Net Neutrality a.k.a. Turning the internet into cable TV. Add our social media package for just $120/month! · 9:49pm Jun 6th, 2017
Time is running out to protest the FCC’s decision to revoke net neutrality, so I thought I’d show you all a world without net neutrality.
Battle for the net July 12th - Go here to get involved by contacting your congressmen
A related article
TL;DR: If you don’t have time to read this blog in it’s entirety, don’t expect my sympathy when you’re paying an extra $100/month to buy the high-speed channel packages to access Facebook, Fimfiction, Google, Netflix, and Steam, at speeds above 56k. The FCC’s entire argument hinges on the idea “Just because there’s no law saying that they can’t do it doesn’t mean they will.”
August 7th 2017 - A World Without Net Neutrality
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Ajit Pai is a douchebag and a horrible human being, and as new head of the FCC has misinformed and lied to Republican congressmen about what Net Neutrality is and why we need to get rid of it, so that Verizon (a company he formerly worked for) and other ISP’s can create artificial barriers to internet access, and then have you pay them to remove these artificial barriers. Contact your representatives even though you’ll get back form letters like This One filled with GOP talking points.
If the internet is allowed to be re-classified from Title II (where it is considered a public utility like water, electricity, or gas that everyone has a right to access to) to Title I or completely de-regulated, then ISP’s will be allowed to charge whatever they want for service, whether it is a valid service or extortion to use your favorite website. Right now Netflix may use up 80% of an ISP’s bandwidth streaming TV shows.
Thanks to Title II,
* ISP’s can’t decide that Netflix uses up too much of their bandwidth and block it, unless you pay extra each month to use it.
* ISP’s can’t block a website because they disagree with it’s content (under Title II all people who pay for internet have unrestricted access to all LEGAL content on the web, and legal content may not be forcibly removed or blocked by ISP’s)
* ISP’s can’t strongarm a startup company by forcing them to pay extra money for “premium” internet access to compete with ISP’s own businesses (i.e. throttling Steam’s download speeds because Comcast new gaming platform)
*ISP’s can’t block or censor my blog because I Speak out against them. (Just try being pro-net neutrality after the FCC vote is finalized, when there is no protection that prevents Comcast from taking down your net-neutrality website, no explanation necessary.)
(Super specific example, maybe Comcast decides Fimficiton is furry porn and blocks it. Without net neutrality this is allowed, they wouldn’t be open to lawsuit, punishment, regulation, or even need to explain why. It could just be gone tomorrow and tough shit for you.)
In conclusion, companies like Amazon, Etsy, Kickstarter, Mozilla and Vimeo are banding together to protest the death of Net Neutrality on July 12th. Other companies have refused to take a stand (namely Netflix who said they’re too big to care anymore it’s up to smaller companies). You can contact Netflix customer service to lodge a complaint, or even cancel it on July 12th during the protest (you have until the end of the month to renew the subscription, but Netflix doesn’t know that.)
If Amazon is making a stand, and Amazon Web Services runs over 80% of the internet’s websites (including Comcast’s website, I mean, literally AWS is in the background facilitating almost every website on the net from what I could see) then clearly we have the ‘muscle’ we just need the awareness of the issue to back it.
And here’s John Oliver in case you want someone more coherent and less ranty to hear it from.
thank god i got AT&T and bright house
There’s not really anything I can do to affect this because I live in the Silicon Valley (California) already, and all the representatives here are firmly in the pro-net neutrality camp.
4562378
At least you have a representative that would care. My representative is too busy trying to gave favor with Trump by impeding the House investigation of Russia meddling with the election to pay notice.
I agree with your overall contention that net neutrality is the best thing since sliced bread and that is removal could prove disastrous. However, your example, unless I’m mistaken, doesn’t seem like a good representation of the impact of net neutrality. Net neutrality isn’t primarily a thing about consumers interacting with these companies, though the consumer does indeed get shafted. We’re not precisely talking about individual customers paying for faster internet speeds. I’m not actually sure about the current legality of that particular thing. Instead, it’s about these telecommunications companies dealing with the websites themselves.
So, instead of charging you for fast Netflix access, they’re charging Netflix for fast access by everyone. It’s a little pedantic, especially because we would expect any sort of speed access tax to, based on elasticity of demand, be shared in the same proportion by consumer and content creator alike regardless of who the tax is levied on, but some of the specific issues you’re implicitly citing seem off, and you may be missing some that are actually there. For example, poor ISP purchasers aren’t screwed because they can’t afford high internet speeds. Instead, everyone who goes on this site is screwed because FIMfiction can’t afford faster speeds. And so on for a wide variety of sites. Your direct statement of the issues with neutrality removal seems accurate, but again, my problem is mainly with your hypothetical, which seems like the centerpiece of what you’re saying.
So, I'll be honest, this is one of those isssues that I really haven't bothered to care that much about either way. Call me an imbecile, an asshole, or God forbid, a Republican if you must (at worst, I only consider myself the second of those three things), but I just haven't been able to work up any kind of excitement over it. The internet seemed fine before "Net neutrality", and it seems fine after it.
With that said, this post feels long on hyperbole and short on substance.
Time to pepper my angus
citation needed (and this is an ad hominem regardless)
Devil's advocate: The internet was unregulated for what, 25 years? In that history, did this ever happen? (Memos from darkened boardrooms with mustachioed men smoking cigars do not count.)
Disclaimer: Yes, I am in favor of having access to a "free" (as in speech), "open" internet. instead, my thinking is closer to: Is the US government classifying/regulating internet providers as "utilities" the correct/best strategy to maintain this state?
4562446
The internet was not fine before net neutrality. Because there was never not net neutrality. Net neutrality existed, and then ISPs challenged that in court. The FCC lost on the basis of the classification of ISPs, so they reclassified ISPs. The loss of net neutrality isn’t a sad old state we’re returning to. It’s a brand new world with a whole lot of problematic possibilities that neither of us has ever really experienced, outside of some instances during that neutrality challenging period.
Sigh, this is one of those things I’ve wished to God would never happen... but it just might. Already contacted our congressman and they agree this should not ever stand.
I don’t think companies like Netflix would be too pleased when no one decides to use their service simply because they can’t.
I’m just going to point out that video on net neutrality is not available in my country...
I agree with the sentiment but in reality the packages would be inverted the free stuff you specify would be pay and the pay stuff you specify would be free
4562912
Tunnelbear VPN, get around such nonsense as geo-locked content
I am all for net neutrality, but how can they truly do anything when the US is no longer solely in control of the internet?