Our internet freedom in danger

• The rules prevented internet service providers from meddling with the speed and accessibility of digital content

CARIIS said:

meeting of F.C.C. commissioners and is expected to pass in a 3-to-2 ..

[FONT=&amp]The FCC is about to announce a vote to slash net neutrality rules, allowing ISPs like Verizon to block apps, slow websites, and charge fees to control what you see & do online. [/FONT]​

If this bothers you one can go here

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

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“The FCC will no longer be in the business of micromanaging business models and pre-emptively prohibiting services and applications and products that could be pro-competitive,” Pai told Reuters. He added that the Obama administration had sought to pick winners and losers and exercised “heavy-handed” regulation of the internet.

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Amazon, Etsy, Google, Reddit, Wikipedia and other tech companies have all called for the protection of net neutrality, arguing that it essential in creating the level playing field that has allowed so much innovation online.

Free speech groups too are worried about the FCC’s latest moves. Concerned that it could lead to censorship online. A series of protests are planned for 7 December, the week before the FCC vote, at Verizon stores nationwide.

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CARIIS said:

meeting of F.C.C. commissioners and is expected to pass in a 3-to-2 ..

[FONT=&]The FCC is about to announce a vote to slash net neutrality rules, allowing ISPs like Verizon to block apps, slow websites, and charge fees to control what you see & do online. [/FONT]​

If this bothers you one can go here

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

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What is net neutrality? Why does it matter?

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet providers like Comcast & Verizon should not control what we see and do online. In 2015, startups, Internet freedom groups, and 3.7 million commenters won strong net neutrality rules from the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC). The rules prohibit Internet providers from blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization—"fast lanes" for sites that pay, and slow lanes for everyone else.

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Nearly everyone who understands and depends on the Internet supports net neutrality, whether they're startup founders, activists, gamers, politicians, investors, comedians, YouTube stars, or typical Internet users who just want their Internet to work as advertised—regardless of their political party. But don't take our word for it. Ask around, or watch some of these videos.

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Under the current net neutrality rules, broadband providers like Comcast and Charter, and wireless providers like AT&T and Verizon, can't block or slow down your access to lawful content, nor can they create so-called "fast lanes" for content providers who are willing to pay extra.

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If the Trump administration gets its way and abolishes net neutrality, those broadband providers could privilege some content providers over others (for a price, of course). The broadband industry says it supports net neutrality in theory but opposes the FCC's reclassification of internet providers as utility-like "Title II" providers, and that consumers have nothing to worry about.

But it's hard not to worry given that without Title II classification, the FCC wouldn't actually be able to enforce its net neutrality rules. It might be less alarming if the internet were a level playing field with free and fair competition. But it’s not. At all.

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The end of net neutrality could also have ranging implications for consumers. Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, and a handful of other services may dominate the online video market, but without net neutrality, broadband providers might try to make it more expensive to access popular streaming sites in an attempt to keep customers paying for expensive television packages.

"[Net neutrality] protects consumers from having the cost of internet go up because they have to pay for fast lane tolls," says Chris Lewis, vice president of the advocacy group Public Knowledge.

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"Getting rid of Title II would lead to even more centralization, handing more power to the largest Internet companies while stifling competition and innovation. In a time when there are too few companies with too much power – we need net neutrality now more than ever."

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CoverMeCagney said:

Sorry, in laymans terms would someone explain what's happening (because I have no idea but it sounds both interesting and important!)

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"You know how you can see every website from every internet connection, and there are no long distance charges or anything? That's because of net neutrality. Every website gets treated the same, so you don't have to pay your internet company extra for certain sites like you have to pay your cable company extra for more cable channels. When you buy an internet connection, you always get the whole internet."

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"Two reasons net neutrality matters. Cable companies have [crappy] on demand video and other services that compete with the ones you like, and they have you between a rock and a hard place since most cable companies are the only game in town. There's basically no one else you can switch to if you don't like what they're doing.

So without net neutrality, Comcast can make you use Xfinity streaming unless you pay them more for access to Netflix. And that's on top of what you'd have to pay Netflix too! Or they can just slow down Netflix—and just Netflix—until it's totally unusable.

Without net neutrality, cable companies don't have to let you use the best things; they can just make you use their things unless you pay extra. Instead of making its services better, Comcast can just make other people's services worse."

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bluesneakers said:

No no no. This is very bad.

US telecoms regulator unveils sweeping plans to dismantle net neutrality



^What a bunch of malarkey.

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Elley Mae said:

As millions flocked to the web for the first time in the 1990s, President Clinton and a Republican Congress decided “to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet.” In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the government called for an internet “unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” The result of that fateful decision was the greatest free-market success story in history.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-fcc-can-save-the-open-internet-1511281099

But that changed in 2014. Just days after a poor midterm election result, President Obama publicly pressured the Federal Communications Commission to reject the longstanding consensus on a market-based approach to the internet. He instead urged the agency to impose upon internet service providers a creaky regulatory framework called “Title II,” which was designed in the 1930s to tame the Ma Bell telephone monopoly. A few months later, the FCC followed President Obama’s instructions on a party-line vote. I voted “no,” but the agency’s majority chose micromanagement over markets.

This is why I’m proposing today that my colleagues at the Federal Communications Commission repeal President Obama’s heavy-handed internet regulations.

Mr. Pai is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

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In addition to ditching its own net neutrality rules, the Federal Communications Commission also plans to tell state and local governments that they cannot impose local laws regulating broadband service.

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Legislators in numerous states have tried to impose state-level versions of the FCC privacy rules that were eliminated by Congress earlier this year. With the FCC about to take its net neutrality rules off the books, ISPs said they worry that states will try to enforce net neutrality on their own.

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There won't be any specific FCC rules preventing Internet providers from blocking, throttling, or prioritizing content in exchange for payment. It would be up to the Federal Trade Commission or other consumer protection agencies to determine whether specific conduct should be allowed, FCC officials said. The new disclosure requirements will help the FTC and other agencies decide whether to take action against ISPs, the officials said.

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Slower Speeds (Or Worse) For Some of Your Favorite Sites

Without net neutrality, internet providers will have the freedom to carve up the internet into slow and fast lanes—and charge companies for access to higher speeds.

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Higher Prices

If a company like Netflix does agree to pay extra fees, it’s likely those prices will passed on to you, the consumer. That goes for pretty much every streaming service, along with cloud storage or any other service you pay for online.

The end of net neutrality could even raise the price of video games, especially for those played online.

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Cable-Style Internet Bundles

One of the top reasons people keep quitting cable in favor of online streaming is because of bundles that force you to pay for 30 (or 300) extra channels when all you want is HBO or ESPN. Killing net neutrality could bring the same business practice to the internet

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CARIIS said:

bumping

if you dont like this idea link belows dials the number for ya and you can tell em not to pass it

we have two weeks last call for internet as we know it

what a hassle a post here could take 25 seconds ot load!

I don't have money I would be on the slow lane! Back to freezing and buffering and all that junk !

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

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After the FCC began its assault on net neutrality earlier this year, several cities and states began looking into ways to protect consumers on their own. Unfortunately, the FCC has decided that it won’t allow that to happen: as part of its proposal to repeal net neutrality, the commission is trying to use its authority to preempt any and all state and local net neutrality regulations.

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So to sum up: states can’t pass anything covered in the 2015 net neutrality order, they can’t pass anything the FCC mentioned but didn’t pass in this new order, and they can’t pass anything that would at all make life more difficult for ISPs. That seems to include the stricter privacy rules that Congress voted to throw out earlier this year.

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