General News FCC & Net Neutrality

Alright Americans, it's time for us to email our representatives...
Oh, wait...

That's it, I'm moving to England as soon as I am financially able.

 

It really bothers me that we have people in control of our government that have the ability to change our government who are more worried about wasting time doing things like this to make themselves and pals money, when really they should do their jobs they get paid a ton to do anyway worrying about real problems.

Repealing net neutrality is basically a scheme to make money and have more power over us smaller people, plain and simple. And considering the people who are doing it for the money, well that just represents straight up greed, guess that's why they're all so religious.

 

So

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) endorsed a new two-tier systemThursday for Internet service providers, overturning the principle of "net neutrality." ... As protesters chanted, the five FCC commissioners voted narrowly, 3 to 2, to release their proposed Internet rules to the public.May 16, 2014
FCC endorses two-tier system for Internet providers, overturning net ...
https://www.cbsnews.com/.../fcc-endorses-two-tier-system-for-internet-providers-overtur...

could this be what your talking about? It seems in this article though, "tier" refers to the tiers of consumers (those who get the slower internet, and those who get faster internet by paying premium)

 

I haven't found any good reasons they're doing this. All I can tell is it's about making more money for certain companies that lobbied for it. As they say, follow the money. Another sad example of greed taking priority over the good of most people.

Anyone know how this issue is handled in other countries?

 

https://www.thisisnetneutrality.org/

The website has this large interactive map where you can read about net neutrality (or lack thereof) in different countries.

 

I second that. Although, given his track record of opinions on gays (he's mad at twitter for banning someone who was posting homophobic things because of their policy, he is angry about that policy......... I wonder why :/ ) I think he's hoping fot company heads to try to hurt us indirectly or even directly, aside from the money lobbying.

I also am interested in knowing how other countries work this situation with the internet.

 

Well here in EU we have pretty strong internet neutrality protections. I think there's an agency based in Latvia that provides protections for the whole EU, plus many countries have their own additional laws as well. For example Slovenia have slightly stronger protections I think.
However from what I've heard these general EU protections have also their flaws. For example there were some issues with Vodafone which seemed to find a way to bypass the protection.

 

It allows really awful market distortions for which there are few, if any, sound economic arguments. It allows the completely artificial downgrading of affordable services, regardless of their cost to provide. That means providers could engage in soft censorship and anti-competition through confected longer loading periods, blocking content, among other techniques (don't ask me, I don't know anything about either the internet or computers).

A scary part of this is that, unlike the EU, many states (mostly outside the rich, democratic world) simply haven't enacted net neutrality laws or regulations because the US model was an informal framework for global internet providers. And with so much internet traffic based in the United States, it's possible that some amount of services and creative potential will be lost for the rest of the world if US consumers have effectively more limited choices in online shopping, streaming services, etc. Losing net neutrality means a reduction in access to information and economic freedom, which is harmful even if it's only by a little bit, because of how unnecessary the decision is.

There is actually a way to make losing net neutrality consumer-friendly. However, that's only happened in a context of the US, as biggest influencer of the internet and providers, being a net-neutral jurisdiction, which could change the culture and business models of internet providers internationally.

Australia doesn't have specific net neutrality regulations. But providers are both subject to nationwide competition (there are no regional monopolies in large population centres for internet provision) and likely to come under fire from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for uncompetitive conduct. In fact, the lack of net neutrality has allowed certain popular and/or publicly-owned content to be provided unmetered on certain servers - that is, it doesn't count towards your paid data usage. That helps some consumers reduce their internet bills, without the imposition of artificial barriers on access to content deemed unfavourable by providers. But I don't see the US taking such a benign approach without net neutrality laws.

 

This is the way I explained it to someone who didn't understand:

Think of it like flying on the airlines. 20 years ago, your $150 fare got you not just from Point A to Point B, but it also got you two free checked bags, a meal, a beverage, and a free seat assignment. That's what those FCC regulations ensured: one price, everything included.

Today, that $150 fare gets you only from Point A to Point B. Your checked bags are $25 each, a meal is $15, a drink is $3, and it's an extra $7 to choose your seat. Before you know it, you've already spent an extra $50.

That's how things will be without net neutrality: You'll pay your monthly fee for basic access to the internet, but if you want to visit other parts of the internet, you'll have to pony up. Providers will block you off major sites they don't own.

The good news is that Congress can override this by passing these regulations into law. The only way that will happen is if Democrats take Congress in 2018, and the White House in 2020. FCC chairmen are appointed by the President, and the members he appointed are all ISP lapdogs who voted the way they did today for the profit of their puppeteers.

This is why elections matter, folks

 

Actually, today I was working on writing a letter via resistbot. However, my writing skills suck, and this is my first time attempting to write to the government. Please bear with me.

I would be very grateful to have feedback on this draft. (wording, factchecking, additional insights, etc)

Also, just wanted to make sure: Betty McCollum is my U.S. House representative...to whom would it be best to address this letter? (Only senators? Also senators?)

Thanks for your help!
...............................

To the honorable Betty McCollum,
Please vote to protect Internet neutrality, and maintain the net neutrality protections US citizens had prior to FCC’s repeal. As a citizen of the United States, this issue concerns me, as my family members could be subject to higher prices in order to still have access to faster internet, which is unfair. Also, my mother has a small business selling educational courses online, and so free internet is important to maintain traffic to her website.
The repeal of net neutrality is detrimental because it inhibits personal freedom and free expression. If ISPs continue to be allowed to slow down certain websites, over others, the internet consumers’ freedom to use the internet as they choose would be greatly restricted. In addition, some ISPs have monopolies in certain areas, futher restricting services that consumers can utilize with good quality. Even worse, propaganda or censorship could occur, where broadband service providers slow down the websites of informative organizations that might go against their interests. In other words, closing the open internet would also close a path towards free expression, which is unconstitutional.
Also, tiered internet would stifle the growth of small businesses and therefore create an unfair economy. Small businesses may be unable to pay for their website to load quickly due to their budget, and therefore lose traffic used to maintain their business. As a result, only a few big name broadband service providers and their close connections would benefit at the cost of many other smaller entrepreneurships, ruining fair competition. This would not only supress free economy, but also violate so many small businesses people’s right to pursue happiness from their economic sustainability.
Based on the consequences from tiered internet, I hope that you will support to undo FCC’s repeal of the Net Neutrality Bill, and restore the protections that were originally in place. The Internet is a source of knowlege, communication, wealth, and creativity that should be accessible to anyone equally. It would be unfortunate to see the internet lose these qualities.

Sincerely,
(My Name)

 

I really like this. I will nitpick changes to it later on. Great work "My Name"

 

Thanks! Not gonna lie, I’m a bit nervous to send this haha. But also, Is it too late?

 

I do not know if it is too late.