Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Day Internet Freedom Died
Forbes ^ | 9-22-2009 | Adam Thierer and Berin Szoka

Posted on 09/22/2009 10:59:07 AM PDT by thouworm

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last
To: Buckeye McFrog

“if you have Verizon as your ISP, they could not screw with your access to Skype (which competes with Verizon phone service)”

(a) That’s always the kind of argument they use for more regulation, than once the bill’s in, it’s more & more, you should know that.

(b) why shouldn’t they give whatever service they like, and disallow Skype as long as they are upfront about it? They could make it a cheaper service because it helps their phone business. Why the hell shouldn’t they be allowed to do that in America?


21 posted on 09/22/2009 12:04:07 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out ( <<< click my name: now featuring Freeper classifieds)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: KoRn
"Hopefully the courts will protect the internet as we’ve known it"



Internet is a white male. I am better than Internet, as wise latina.
22 posted on 09/22/2009 12:05:57 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out ( <<< click my name: now featuring Freeper classifieds)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: denydenydeny
Can someone summarize? The first three paragraphs were all blathering and don’t communicate anything, so I gave up.

It didn't get any better. There is something we are supposed to be afraid of but it is either a secret or the writers are unable to communicate well enough to explain it.

23 posted on 09/22/2009 12:11:28 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Tzimisce

>> The FCC is WAY out of its jurisdiction...

Astonishing is the audacity of Communism.


24 posted on 09/22/2009 12:12:14 PM PDT by Gene Eric
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: thouworm
While I feel that the FCC has no right to tell us what frequencies we can and cannot use for radio communications, the airways DO need some regulation or the resulting chaos would render the airwaves unusable.

However, the internet seems to be a self-regulating type of beast and if it isn't, the people who keep it humming are doing just fine thank you very much.

The FCC and Gubmint in general needs to be told to shut up and sit down when it starts to flex its muscle in order to squash free speech they don't happen to like. A very slippery slope here folks. The Net Neutrality crap has GOT to go.

Just my 2¢

25 posted on 09/22/2009 12:14:10 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thouworm
Time to create an Internet that is free of government intervention, then.
26 posted on 09/22/2009 12:15:06 PM PDT by Major Matt Mason (The DemocRat Party is no longer an American political party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chuck_the_tv_out

There may be an assault on internet freedom but that article did not explain how. All I got from it is that one single regulation is disasterous because it will lead to many regulations.

The article was a waste of time - a space filler.


27 posted on 09/22/2009 12:17:40 PM PDT by frposty (I'm a simpleton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: frposty

Articles from Brit Hume used to be like this. Nothing new, sometimes even a week behind the news, but what was new was that the issues were being promoted from a quasi-mainstream pulpit.


28 posted on 09/22/2009 12:25:20 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out ( <<< click my name: now featuring Freeper classifieds)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: WKUHilltopper
It is sure funny that it’s happening now that a new Marxist FCC “czar” is in control.

Especially considering he wrote that book in 2003. I guess dissent is no longer needed....

29 posted on 09/22/2009 12:29:01 PM PDT by raybbr (It's going to get a lot worse now that the anchor babies are voting!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts

“A very slippery slope here folks. The Net Neutrality crap has GOT to go.”

- I dont think so. There is nothing wrong with Net Neutrality. There IS something wrong with my overpriced ISP capping my PREMIUM (i.e. PRIVATE) Usenet provider, throttling my bandwidth, and shoving a 60gig cap down my throat every month. ANd the thing is..I have no other choices of ISPs because they ALL cap at 60gigs (30 gigs upload, 30 gigs download).

Net Neutrality is here to stay. Get used to it.


30 posted on 09/22/2009 12:33:10 PM PDT by Soothesayer9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: <1/1,000,000th%
Stop me before I go on about tape readers...

I pitched my Model 15 teletype with typing reperf in 1981 and upgraded to a Heathkit H8. An Epson MX80 printer soon graced the desktop. That was the end of typewriters for me. I had a Selectric in the closet at the time, but the accuracy of editing with a full screen word processor beat the pants off the Selectric. It has been 28 years since I ditched type writer. By 1983, I was telecommuting using a 103 modem at 110 baud to save a 30 mile drive to the office to fix a trivial software problem on a UNIVAC mainframe.

31 posted on 09/22/2009 12:51:43 PM PDT by Myrddin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Soothesayer9
Get ready for your flat rate with a cap to be replaced with usage sensitive pricing starting from the first byte transferred. The monthly bill will be proportional to use. All that spam in your mailbox will make you exceedingly angry as you pay to transfer crap you didn't want in the first place.
32 posted on 09/22/2009 12:58:02 PM PDT by Myrddin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: thouworm

Where are all liberal ‘geeks’ now?

Hey, Leo Laporte, your leftist leaders are ready to shackle your internet. Do you care? You useful idiot!

What about all the other 0bama-lovin’ nerds? Why so silent?

They’re just a bunch of brainwashed nutjobs now.

Who needs freedom? Judging by the actions of Americans lately they just don’t want to be bothered with fighting freedom. They have forgotten, or were never taught, that you fight for freedom, or you end up fighting for your life.

Stupid, stupid people. What a ship of fools we’ve become.


33 posted on 09/22/2009 12:58:11 PM PDT by Boucheau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WKUHilltopper

Can we make our own internet?


34 posted on 09/22/2009 1:01:08 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Angry about where our country is going with the current regime at the helm.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: <1/1,000,000th%

We had portable computers from Compaq

Remember those portables!


35 posted on 09/22/2009 1:02:10 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Angry about where our country is going with the current regime at the helm.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: rabscuttle385

Conservatives are getting rope-a-doped on this issue. Net neutrality is a positive - keeping local ISP monopolies from roadblocking and/or throttling traffic.

Also applies to the iphone/ATT partnerships of the world, keeping them from tolling and/or blocking use of data in ways that threaten monopolies - think vonage, skype or Gtalk over the Iphone/ATT data connection — which still costs $70-100 or more per month.

Corporate greed is a misused and overused rant by the lefties of the world - but consumer protection is at play here.


36 posted on 09/22/2009 1:05:04 PM PDT by sbMKE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Chickensoup

Any wonder Google has been building a dark fiber network / parallel internet for years? Visionary.


37 posted on 09/22/2009 1:06:05 PM PDT by sbMKE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Myrddin

“The monthly bill will be proportional to use.”

- Already experience this with the monthly caps. 30 gigs download for 40 bucks a month.

“All that spam in your mailbox will make you exceedingly angry as you pay to transfer crap you didn’t want in the first place.”

- Bell already does this and has for some time now. Comcast can also get stuffed. And so can every other capping, throttling, choking, cesspool who rips off, lies, and cheats their customers out of their hard earned money.

If I had somewhere else to go, I’d have gone by now. In any event I hope they get what is coming to them. If I pay 15 bucks a month for unlimited premium Usenet access, then by God I want what I paid for.


38 posted on 09/22/2009 1:19:41 PM PDT by Soothesayer9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Soothesayer9

Aaaaarrrrrghhh. How can this be happening and no one is challenging it in court?


39 posted on 09/22/2009 1:39:11 PM PDT by samsmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: sbMKE

What are you talking about?


40 posted on 09/22/2009 1:59:56 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Angry about where our country is going with the current regime at the helm.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson