Posted on 12/02/2010 5:09:49 PM PST by jazusamo
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised to add the Internet to its portfolio of regulated industries. The agency's chairman, Julius Genachowski, announced Wednesday that he circulated draft rules he says will "preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet." No statement could better reflect the gulf between the rhetoric and the reality of Obama administration policies.
With a straight face, Mr. Genachowski suggested that government red tape will increase the "freedom" of online services that have flourished because bureaucratic busybodies have been blocked from tinkering with the Web. Ordinarily, it would be appropriate at this point to supply an example from the proposed regulations illustrating the problem. Mr. Genachowski's draft document has over 550 footnotes and is stamped "non-public, for internal use only" to ensure nobody outside the agency sees it until the rules are approved in a scheduled Dec. 21 vote. So much for "openness."
The issue of "net neutrality" is nothing new, but the increasing popularity of online movie streaming services like Netflix have highlighted an area of potential concern. When someone watches a film over the Internet, especially in high definition, the maximum available capacity of the user's connection is used. Think, for example, of the problems that would arise at the water works if everyone decided to turn on their faucets and take a shower simultaneously. Internet providers are beginning to see the same strain on their networks.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
So, is it time to get a satellite based foreign connection?
Verizon is saddened
My thought exactly. No more routing through US fascist controlled servers.
>> When someone watches a film over the Internet, especially in high definition, the maximum available capacity of the user’s connection is used
Yet somehow we can all watch a variety of 1000 SD and HD TV channels over the same wire without any noticeable caching delays...
Oh well, we keep taking the hits. I guess we deserve our fate.
Pop-ups and directions to liberal sites from conservative sites.
Like the Fairness Doctrine.
Congress authorized the FCC, and gave it its authority. There is no Constitutional basis for its existence. Congress can un-authorize the FCC if it chooses. Ahem.
I didn't think as clearly as you. My thought was for congress to reduce their funding 10% until they shelve this idea.
But seriously, if the internet has been able to police itself up until now without the FCC, does even the broadcasting world really need them? Could their function not be performed by some non-government foundation made up by the broadcasters themselves?
I wouldn’t be a surprise if they tried something like that.
The secrecy on this is scary and it looks like Genachowski is out and out lying about “preserving the freedom and openness of the Internet.”
I think that’s what Glenn Beck suggested and I think he’s going to be proved correct.
Good point. They were once considered indispensable when the then finite radio spectrum (followed by television) needed some ground rules and a referee. In fact, at least part of this controversy is probably mission creep by an archaic agency looking to maintain relevance in modern times.
The original reason for the FCC was to solve the problem of signal interference in broadcast stations. This was a “technical” issue, RF interference, not about content.
That was before PC (Political Correctness).
Much of their time was spent in technical issues and a lot of that connected to and about Military use of the spectrum and circuit design of the time. These techies, were/are/will remain pro-Military, anti-Commie and pro-Private Industry. I was close to many such techs and have the greatest respect for them. Those who worked in the “labs”, for Defense contractors and for the Military.
The POLs at the top in the FCC are like all bureaucrat, only trying to maintain their position and power. Hence suck-ups to the top elected officials. Now those “top elected officials” are the enemy of the nation.
this is what I depend upon.... one can still find them.... I have never been a fan of the “mainstream” in any form, so I have always had to look for the conservative places....
The problem is that Congress has created HUNDREDS of federal agencies and put them under the command of ONE person. And stupidly, they somehow thought that no president would ever be elected who would abuse their power.
Or perhaps they did it in expectation that they would someday get a socialist bastard like Obama who would, like themselves, have absolutely no regard for anything except socialism.
A lot of people on the right are against this, but some of us on the tech side want this. I think some people are thinking fairness doctrine, but techies want comcast to be a big dumb people and not try to turn into aol. The Level 3 vs Comcast this week is turning in it and AT&T and Verizon have been misbehaving as well/
I’m probably in too bad a frame of mind to comment objectively, but right now Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Wildblue, HughesNet, Sprint and whatever other freaky little WISPs there are can just PI$$ offand die...and take their *#(&$ little broadband caps with them.
My only internet access is via Verizon’s USB760. I’m a grandfathered Alltel customer (wow, I miss them so much) who’s signal has just been shot to holy 773H because of a police tower and redesignation as a “low priority” area. And then VZW rubs my nose in their crappy LTE pricing.
So help me, I pulled the plug on DirecTV Tuesday after fifteen years, it’s not gonna take much more to push me!
Sorry for the rant. I know I shouldn’t cut off my nose to spite my face, but if anyone’s ISP ever BREATHES about imposing a cap, you’d better raise a stink to the sky.
Darn. That didn’t even make me feel better. >>:<
You ready for latency (aka lag) so bad you won't be able to check your bank balance?
Bump.....
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