Net Neutrality

A couple of weeks ago, it was discovered that a significant number of anti-net neutrality comments on the FCC’s website were being fraudulently attributed to real people. The pro-net neutrality advocacy group Fight for the Future proceeded to set up a website to raise awareness of the problem and collect more evidence of the obvious astroturfing going on. Today, the group revealed that the most hated company in America had sent them a cease and desist letter.

As the Trump-era FCC moves to repeal net neutrality, the deadline for new comments on its proposal is rapidly approaching: July 17. With that, a diverse coalition of supporters of the current net neutrality rules are planning a last-ditch mass internet protest for tomorrow, July 12: Battle for the Net’s “Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality.”

Among other actions, Battle for the Net is encouraging websites or mobile apps to display banners or other content demonstrating how they believe they and their users will be disadvantaged if net neutrality is repealed. For example, some sites will display “spinning beachball of death”, “blocked,” or “upgrade” alert modals that ask users to imagine cable companies interfering with the equal delivery of their content, and encourage users to contact the FCC and Congress to defend the existing rules. (These alerts won’t actually slow down the sites that use them.)

But, thanks to bots, “public opinion” is less clear when it comes to about 21.8 million comments submitted to the FCC since the current chairman, former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai, proposed rolling back significant elements of that order’s provisions.

Which is pretty much the point of bots – to obscure the opinions of actual humans. As Motherboard reported this week, data analytics company Gravwell found that only about 18% (3,863,929) of the comments submitted to the FCC website and through its API were “unique.”

The rest were likely from “automated astroturfing bots,” and overwhelmingly favored doing away with net neutrality – the opposite of the Freedman poll’s findings. However, Gravwell did find a few that supported net neutrality.

Back in April, new FCC chairman Ajit Pai outlined a plan to undo net neutrality protections implemented during the Obama administration, before taking public comments. Millions of messages in response crashed the FCC's website for a time, but despite opposition, he is reportedly ready to move forward and may unveil more details this week. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Politico separately reported that we will find out details later on Tuesday, before the commission votes on them in December.

Floyd Robertson wrote:The FCC's plan to undo net neutrality is about to be revealed

Chairman Ajit Pai's reversal of Title II changes could be presented later today.

Back in April, new FCC chairman Ajit Pai outlined a plan to undo net neutrality protections implemented during the Obama administration, before taking public comments. Millions of messages in response crashed the FCC's website for a time, but despite opposition, he is reportedly ready to move forward and may unveil more details this week. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Politico separately reported that we will find out details later on Tuesday, before the commission votes on them in December.

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Floyd Robertson wrote:The FCC's plan to undo net neutrality is about to be revealed

Chairman Ajit Pai's reversal of Title II changes could be presented later today.

Thank you, President Trump!

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Thank you, President Trump!

Hi Bee, could I get your thoughts on Net Neutrality?

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

Hi Bee, could I get your thoughts on Net Neutrality?

If liberals are for it then I am against it.

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

Hi Bee, could I get your thoughts on Net Neutrality?

If liberals are for it then I am against it.

InTenSity wrote:

TheReal_LWS wrote:

If liberals are for it then I am against it.

And this is why this country is failing.

InTenSity wrote:I don't really think there is anything we can do Floyd. Pai is just going to do whatever the fuck he feels like because he can. It wouldn't matter if 300 million complaints from 300 million citizens came in, as long as 5 entities are for repealing net neutrality, that is what is going to happen. The only thing I feel I can do is never vote for another republican again. I've voted for them in the past, but I think I'm now a 1 issue voter, and this is a pretty big one.

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

Hi Bee, could I get your thoughts on Net Neutrality?

If liberals are for it then I am against it.

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:

InTenSity wrote:
And this is why this country is failing.

You can’t just expect stupid people to think for themselves brah.

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

Hi Bee, could I get your thoughts on Net Neutrality?

If liberals are for it then I am against it.

LooseGoose wrote:Cable and internet companies raising their prices?  My god, that's never happened before in the history of man.

Luckily this info is from the DailyKos so we know it's not slanted in any way.

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:Cable and internet companies raising their prices?  My god, that's never happened before in the history of man.

Luckily this info is from the DailyKos so we know it's not slanted in any way.

What are your fake news sites saying?

DWags wrote:

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

What are your fake news sites saying?

Jesus, comcast has just announced a 1000 dollar bonus for employees.   The morons will say it's the tax bill.  I absolutely know they swallow that stuff all the way up till comcast slowly raises their prices up up up.

Oh well, Capitalism.  I'm a proponent.  Adapt, move on, make plans.    We've elected a congress and president who believe in taking restrictions off.  You either trust the corporations will keep prices down, or you plan for them moving them up.  Thing is, at this point, it's out of your hands..  All you can do is not use it.  Good luck to everyone.  You have choices in this country.  

BTW, I like Coke coming out and saying they're just gonna roll that shit into buying back stock and pleasing stake holders.  I might buy a coke due to their honesty.

InTenSity wrote:

DWags wrote:


Jesus, comcast has just announced a 1000 dollar bonus for employees.   The morons will say it's the tax bill.  I absolutely know they swallow that stuff all the way up till comcast slowly raises their prices up up up.

Oh well, Capitalism.  I'm a proponent.  Adapt, move on, make plans.    We've elected a congress and president who believe in taking restrictions off.  You either trust the corporations will keep prices down, or you plan for them moving them up.  Thing is, at this point, it's out of your hands..  All you can do is not use it.  Good luck to everyone.  You have choices in this country.  

BTW, I like Coke coming out and saying they're just gonna roll that shit into buying back stock and pleasing stake holders.  I might buy a coke due to their honesty.

There is really no way to function anymore without the Internet. That's like saying you don't like your electric bill, so may as well cancel it.

DWags wrote:

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

What are your fake news sites saying?

Jesus, comcast has just announced a 1000 dollar bonus for employees.   The morons will say it's the tax bill.  I absolutely know they swallow that stuff all the way up till comcast slowly raises their prices up up up.

Oh well, Capitalism.  I'm a proponent.  Adapt, move on, make plans.    We've elected a congress and president who believe in taking restrictions off.  You either trust the corporations will keep prices down, or you plan for them moving them up.  Thing is, at this point, it's out of your hands..  All you can do is not use it.  Good luck to everyone.  You have choices in this country.  

BTW, I like Coke coming out and saying they're just gonna roll that shit into buying back stock and pleasing stake holders.  I might buy a coke due to their honesty.

DWags wrote:

InTenSity wrote:
There is really no way to function anymore without the Internet. That's like saying you don't like your electric bill, so may as well cancel it.

Yeah, I get that.  Sucks.   I don't know where this will take us, but I get that we live in a country that can fuck you sideways if corporate shills want to.   Until everyone who supports those corporations understand collectively they have more power together than any board of directors ever will, we're at their mercy.  Make plans or get butt fucked.  There are some companies that will "do the right thing".  There are some that are very excited about making more money.    Anyone who thinks all these communication corporations will all do right by their consumers is really nuts.  Hopefully there are R&D' departments and actuaries who are running numbers right now in the anticipation of competition that prove lowering their rates will pull more money in by broadening their base.   If not, what can you do?

Turtleneck wrote:Loose barely understands how a rotary dial phone works, but he is an expert on net neutrality.

LooseGoose wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:Loose barely understands how a rotary dial phone works, but he is an expert on net neutrality.

You go ahead and believe whatever comforts you. But keep working to support me in my retirement. Thanks in advance.

DWags wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:Good illustration but probably dumb marketing.

I don't know that offending a major slice of your customers is a good idea.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:Good illustration but probably dumb marketing.

I don't know that offending a major slice of your customers is a good idea.

I'm guessing right wing snowflakes have already started their #BoycottBurgerKing movement?

They're gonna run out of things to be offended by pretty soon.

Floyd Robertson wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:Good illustration but probably dumb marketing.

I don't know that offending a major slice of your customers is a good idea.

I'm not sure they should feel offended. Rich, poor, fat, skinny, I would bet 90% of people in this country don't understand the issue let alone heard of it.

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:Who the fuck would get offended by this?

And keep in mind that the now-defunct Federal Communications Communications' Net Neutrality rules were memorably and usefully defined by economist Thomas W. Hazlett as government regulation of ISPs' business models and a way of giving a new mission to an agency whose reason for being is less and less clear and whose history is not filled with glory.

The joke in the video is that customers must pay $26 to get a Whopper "hyperfast." If they go with the standard price, it takes forever. Because you know, Net Neutrality rules that were formalized in 2015 somehow magically altered the way internet service providers (ISPs) delivered data to their customers. Before 2015, the internet was a morass of shakedown artists who forced all of us to pay extra for this or that site. And now that Net Neutrality has been repealed, the 'net has reverted to a Hobbesian world in which access is nasty, brutish, and metered.

Oh wait, in fact, the average speed and number of internet connections kept growing regardless of the regulatory regime. The FCC's most recent Internet Access Services Report counted 104 million fixed internet connections, a new high. That number doesn't count mobile or satellite connections. Eighty percent of census tracts had at three or more ISPs offering connections of 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream and another 17 percent had two ISPs doing the same (figure 4). So 97 percent of America can go elsewhere when it comes to basic internet connections that allow the sort of streaming, surfing, and gaming we want.

Current FCC head Ajit Pai once called Net Neutrality "a solution that won't work to a problem that doesn't exist." The new Burger King vid helps prove that point.