FCC Approves Net Neutrality

[hollohas]

Once again, the Admin bypasses Congress. The government now controls the internet with nothing more than 3 Dems voting to pass a 300+ page plan that was not open for public review. 3 people vote yes = new rules for one of the providers most important of modern technologies. We all know how great government regulations are for the public...


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015...rty-line-vote/

In what one Republican called a “monumental shift toward government control of the Internet,” the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved a proposal granting the federal government the authority to regulate Internet broadband providers under the same law as public utilities.

This is NOT a representative government any longer.

[Dave_L]

Most of my nerd friends are all for this. I don't see how the government getting involved in anything is a good thing. Especially the internet where anyone could voice their thoughts/opinions uncensored.

[hollohas]

Hard to be all for something that nobody has read. Brings back memories...

"You must pass the bill before we can know what's in it."

[Jamnanc]

Where's hound? He was explaining to me that it would be terrible if the government didn't maintain this as the big guys would buy up all the bandwidth and leave all small sites hanging out to dry.

[speedysst]

Ah, fixing a problem that didnt exist.

[Rooskibar03]

Obamacare for the Internet.

[JohnnyEgo]

It's an interesting issue that is more nuanced than the talking points on either side. Not that it matters much, but I've decided I'm against it by the narrowest of philosophical margins in the sense that I would rather have my ability to use the internet impaired by a private monopoly as opposed to a government one.

Last-mile issues are a very small part of the debate, but the one I am most interested in. I want to see fiber to my curb, but it isn't going to happen because the large cable companies function in a manipulated market instead of a free one, and Google and it's ilk aren't prepared to launch a local lobbying war over my small rural community. So my internet bandwidth is controlled by a defacto single carrier without much vested interest in swapping in fiber when they already have RG9 and other Coax strung through my entire neighborhood. I like my cable television just fine and wish the many Comcast employees on here long and continued employment, but I'd rather have fiber for my internet consumption. I don't want the government manipulating private industry, but that does not preclude me from desiring private industry to quit using contract negotiation and local legislation to stop other players from entering the fiber market. I simply think private industry is the slightly lesser of two evils.

I'm also a little irate that I can't get an email response back from Cory Gardner on the M855/SS109 issue, but I am being spammed to death by a half dozen Senators with emails written by the cable lobby about how my world is going to end. Meanwhile, my set-top Comcast box went nuts and arbitrarily started ordering movies for me. Comcast and Verizon are willing to spend on Title II, and that has gotten our legislature's attention in a way that the M855/SS109 reg changes have not.

[Hound]

Wether anybody here knows it, we all had a win today with this. They also made it so the States cannot ban municipalities from competing in broadband. It is a good day. Who knows how it will be twisted by the ISP's but I think we can all agree that a level playing field is American. That is what this did. The ISP's can't play favorites with Internet traffic. This is not the Man/Gov taking over, it is actually keeping it the way it was always supposed to work. The Internet should not care if a packet comes from Google, a Mom&Pop shop or just a kid at home. That is the simplified answer to what 'Net Neutrality' really is.

[trlcavscout]

Their will be a couple positives and a couple negatives, depends on what you frequent on the net I guess. Everybody wants fiber but nobody wants to pay for it. Fiber has speed benefit that is only useful if you have the equipment to handle it and the sever you are useing to get what ever it is you want can handle it. You can still get buffering when streaming netflix when you are on fiber to your home, especially now.

[sniper7]

I don't know enough about it and since I can't read it I have no opinion other than if the government is involved I probably don't want it.