Net Neutrality!

XerX · Postby **XerX** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:52 am

On May 15, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission proposed rules that would permit rampant discrimination online, undermining Net Neutrality. The FCC’s proposal would be a huge boon for the cable companies and would undermine the Internet as we know it.

Under the proposed rules, cable giants like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon would be able to create a two-tiered Internet, with slow lanes (for most of us) and fast lanes (for wealthy corporations that are willing pay fees in exchange for fast service).

Cable companies would have the power to discriminate against online content and applications — they could pick winners and losers, shake sites down for fees, block content for political reasons, and make it easier for Internet users to view cable content. (For instance, Comcast owns NBC, and so has incentives to make it easier to view NBC content than that of other providers.)

On September 10th, sites across the web will display an alert with a symbolic "loading" symbol (the proverbial “spinning wheel of death”) and promote a call to action for users to push comments to the FCC, Congress, and the White House. Note: none of these tools actually slow your site down; they tell your visitors about the issue and ask them to contact lawmakers.

https://www.battleforthenet.com

Postby **Julia Pseudo** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:27 am

Yeah, it might be a somewhat stereotypical opinion nowadays, but Comcast (and the others) is a pretty shitty company, and killing net neutrality is a very bad thing for the people. Lobbying in general holds FAR too much influence over political figures in the US and is honestly kind of scary.

The battle for the net is a fantastic idea and definitely reminds me of the SOPA protests a while back. If important sites like Google and Wikipedia were to join this protest it would probably go a lot better, and I fear that this protest is mostly going to reach the ears of people who already support the protest - that's why big sites need to get involved.

XerX · Postby **XerX** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:36 am

From what I have heard, big sites like Google, Facebook, Netflix and some others are part of this protest.

Fatoldsweaty · Postby **Fatoldsweaty** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:15 am

I read about this, yeah if it goes that will suck and we will have to rise up.

Warlock · Postby **Warlock** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:24 am

I'm sorry, guys. I just NEEDED to put this in my sig:

Nexia · Postby **Nexia** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:42 am

XerX wrote:From what I have heard, big sites like Google, Facebook, Netflix and some others are part of this protest.

I really hope they're successful.
The idea of cable/telephone companies like Comcast or AT&T favoring one site or company over another with faster delivery speeds for money, is just wrong in so many ways.

Mable · Postby **Mable** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:49 pm

Wasn't there once a organisation who fighted against the internet and didn't succeed? Why would they + if Google and Facebook are part of it and both of them are huge places it ain't gonna happen. Humanity in a nutshell.

Postby **glitch4** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:00 pm

What this is even?

XerX · Postby **XerX** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:14 pm

GLDude wrote:What this is even?

Basically, cable companies want to limit regular users internet and have what they call a "fast lane" for high paying customers/businesses, so they can pocket more money, as well as limit certain websites. The bad thing about this is that people who use the internet as a business will pretty much be out of the job because they're customers cannot access their websites/blogs. Most of the internet community in general does not want this to happen.

aero · Postby **aero** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:12 pm

Honestly I'd support these rulings if Comcast wasn't a predator monopoly with both cable and internet services.

Zeldamaster12 · Postby **Zeldamaster12** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 12:24 am

Irony. When I went to Gamestop earlier, their computers were oddly slow.

zioy · Postby **zioy** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:06 pm

GhostHawk wrote:Honestly I'd support these rulings if Comcast wasn't a predator monopoly with both cable and internet services.

^^^

Essentially my words.

Devixicus · Postby **Devixicus** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:41 pm

What I've heard is the reason internet prices are going up and competition is being avoided (which is why we can't really fight with our wallets) is that at some point, internet will be considered a common service and will be legally monopolized, so they want to squeeze as much money out of it as possible, since these companies are losing money with their cable services. It's sort of like they're trying to do what Nintendo has done, sit on top of a pile of money until they can find a way to get people to buy their stuff.

Vinyl Scratch · Postby **Vinyl Scratch** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:31 pm

Devixicus · Postby **Devixicus** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:56 pm

I think this video sums it up well.

mechamind · Postby **mechamind** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:16 pm

Now a shut down of the White House is being threatened over the recent victory for Net Neutrality.

Deny us a free internet or shut down the White House. Whoever thought this was a good idea to sabotage the internet really needs to be imprisoned.

(I have an article, though I could also use a well-known news source. I don't remember too much about how TV news media treated SOPA/PIPA years ago, but they'd probably try to skew it in their own favor.)

http://www.freepress.net/blog/2015/06/1 ... eam-house/