Obama FCC Caves on Net Neutrality -- Tuesday Betrayal Assured - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Obama FCC Caves on Net Neutrality -- Tuesday Betrayal Assured
Timothy Karr - Campaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com
Posted: December 20, 2010 06:53 PM

<snip>

Late Monday, a majority of the FCC's commissioners indicated that they're going to vote with Chairman Julius Genachowski for a toothless Net Neutrality rule.

According to all reports, the rule, which will be voted on during tomorrow's FCC meeting, falls drastically short of earlier pledges by President Obama and the FCC Chairman to protect the free and open Internet.

The rule is so riddled with loopholes that it's become clear that this FCC chairman crafted it with the sole purpose of winning the endorsement of AT&T and cable lobbyists, and not defending the interests of the tens of millions of Internet users.

Welcome to AT&T's Internet

For the first time in history of telecommunications law the FCC has given its stamp of approval to online discrimination.

Instead of a rule to protect Internet users' freedom to choose, the Commission has opened the door for broadband payola - letting phone and cable companies charge steep tolls to favor the content and services of a select group of corporate partners, relegating everyone else to the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

Instead of protecting openness on wireless Internet devices like the iPhone and Droid, the Commission has exempted the mobile Internet from Net Neutrality protections. This move enshrines Verizon and AT&T as gatekeepers to the expanding world of mobile Internet access, allowing them to favor their own applications while blocking, degrading or de-prioritizing others.

Instead of re-establishing the FCC's authority to act as a consumer watchdog over the Internet, it places the agency's authority on a shaky and indefensible legal footing -- giving ultimate control over the Internet to a small handful of carriers.

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/obama-fcc-caves-on-net-ne_b_799435.html

:wtf:

:kick:

[msongs]

1. dupe about being duped lol nt

[EndElectoral]

2. Good god....this is horrendous. C'mon Obama, this is your own admin, not Congress

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. As it is, it is not clear they have the authority to do what is being proposed

The Internet is a collection of private networks that operate on an agreed to set of technical standards. It has never been government owned or operated. It is also not a utility and no one has a right to connectivity. It has been the wild wild west since its inception and pretty much self governing. Other nations have been trying to set up international controls and governance for it, but the US has been actively resisting it.

Its still a big "IF" they have the authority question out there to be answered. Assuming they do, what is about to happen is a step in the right direction.

[somone]

4. Hope & Change = Anything and everything for his corporate overlords

[Octafish]

5. This is the worst thing that could happen to Democracy.

This is as serious as corporations getting to spend all they want on elections, except in reverse as it serves to silence the individuals who currently can be heard throughout the net.

Woe is us. If the FCC sides with the corporations, We the People will be getting the royal First Amendment screw from a Democratic administration.

[WillyT]

7. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

:yourock

:kick:

[Imagevision]

6. Kiss "The Find" goodbye -(for quick compare shopping prices) Best Buy etc.

[DJ13]

8. How many times will we be betrayed before we start to figure out

this is NOT a Democratic administration?

[Lucian]

11. But we should support him because he's a Democrat!!!111

:sarcasm:

:eyes:

[BrklynLiberal]

9. One more part of the plan is now in place.............

we are like the frog in the slowly heating pot of water....SCREWN!!!

[lib2DaBone]

10. giving ultimate control over the Internet to a small handful of carriers

Gee.. would that be right-wing CONservative corporations and Banksters... like Clear Channel and Fox?

One thing is for sure.. they will figure out a way to charge more for internet access and rape the customers.

[Imagevision]

12. Bush was a slap in the face - Obama is a s-m-i-l-e in your face...

[TBF]

13. Why do we keep using the word "caved" when it's quite obvious he's willingly doing this... nt

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Come on. We knew they were going to handle the wireless/phone networks differently.

Let's be honest with the hyperbole, though, and acknowledge that this isn't about the entire Capital-I Internet, this is about cell phone networks.

[The Doctor.]

15. This will be a decade of 'Profit-tiering' the internet.

Then, in this case unlike so many others, the market will correct itself.

Too much profit in undercutting and delivering neutrality will exist.

[Odin2005]

16. We are fucked.

[Scurrilous]

17. Kick

:kick:

[snot]

18. Forgive me for mentioning, I've posted warnings about this for yrs., which were sunk

by DU'ers smugly proclaiming, "they'll never control the internet!"

I hope they are kicking themselves now.

[SnakeEyes]

22. Business has controlled the internet

since commercialization of it began.

[Enthusiast]

19. Another betrayal by

right wing Obama.

[politicasista]

20. That has to be sarcasm n/t

[Enthusiast]

23. It isn't. nt

[SnakeEyes]

21. I guess I don't understand the hysteria here

The Internet operates today pretty much the same as it has since commercialization really with the backbone owned by 8 or so major companies. What's different now than in the past? I just haven't seen any evidence of the fears being presented to support net neutrality as being real possibilities anytime soon.