking down any and all resistance.

Yet again, AS ALWAYS, the oligarchy pays the political whores to pass/repeal legislation, regs that enrich the oligarchy and fleece The People.

[boutons_deux]

network speed is up? starting from shameful, for-profit low and still not fast enough

[boutons_deux]

Ajit Pai thanks Congress for helping him kill net neutrality rules

Democratic effort to reverse repeal fell short as Congressional session ended.


Ajit Pai today celebrated a victory in his ongoing quest to prevent the US government from enforcing net neutrality rules.

The Pai-led Federal Communications Commission repealed Obama-era net neutrality rules, but

the repeal could have been reversed by Congress if it acted before the end of its session.

Democrats won a vote to reverse the repeal in the Senate (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/senate-votes-to-overturn-ajit-pais-net-neutrality-repeal/) but weren't able to get enough votes in the House of Representatives before time ran out (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/12/net-neutrality-bill-gains-votes-in-congress-but-not-enough-to-reverse-repeal/).

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/ajit-pai-thanks-congress-for-helping-him-kill-net-neutrality-rules/

Do you assholes really think BigNetwork, who makes govt policy, had any objective other than More For Them, Less For Us?

[boutons_deux]

Fake FCC Comments Linked to Ex-Trump Campaign Director's Org, Boosted By Roger Stone (https://gizmodo.com/fake-fcc-comments-linked-to-ex-trump-campaign-directors-1832233664)

An organization run by a former Trump campaign statewide director is

being investigated by the New York attorney general’s office for its role in

the submission of potentially hundreds of thousands of fraudulent comments to the Federal Communications Commission during the agency’s 2017 efforts to rollback Obama-era net neutrality rules.

Americans whose names were attached to fraudulent FCC comments linked to the ex-Trump campaign staffer confirmed during a series of interviews that their identities had been stolen.

What’s remained unreported until now is the source of the

37 identical Sharpsburg comments, which match those submitted on behalf of more than 300,000 Americans nationwide.

That comment, which rails against Google, its former chairman Eric Schmidt, and “global billionaires like George Soros,” was authored by a group known as Free Our Internet, according to a page on its website (https://web.archive.org/web/20180315080220/http://freeourinternet.org/take-action/), which has since been deleted.

Free Our Internet’s campaign against net neutrality, which it presents as a conspiracy by “liberal globalists to take over our Internet,” was first announced in a now-deleted (https://web.archive.org/web/20171007223632/https://ravenstrategiesllc.com/2017/06/30/net-freedom-ring-campaign-launching-july-4th-in-support-of-internet-independence/) press release on the website of

Raven Strategies, a political consultancy whose client list includes, among others, Donald Trump for President.

Christie-Lee McNally, the president of Raven Strategies and the executive director of Free Our Internet,

Her organization,

Free Our Internet, is also the subject of one of 14 subpoenas

issued in October by the New York attorney general’s office, which, like the Department of Justice (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevincollier/feds-investigation-net-neutrality-comments), is currently investigating widespread accounts of identity theft related to the FCC’s net neutrality process.

Out of the more than 22 million comments submitted to the FCC about net neutrality in 2017,

investigators believe that as many as 9.53 million involved the use of stolen identities.

the focus has, until now, been on larger and more prominently known organizations, such as the

Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF), a decades-old dark-money group (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/karl-rove-crossroads-gps-center-individual-freedom/) founded by former tobacco industry executives to, initially, combat government restrictions (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/24/nation/la-na-hidden-donors-20101024) on smoking.

with funding from Republican figures like Karl Rove,

CFIF lobbies to overturn FCC rules and policies disapproved of by the telecommunications industry.

The comments it contributed about net neutrality are now being scrutinized by both state and federal law enforcement agencies for any trace of stolen identities.

https://gizmodo.com/fake-fcc-comments-linked-to-ex-trump-campaign-directors-1832233664?utm_source=gizmodo_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-02-01

[boutons_deux]

FCC Faces Off in Net Neutrality Lawsuit Against Consumer Advocates and Internet Giants (https://gizmodo.com/fcc-faces-off-in-net-neutrality-lawsuit-against-consume-1832269448)

Oral arguments began Friday in the case of Mozilla v. FCC, a lawsuit brought by a wide range of advocacy groups and trade organizations representing some of the nation’s largest internet companies, which

all seek to vacate the vote to repeal net neutrality pushed through by the Federal Communications Commission in late 2017.

At the heart of the case is the question of whether the FCC was within its rights to overturn the Open Internet Order, which it passed in 2015 under the Obama administration.

The order implemented rules against blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization—so-called fast lanes—by mobile and fixed broadband providers.

It accomplished this by reclassifying broadband as a “telecommunications service” under

Title II of the 1934 Communications Act,

and in so granted itself the authority to regulate broadband service nationwide.

The case is brought before U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia,

The court previously upheld the 2015 Open Internet Order, finding it lawful and justified by the arguments of the net neutrality advocates.

he groups opposing the FCC include a hodgepodge of tech companies and consumer advocacy groups, as well as state and local officials—among them:

the Mozilla Corporation;
Etsy;
Free Press;
Public Knowledge;
the National Hispanic Media Coalition;
the Open Technology Institute;
the Center for Democracy & Technology, and others.

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have also joined the petitioners.

https://gizmodo.com/fcc-faces-off-in-net-neutrality-lawsuit-against-consume-1832269448?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

[boutons_deux]

Ajit Pai Really Wants to Screw With Rural Native Residents' Internet Access (https://splinternews.com/ajit-pai-really-wants-to-screw-with-rural-native-reside-1832329725)

A DC District Court judge on Friday struck down an FCC ruling that cut internet subsidies for thousands of Native American families living on rural sections of reservations.

The FCC’s initial decision to gut the Tribal Lifeline program drastically limited the ability of rural reservation dwellers to obtain internet and cell phone service.

Like the broadband shortage currently facing much of rural America (http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/09/fcc-lifeline-rollback-cut-internet-access-to-rural-america.html),

the companies that provide phone and internet services to Native nations ignored rural Native peoples simply

because they realized there wasn’t much profit to be made building infrastructure for a small number of people living long distances from one another.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai—an (https://gizmodo.com/the-nra-just-awarded-fcc-chair-ajit-pai-with-a-gun-for-1823273450#_ga=2.25812157.1495478009.1549298439-1349940386.1540582134) idiotic (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pai-refuses-to-brief-lawmakers-over-phone-tracking-1831750774#_ga=2.25812157.1495478009.1549298439-1349940386.1540582134) shill (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pai-and-republicans-in-congress-helped-enable-boun-1832030913#_ga=2.25812157.1495478009.1549298439-1349940386.1540582134) in (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pais-fcc-doesnt-want-to-hear-your-complaints-unles-1827500381#_ga=2.25812157.1495478009.1549298439-1349940386.1540582134) the (https://gizmodo.com/loathsome-shill-ajit-pai-drops-out-of-planned-ces-appea-1821753695)simplest (https://gizmodo.com/court-rejects-the-fccs-attempt-to-postpone-net-neutrali-1831853325) of (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pai-knew-fcc-cyberattack-was-fake-for-seven-months-1828394235) terms (https://gizmodo.com/how-to-watch-ajit-pai-get-grilled-by-congress-over-made-1828385518)—made the decision in November 2017 to vote

to cut the subsidy for Natives living in urban areas and for Natives in rural areas

The FCC was attempting to force Natives to completely rely on what are known as facilities-based providers, which, to avoid getting too deep in the weeds, basically means A Big Company.

After both sides (https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/tribal-brief.pdf) stated their case (https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/fcc-brief.pdf),

the court ruled on Friday in favor of the tribes and roasted Pai’s FCC. :lol

could all be rendered moot if Pai gets his way and cuts all resellers out of the Lifeline program (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/even-isps-hate-ajit-pais-plan-to-take-broadband-choice-away-from-poor-people/),

because,

when you’re an asshole with all the power to throttle and price gouge the poor, why the hell not.

https://splinternews.com/ajit-pai-really-wants-to-screw-with-rural-native-reside-1832329725?utm_source=splinter_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-02-04

shill? asshole? nope, BigNetwork whore

[boutons_deux]

Appeals court overturns FCC's attempt to throw 70 percent of low-incomepeople off broadband (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/4/1832207/-Appeals-court-overturns-FCC-s-attempt-to-throw-70-percent-of-low-income-people-off-broadband)

A federal appeals court has overturned an attempt by Ajit Pai and his FCC to make it far more difficult for tribal residents to get subsidies needed to afford broadband internet access through the Lifeline program (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Service_Fund#Low_income_(Lifeline)).

Last Friday’s decision overturns a move begun by Pai to gut the program a little over a year ago. Pai talking loudly about wanting to bridge the digital divide—

the growing chasm between the haves and have-nots in access to broadband services—

while trying to get rid of the only programs helping to bridge that gap.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/4/1832207/-Appeals-court-overturns-FCC-s-attempt-to-throw-70-percent-of-low-income-people-off-broadband?detail=emailLL

[boutons_deux]

Cell companies lied to their customers about coverage, and the government believed them

The FCC is one step closer to acknowledging they have no idea who does and doesn’t have cell reception in America.

https://theoutline.com/post/7066/the-fcc-is-letting-cell-phone-carriers-lie-about-their-coverage-areas?utm_source=NL&zr=yltugmbs&zd=1&zi=c4n2632v

.. FCC doesn't care, it's Repug MISgovernance.

[boutons_deux]

tldnr:

outcome-changing fraudulent voting in the net neutrality has been found

the company(ies) responsible for the fraud have been identified

FCC refuses to help

===============

How an Investigation of Fake FCC Comments Snared a Prominent D.C. Media Firm (https://gizmodo.com/how-an-investigation-of-fake-fcc-comments-snared-a-prom-1832788658)

https://gizmodo.com/how-an-investigation-of-fake-fcc-comments-snared-a-prom-1832788658?utm_source=gizmodo_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-02-21

[boutons_deux]

Playing Whack-a-Mole With Broadband Industry Shills

This industry money has turned far too many decision-makers in Washington against the interests of the people they’re supposed to represent, people who support Net Neutrality in large numbers

So many Op-Eds and letters to the editor that oppose the Save the Internet Act (https://www.freepress.net/our-response/expert-analysis/explainers/6-reasons-congress-needs-support-save-internet-act) are written by people with financial ties to the broadband industry.

And far too few of these ties are disclosed in the media.

The latest mole to emerge takes the form of a misleading letter to the editor (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/opinion/letters/democrats-net-neutrality.html) in the New York Times. Its author is

Ev Ehrlich, who’s affiliated with the ESC Company and the so-called Progressive Policy Institute.

But you wouldn’t know that from reading his letter in the Times, as neither he nor the newspaper acknowledges these ties.

It’s a concerning oversight because both of these organizations have financial relationships with the phone and cable lobby, which is doing whatever it can to torpedo the Save the Internet Act.

Public polling shows overwhelming bipartisan support for the Save the Internet Act’s legal approach. A 2018 University of Maryland (http://www.publicconsultation.org/united-states/overwhelming-bipartisan-public-opposition-to-repealing-net-neutrality-persists/) poll found that

86 percent of voters opposed the FCC’s repeal of the Title II Net Neutrality rules, including

82 percent of Republicans and

90 percent of Democrats.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/02/playing-whack-mole-broadband-industry-shills?cd-origin=rss

Repug FCC/Pai killing net neutrality backed by $100Ms from the telecom lobby over the preferences of the huge majority telecom's victims exemplifies how the oligarchy's $Bs now run the country.

The Princeton study's conclusions that America is an oligarchy are fully supported:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

[boutons_deux]

White House aides to recommend Trump veto net neutrality measure

White House aides would recommend President Donald Trump veto a bill to restore landmark net neutrality protections if reinstated by Congress,


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-trump/white-house-aides-to-recommend-trump-veto-net-neutrality-measure-document-idUSKCN1RK2EQ?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28Reu ters+Politics+News%29

[boutons_deux]

FCC Under Fire For Putting ALEC Rep On 'Consumer' Advisory Board

In 2017, FCC head Ajit Pai came under fire for filling a new "Broadband Deployment Advisory Council" (BDAC) task force with oodles of industry representatives (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180405/09372239571/fccs-broadband-advisory-council-keeps-losing-members-due-to-cronyism.shtml), but few if any consumer representatives or local town or city officials.

Not too surprisingly the panel saw a significant amount of controversy, several protest resignations (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180405/09372239571/fccs-broadband-advisory-council-keeps-losing-members-due-to-cronyism.shtml), and the arrest of a one-time panel chair for fraud (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180417/08410839643/former-fcc-broadband-advisory-panel-chair-arrested-fraud.shtml),

but the panel itself never actually accomplished much of anything (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180417/08410839643/former-fcc-broadband-advisory-panel-chair-arrested-fraud.shtml) to address the problem it was created for.

Fast forward to last week, and the FCC has once again found itself under fire for

appointing a member of the The American Legislative Exchange Council (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/04/fcc-consumer-advisory-panel-includes-alec-big-foe-of-municipal-broadband/) (ALEC) to the agency's "consumer advisory" panel:

"A committee that advises the Federal Communications Commission on consumer-related matters now includes a representative of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),

which lobbies against municipal broadband, net neutrality, and other consumer protection measures.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced his Consumer Advisory Committee's new makeup on Wednesday.

One new member is Jonathon Hauenschild, director of ALEC's Task Force on Communications and Technology.

He and other Consumer Advisory Committee will serve two-year terms.


The most obvious problem is that ALEC is directly employed by the telecom sector

to undermine and eliminate consumer protections.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190415/07342442012/fcc-under-fire-putting-alec-rep-consumer-advisory-board.shtml

[boutons_deux]

From an email from [email protected]:


"Awful news:

47 House Democrats, including 13 from California,

just sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi,

urging her to give up on strong net neutrality legislation."

My guess is that they have all been purchased by BigNetwork

[boutons_deux]

The latest FCC plan to boost US broadband? Prevent competition in apartment blocks

Ajit Pai turns logic on its head while doing Big Cable's bidding

the former Verizon lawyer said he would introduce a new proposal for "multiple tenant environments" or MTEs – basically apartment blocks and office buildings – that would "enable the millions of Americans who live and work in MTEs to have greater choice when it comes to broadband."

Pai announced that the

FCC would specifically target a provision by the city of San Francisco that requires the wiring in MTEs to be shared so any ISP can offer their services to occupants.

The ordinance is "not consistent with federal policy," Pai argued, calling the Californian seaside city's approach "an outlier."

The ordinance was specifically designed to prevent exclusive arrangements between building owners and a single ISP but, according to Pai, is "a policy which deters broadband deployment."

What the ordinance actually deters, policy experts were quick to point out, is the ability of giants like AT&T and Comcast to carve up large markets and prevent competition.

Pai's argument is "utterly ridiculous," he added.

That view was shared by others, one of whom called it

"the most contradictory statement I have ever read in my professional career."

Another called it "a petty proposition that will only interfere with deployments."

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/19/fcc_broadband_competition/ (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/19/fcc_broadband_competition/)

[boutons_deux]

Pai continues to fuckup, always in favor of BigCorp

Ajit Pai's Silence on Phone Tracking Abuse Is Further Eroding Faith in His Competence (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pais-silence-on-phone-location-abuse-is-further-er-1835921741)

The Federal Communication Commission’s investigation into the unauthorized sale of Americans’ location data is now in its second year and still, no one outside of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s office knows a thing about it. On

Capitol Hill, faith in his ability to properly handle these apparent violations has reached an all-time low.

Congresswoman Lori Trahan ... a cause to take to the House floor yesterday and call out Pai’s “lack of enforcement and transparency.”

“Location data has been sold through a supply chain with little oversight, often leading to this information ending up in the hands of bad actors,” she said.

“For just a few dollars, stalkers and predatory abusers can buy geolocation information to prey on unsuspecting victims—a reality that should set off alarm bells nationwide.”

“Every day that the FCC delays reporting their findings from this investigation puts consumers’ personal security at greater risk,”

the apparently unauthorized use of location data to a crime scene an hour east of Dallas, Texas, where two bounty hunters illegally posing as law enforcement officials had exchanged fire with a suspect on the run, resulting in the deaths of all three.

“Abusers and stalkers often exploit technology to gain access to their victims’ location through GPS tracking and other cell phone apps, forcing victims to get new phones or wipe their current ones when they are trying to leave these dangerous situations,”

accused Pai of intentionally mishandling the investigation—as evidenced mainly by his ongoing refusal to share documentation (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pai-is-still-withholding-details-of-fccs-location-1835664306) that would shed light on its progress.

“[F]or too long the FCC has been silent about this security mess. The agency hasn’t said anything about what is going on and how any of us with a mobile phone might be at risk. That’s unacceptable,”

https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pais-silence-on-phone-location-abuse-is-further-er-1835921741 (https://gizmodo.com/ajit-pais-silence-on-phone-location-abuse-is-further-er-1835921741)

[boutons_deux]

Ajit Pai’s new gift to cable companies would kill local fees and rules

Cities can't use cable authority to charge broadband fees

Ajit Pai is continuing his multi-year battle against local broadband regulation

with a plan that would stop cities and towns from using their authority over cable TV networks to regulate Internet access.

Chairman Pai's proposal (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-358439A1.pdf), scheduled for a vote at the Federal Communications Commission's August 1 meeting (https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2019/08/august-2019-open-commission-meeting),

would also limit the fees that municipalities can charge cable companies.

Cable industry lobbyists have urged (https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/1215138280844/Reply%20Comments%20of%20NCTA%20--%20MB.%20Dkt.%20No.%2005-311%20--%2012.14.2018.pdf) the FCC to stop cities and towns from assessing fees on the revenue cable companies make from broadband.

Pai's proposal would "Prohibit LFAs [local franchising authorities] from using their video franchising authority to regulate most non-cable services, including broadband Internet service, offered over cable systems by incumbent cable operators."

FCC lacks power to preempt, group says

Public Knowledge argues that the FCC can't preempt local broadband regulations because the Pai-led FCC gave up its own authority over broadband. The

FCC did that when it reclassified broadband as an information service as part of its repeal of net neutrality rules, Public Knowledge said.

"Having classified broadband as an information service,

the Commission has determined that it is an unregulated service that it lacks regulatory authority over,"

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/ajit-pai-has-yet-another-plan-to-stop-local-broadband-regulation/ (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/ajit-pai-has-yet-another-plan-to-stop-local-broadband-regulation/)

Pai was nominated to protect/enrich cable industry as it extracts more $10Bs from cable subscribers.

[boutons_deux]

anti-states-rights pro BigCorp oligopoly REGULATING by the 'regulation-hating" Repug kakistocracy

Trump’s FCC votes to end local governments’ ability to regulate and charge cable broadband industry (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/2/1876184/-Trump-s-FCC-votes-to-end-local-governments-ability-to-regulate-and-charge-cable-broadband-industry)

https://images.dailykos.com/images/703023/story_image/GettyImages-1136489568.jpg?1564757632

On Thursday, Trump’s FCC voted to stop local municipalities and governments from regulating cable-networked broadband. The decision also limits what can be charged of cable companies.

The decision to push forward with this dubious legal move on the part of Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer,

The fundamental legal contradiction on the part of the Republican FCC is that

in order to do away with net neutrality protections

they have argued that broadband is an information service that the FCC cannot regulate. :lol

In so doing, they cannot tell local municipalities how to regulate those services in regards to the public good.

"Comb through the text of this decision.

You will not find a single commitment made to providing more broadband service in remote communities.

There is no enforceable obligation to expand broadband capacity.

There is no agreement that any savings from today's action is pushed into new network deployment."

local municipalities that use their abilities to fund essential infrastructure for education and government through franchise agreements are now in jeopardy,

"Free or discounted service to cash-strapped schools,

provision of critical I-Nets,

discounts to vulnerable communities—

all of these franchise terms advance the public interest and are a small imposition given the value received by providers in franchise negotiations."

Every single time conservative elements of our society proclaim that

deregulating big business operations, like telecommunications,

will trickle down and magically turn into consumer benefits,

they are wrong (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808874/-Remember-how-gifting-telecoms-2-bil-was-supposed-to-speed-up-infrastructure-buildout-About-that).

They are so wrong.

Every time (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/14/1812659/-As-deregulation-and-tax-breaks-kick-in-big-telecoms-promised-infrastructure-work-slows-down).

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/2/1876184/-Trump-s-FCC-votes-to-end-local-governments-ability-to-regulate-and-charge-cable-broadband-industry (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/2/1876184/-Trump-s-FCC-votes-to-end-local-governments-ability-to-regulate-and-charge-cable-broadband-industry)

Would a Dem president reverse the above?

would a Dem president rule, overriding state govt, that municipalities CAN build their own networks?

Would a Dem president re-install net neutrality?

[boutons_deux]

Comcast Wireless Joins Verizon In Charging You More For HD Video

One of the more subtle assaults on net neutrality has been

the slow but steady introduction of arbitrary, often unnecessary restrictions mobile carriers will then charge you to get around.

Verizon has also banned 4K video from its network unless you pay more for 5G (which isn't widely available).

The company also now throttles all video on its "unlimited" data plans (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190802/08385842700/verizons-new-unlimited-data-plans-still-have-very-real-problematic-limits.shtml),

charging consumers even more if they want to view content in HD as the originating service intended.

Comcast has now followed Verizon's lead, and its new wireless service

will also now ban HD video (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/08/comcasts-unlimited-mobile-plan-now-costs-20-extra-for-hd-video/)on its unlimited data plans unless you pony up an adidtional $20 per month.

The company technically began throttling all video to 480p on its wireless network a week ago, but

only just last week announced that users would now be charged more if they actually wanted to watch video in HD:

"Xfinity Mobile's unlimited data plan costs $45 per line per month,

but video streams are generally limited to 480p resolution.

Comcast yesterday announced a new $20-per-month HD Pass "for an upgrade to HD video resolution on Unlimited lines (720p on phone and 1080p on tablets)."

That raises the monthly price to $65."



The problem with these efforts begins with the fact that

Americans already pay some of the highest prices for 4G mobile data (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5zpw7/us-wireless-data-prices-are-among-the-most-expensive-on-earth) in the developed world.

In exchange,

they get mobile 4G broadband service that ranks somewhere around 30th worldwide (https://www.rcrwireless.com/20190531/5g/opensignal-us-ranks-5th-globally-in-lte-availability-but-30th-in-download-speeds) in terms of speed.

Studies also show that

US wireless provider video quality is similarly some of the worst in the developed world (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/438ngj/us-wireless-video-streaming-sucks-study-says)

due to many of the nickel-and-diming, erroneous restrictions being placed on mobile lines.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190805/07200442721/comcast-wireless-joins-verizon-charging-you-more-hd-video.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190805/07200442721/comcast-wireless-joins-verizon-charging-you-more-hd-video.shtml)

[boutons_deux]

Wireless Carrier Throttling of Online Video Is Pervasive

U.S. wireless carriers have long said they may slow video traffic on their networks to avoid congestion and bottlenecks. But new research (https://wehe.meddle.mobi/papers/wehe.pdf) shows the throttling happens pretty much everywhere all the time.

Researchers from Northeastern University and University of Massachusetts Amherst conducted more than 650,000 tests in the U.S. and found that from early 2018 to early 2019,

AT&T Inc. (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/T:US) throttled Netflix Inc. (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/NFLX:US) 70% of the time and Google (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GOOGL:US)’s YouTube service 74% of the time.

But AT&T didn’t slow down Amazon.com Inc. (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/AMZN:US)’s Prime Video at all.

T-Mobile US Inc. (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/TMUS:US) throttled Amazon Prime Video in about 51% of the tests, but didn’t throttle Skype and barely touched Vimeo

"They are doing it all the time, 24/7, and it’s not based on networks being overloaded,"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/wireless-carrier-throttling-of-online-video-is-pervasive-study (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/wireless-carrier-throttling-of-online-video-is-pervasive-study)

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Study Proves The FCC's Core Justification for Killing Net Neutrality Was Fals

The biggest study yet finds Ajit Pai’s repeated claims that net neutrality hurt broadband investment have

never been true.

A new study has found the FCC’s primary justification for repealing net neutrality was indisputably false.

FCC’s net neutrality rules, passed in 2015 ... dramatically stifled broadband investment across the United States.

Repeal the rules, Pai declared, and US broadband investment would explode.


Pai’s claims were patently false.

the passage and repeal of the rules had no meaningful impact on broadband investment.

“The results of the paper are clear and should be both unsurprising and uncontroversial,” The researchers said.

“The key finding is there were no impacts on telecommunication industry investment from the net neutrality policy changes.

Neither the 2010 or 2015 US net neutrality rule changes had any causal impact on telecommunications investment.”

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4g9x/study-proves-the-fccs-core-justification-for-killing-net-neutrality-was-false

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Another loss for kakistocrat shitPai

Federal appeals court tells FCC its attempt to make Sinclair Broadcasting a monopoly is racist (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/25/1887861/-Federal-appeals-court-tells-FCC-its-attempt-to-make-Sinclair-Broadcasting-a-monopoly-is-racist)

Over the past two-plus years, Trump’s FCC, headed by former Verizon lawyer and transparent telecom shill Ajit Pai, has tried to do away with all telecom regulations and consumer protections.

they don’t have actual evidence supporting their legal moves.

Pai’s FCC worked diligently to grease the rails in order to grant right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting more and more monopolistic control over the national media landscape. (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/20/1717293/-Dems-call-for-investigation-into-FCC-chairman-and-his-gift-of-deregulation-to-Sinclair-Broadcasting)

In 2017, the Republican-controlled

FCC voted to remove a 77-year-old rule requiring localities to maintain a news station,

and also

tried to roll back a cap that prevented any single broadcasting entity from reaching more than 39 percent of the country,

while also

doing away with the longstanding rule that no one entity own more than a single broadcasting business.

The proposed Sinclair Broadcasting and Tribune Media merger would have broken both of those rules,

giving Sinclair more than 70 percent of the national market, (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/23/1709119/-Sinclair-Broadcasting-s-plan-to-take-over-local-news-should-frighten-us-all)

and allowing a single entity to own two news/broadcasting outlets.
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that

Pai’s FCC (https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6427167/Prometheus.pdf) “did not adequately consider the effect its sweeping rule changes will have on ownership of broadcast media by women and racial minorities.

The case against Pai and the FCC came from a coalition of unions, consumer, and media advocacy groups.

Pai and Sinclair will continue to work together to create propaganda— (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/3/30/1753313/-Ajit-Pai-and-Sinclair-broadcasting-taking-their-propaganda-local)and real evidence and honest reporting will remain the best antidotes.

Earlier this year, an appeals court thwarted the FCC’s attempts at throwing 70% of low-income residents off of Lifeline, the government-subsidized internet program. (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/4/1832207/-Appeals-court-overturns-FCC-s-attempt-to-throw-70-percent-of-low-income-people-off-broadband)

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/25/1887861/-Federal-appeals-court-tells-FCC-its-attempt-to-make-Sinclair-Broadcasting-a-monopoly-is-racist?detail=emaildksp (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/25/1887861/-Federal-appeals-court-tells-FCC-its-attempt-to-make-Sinclair-Broadcasting-a-monopoly-is-racist?detail=emaildksp)

As the oligarchy continues to pollute the Federal judiciary with incompetent right wing ideologues through its stooge whores MoscowMitch and fucking Catholic Leonard Leo, these kids of rulings For The People will become rarer.

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BigNetwork whore Ajit Pai is using streaming services as an excuse to raise cable rates

The deregulation train keeps rolling

The rise of streaming services could give cable companies

an excuse to raise rates under a Federal Communications Commission order handed down on October 25th.

The order, which comes in response to a petition by Charter, finds that

AT&T’s TV Now streaming service qualifies as reasonable competition for conventional cable,

opening the door to a massive deregulation in monopoly cable markets.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25/20932391/fcc-charter-att-monopoly-order-raise-cable-rates (https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25/20932391/fcc-charter-att-monopoly-order-raise-cable-rates)

"competition" ? :lol

Competition is Capitalism's Worse Nightmare about reduced amassing of wealth by not be able to fleece customers at will

Repug FCC will NEVER rule to reduce BigCorp from fleecing clients

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FCC Delays Law Banning Your ISP From Charging You 'Rental Fees' For Hardware You Already Own

For the last few years, broadband customers have complained that Frontier Communications, the nation's third-biggest telco, has been

charging its customers a $10 per month rental fee for modems they already purchased and own.

Normally, you're supposed to be able to buy your own modem instead of paying your ISP a rental fee upwards of $10 per month.

To nab some extra dough from captive customers, Frontier basically decided to charge its customers a rental fee anyway, giving them a polite, though giant, middle finger when they complained.

because the Trump FCC is a glorified rubber stamp for the industry's biggest players,

consumers who complained to the agency received little more than a glassy eyed stare.

last January when the problem was fixed, shockingly enough, by the US Congress

a little noticed provision that formally bans the nonsense Frontier has been engaged in (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/us-finally-prohibits-isps-from-charging-for-routers-they-dont-provide/).

a clause included in the measure gave the FCC the right to delay the restriction by six months.

So that's precisely what the FCC did (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/us-finally-prohibits-isps-from-charging-for-routers-they-dont-provide/).
And the FCC justified the move by claiming that

the pandemic simply made it too onerous for a big ISP to stop ripping people off:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200604/09392344642/fcc-delays-law-banning-your-isp-charging-you-rental-fees-hardware-you-already-own.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200604/09392344642/fcc-delays-law-banning-your-isp-charging-you-rental-fees-hardware-you-already-own.shtml)

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shitbag Repugs and BigCorp are liars, cheats, frauds

Opposition to Net Neutrality Was Faked, New York Says

The state attorney general’s office reached an agreement that levies millions in penalties on third-party services that generated the comments.

Internet service providers funded an effort that yielded millions of fake comments supporting the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of so-called net neutrality (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/technology/net-neutrality-explained.html?searchResultPosition=2) rules in 2017,

The effort generated roughly nine million comments to the agency and letters to Congress backing the rollback,

almost all signed by people who had never agreed to the use of their names on such comments,

according to the investigation.

Some of the names had been obtained earlier, in other marketing efforts, officials said. The agency approved the repeal in late 2017.

Broadband for America’s members include some of America’s most prominent internet providers, like

AT&T, Comcast and Charter, as well as several trade groups.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/technology/internet-providers-fake-comments-net-neutrality-new-york.html