Net Neutrality Is Dead Perhaps because of a Revolving Door

[Rafale]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by William769 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Vice

The open Internet may soon become a thing of the past.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal dropped something of a bombshell with leaked news that the Federal Communications Commission is planning to abandon so-called “net neutrality” regulations—rules to ensure that Internet providers are prevented from discriminating based on content. Under the new proposed system, companies such as Comcast or Verizon will be able to create a tiered Internet, in which websites will have to pay more money for faster speeds, a change that observers predict will curb free speech, stifle innovation and increase costs for consumers.

Like so many problems in American government, the policy shift may relate to the pernicious corruption of the revolving door. The FCC is stocked with staffers who have recently worked for Internet Service Providers (ISP) that stand to benefit tremendously from the defeat of net neutrality.

The backgrounds of the new FCC staff have not been reported until now.

Take Daniel Alvarez, an attorney who has long represented Comcast through the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. In 2010, Alvarez wrote a letter to the FCC on behalf of Comcast protesting net neutrality rules, arguing that regulators failed to appreciate “socially beneficial discrimination.” The proposed rules, Alvarez wrote in the letter co-authored with a top Comcast lobbyist named Joe Waz, should be reconsidered....

Read more: http://m.vice.com/read/former-comcast-and-verizon-attorneys-now-manage-the-fcc-and-are-about-to-kill-the-internet

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Sad. Money trumps ideology and party lines yet again.

[villager]

1. And quite transparently trumps promises made on the campaign trail

n/t

[aceofblades]

2. The argument is well taken ..

and I'm disgusted that the FCC is caving, but another part of the problem is that whatever the FCC does telecoms can run back to courts that were packed by decades of republican presidents. We saw that in the FCC vs. Verizon. Regardless of the laws that are on the books(by which verizon and other telecoms can be defined for the purposes of legislation), they can be "interpreted" beyond recognition by a court without recourse (except to higher courts, the highest of which is conservative).

So the blame is well placed on the FCC, and the executive, but it's all for naught ultimately with the judiciary system we have right now in my opinion.

[TeamPooka]

3. K&R!

[JDPriestly]

4. I thought Obama promised to end that revolving door thing. What happened Mr. President?

[William769]

5. Locking. More than 24 hours old.