Republicans plan to push back against net neutrality in 2015

Allowing the government to "regulate" it will lead to the exact same things. This is a false dichotomy; people will waste time and energy arguing between Net Neutrality or government regulation, but the truth that most people do not understand is that these are two paths to the exact same destination... censorship.

Censorship is handing the internet over to 1 or 2 mega corporations. Of course they will only allow content on that net that says corporatate controlled internet is good and any other opinion will be scrubbed.

I feel like I am in the movie Idiocracy here!
"As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species. "

You do know that with our current laws that the government and corporations feed off one and other, right? There really is no such thing as a free market as it stands now, due to government manipulation through regulation. I can see how we would like a "cap" on how much we are charged but did we not learn anything from Obama Care? Those laws were not made to regulate what ones pays as much as it was passed to make the insurance industry more profitable.

The internet is free right now folks. Are you being charged to post on the internet currently...no! This has nothing to do with paying for your internet service. It is about posting content on the internet. If you want to be charged and told what you can and cannot post, that is fine, but what next? Should corporations be allowed to control the air we breath and charge us for each breath?

Do plants crave electrolytes? God help us all.

Last Edited by A Muse on 12/30/2014 12:07 PM

Rand Paul will fight it. Seems to be the only one that will say things that might get him in trouble with his own party even. But I know he's "controlled opposition."

I wonder how much of this problem can be solved with contracts. Is it in your contract that they (ISP, selling bandwidth) can discriminate and prioritize (towards their own interests) your traffic when what you're purchasing from them is an open lane for traffic?

What I see happening is ISP's carrying on with their practice of greatly overselling their available bandwidth and scrambling to compensate without changing their business model to accommodate the growing utility of the internet.

If they have a monopoly that gives them the power to screw over their customers, then why aren't we trying to address that problem? That's a problem that's bigger than net neutrality, and legislating net neutrality won't fix that problem either.

What good is another law when they fail to use for the public good the good laws we already have?

If we can't find good agreements without the assistance of the government, then there's not much hope for finding a good agreement with the help of the government. Government doesn't fix things, it just whitewashes the issue to put forward it's own agenda, incremental control that will never be relinquished.

You think it's getting bad? Just wait until the government "fixes" things by adding irrefutable and immortal laws. I don't believe that will lead to any considerable economic benefit. Laws made to patch over our inability to come to good agreements will never satisfy the parties involved, except where the government patchwork favors one party over the other. But the general public is not the government's favored party.

They already do! It is the corporation called the USA government.

I can see by many of the posts that the posters do not have any idea what net neutrality is despite my explanations, so I will add some sources.

There has been extensive debate about whether net neutrality should be required by law, particularly in the United States. Debate over the issue of net neutrality predates the coining of the term. Advocates of net neutrality such as Lawrence Lessig have raised concerns about the ability of broadband providers to use their last mile infrastructure to block Internet applications and content (e.g. websites, services, and protocols), and even to block out competitors.

Neutrality proponents claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise uncompetitive services. Many believe net neutrality to be primarily important as a preservation of current freedoms.[5] Prominent supporters of net neutrality include Vinton Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, and Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the Web


Definition and related principles

Net neutrality

Network neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally.[11] According to Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, the best way to explain network neutrality is as a principle to be used when designing a network: that a public information network will end up being most useful if all content, sites, and platforms are treated equally.[12] A more detailed proposed definition of technical and service network neutrality suggests that service network neutrality is the adherence to the paradigm that operation of a service at a certain layer is not influenced by any data other than the data interpreted at that layer, and in accordance with the protocol specification for that layer.[13
Open Internet

The idea of an open Internet is the idea that the full resources of the Internet and means to operate on it are easily accessible to all individuals and companies. This often includes ideas such as net neutrality, open standards, transparency, lack of Internet censorship, and low barriers to entry. The concept of the open Internet is sometimes expressed as an expectation of decentralized technological power, and is seen by some as closely related to open-source software.[14]

Proponents often see net neutrality as an important component of an open internet, where policies such as equal treatment of data and open web standards allow those on the Internet to easily communicate and conduct business without interference from a third party.[15] A closed Internet refers to the opposite situation, in which established corporations or governments favor certain uses. A closed Internet may have restricted access to necessary web standards, artificially degrade some services, or explicitly filter out content.

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Definition

noun: net neutrality; noun: network neutrality




the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.

You are out of your mind! You are actually believing that the US government gives a damn about your freedom on the internet or a business's "right to compete"....SERIOUSLY????? Are you THAT gullible??

And, again, WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WAY THE INTERNET IS RUN RIGHT NOW?? IS IT AFFECTING YOU FINANCIALLY...THAT $50.00/MONTH? What's really going on here...you don't want to pay ANYTHING? Is that it? And you think the government is somehow going to make that happen for you? Sure, you go on thinking that and drinking the fucking kool-aid.

As far as I'm concerned, anybody willing to let the government stick it's nose into the internet any more than it already is under the guise of "net bullshit neutrality" (SERIOUSLY, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN FUCKING MEAN...NET NEUTRALITY???)is a traitor to this country. The internet is all we've got left, you idiots.

And truthfully, we can all handle whatever happens to the internet as long as the GOVERNMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. At any time we're not happy, at least we'll have a fighting chance by boycotting or changing servers or WHATEVER to snap the fuckers out of whatever you think they're going to do (do you even KNOW???). The government WANTS us to shut-up, back-down, go away. DON'T YOU GET IT?? They're tricking you into thinking something is broken. WHAT'S BROKEN...TELL ME THAT!!!

I DON'T EVEN CARE IF I'M WRONG BECAUSE I'M WILLING TO TAKE THAT RISK. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS...THAT ANYONE WOULD EVEN FALL FOR THIS RUSE. IT TRULY SADDENS ME.

Exactly!

I respect your opinion and agree with some of what you say. But this comment you make is wacko! "And, again, WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WAY THE INTERNET IS RUN RIGHT NOW?? IS IT AFFECTING YOU FINANCIALLY...THAT $50.00/MONTH? What's really going on here...you don't want to pay ANYTHING? Is that it? And you think the government is somehow going to make that happen for you? Sure, you go on thinking that and drinking the fucking kool-aid. "

Don't put words in my mouth, I never said any of that. This argument has absolutely NOTHING to do with how much we pay and everything to do with freedom of information. You support giving them the ability to block any content they want even though we pay any rate for internet be it $50.00 or $5,000,000.00 so tell me who is drinking the koolaid? Are you too drunk to know? YOu said "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WAY THE INTERNET IS RUN RIGHT NOW?? " I support the internet as it is right now, which is why I support net neutrality.

You state: "And truthfully, we can all handle whatever happens to the internet as long as the GOVERNMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. At any time we're not happy, at least we'll have a fighting chance by boycotting or changing servers or WHATEVER to snap the fuckers out of whatever you think they're going to do (do you even KNOW???). The government WANTS us to shut-up, back-down, go away. DON'T YOU GET IT?? They're tricking you into thinking something is broken. WHAT'S BROKEN...TELL ME THAT!!!

We cannot recieve any benefit by changing servers are you really that gullible? The governemnt may be tricking us because they are controlled by the same people that oppose net neutrality. We are probably screwed either way, but if we have a choice, we should chose freedom as opposed to tyranny. I am going to give you some green karma for trying. I can tell you have your heart in the right place, but you do not understand how the internet works. I truelly respect your opposition to governement as it stands, but remember we are supposed to be a government by and for the people not the corporate states of america.

Last Edited by A Muse on 12/31/2014 12:02 AM

Look, I'm a "regular" person and I've been making money on the internet for over a decade. I know exactly how it works because I've had to study it for years. The internet is a goldmine of opportunity, my friend, and it's frigging cheap. Right now ANYONE can make money on the internet or start a internet business but it takes a little work and ingenuity. Ten years ago, I realized the potential and I went for it. I wasn't successful at every venture but I kept trying and learning and networking with others and checking out different things. Now I make almost $3500.00/mo consistently which is a lot to me. But I do have to work at it. However, IT COSTS NEXT TO NOTHING! I pay $10.00/mo to host four websites on Hostgator and it costs me $15.00/year for each of my jerk. IS THAT TOO MUCH MONEY? I don't think so. I create my own websites, write all the content, do all the marketing, study the analytics and statistics so that I stay in the top five of Google search pages....it's hard work but - guess what? - I get to do it from home WITH NO OVERHEAD.

I don't care about it being FREE. To me, this is next to free and, although there are always going to be someone trying to regulate something, at least it isn't the evil government WHICH NEVER HAS OUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART EVER. The bottom line is that the internet isn't making all these big changes that would warrant anyone doing anything. It's perfectly fine as it is. In fact, if you want free, you can get a website AND a domain and set up a business for nothing - FREE. PM me and I'll help you...tell you where to go. If I did it, anyone can do it. Nothing is changing...the govt is making shit up to get it's hand in it. Just like with healthcare and everything. It's all we've got left and I'll take the lesser of the two evils any day.

I'm done. That's all I wanted to say. Peace.

Last Edited by TheExPatrioticGirl on 12/31/2014 03:48 AM

Ok I will respond one final time to your post. You posted:
"Look, I'm a "regular" person and I've been making money on the internet for over a decade. I know exactly how it works because I've had to study it for years. The internet is a goldmine of opportunity, my friend, and it's frigging cheap. Right now ANYONE can make money on the internet or start a internet business but it takes a little work and ingenuity. Ten years ago, I realized the potential and I went for it. I wasn't successful at every venture but I kept trying and learning and networking with others and checking out different things. Now I make almost $3500.00/mo consistently which is a lot to me. But I do have to work at it. However, IT COSTS NEXT TO NOTHING! I pay $10.00/mo to host four websites on Hostgator and it costs me $15.00/year for each of my jerk. IS THAT TOO MUCH MONEY? I don't think so. I create my own websites, write all the content, do all the marketing, study the analytics and statistics so that I stay in the top five of Google search pages....it's hard work but - guess what? - I get to do it from home WITH NO OVERHEAD.

That is all good. I have done many of the same things as you have and know exactly what you are talking about which is why I want to keep things the same by invoking net neutrality. I own online vacation rental/real estate web sites myself. I want things to stay the same so I can continue to compete with the big boys like VRBO. Without net neutrality, things will be changing in order for companies like Comcast to finance their purchase of Timewarner and monetize the monopoly that they spent big bucks to create.

I don't care about it being FREE. To me, this is next to free and, although there are always going to be someone trying to regulate something, at least it isn't the evil government WHICH NEVER HAS OUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART EVER. The bottom line is that the internet isn't making all these big changes that would warrant anyone doing anything. It's perfectly fine as it is. In fact, if you want free, you can get a website AND a domain and set up a business for nothing - FREE. PM me and I'll help you...tell you where to go. If I did it, anyone can do it.

When you bring up the word "Free" I realize you don't have any clue about Net Neutrality. I don't want anything to be "Free" of cost and Net neutrality does not support that either. Instead I support "Freedom" as does net neutrality by keeping things as they are and not creating toll highways that will eventually knock small internet business's such as yourself out of business. The only way to compete under the new super highway paradign is to be huge yourself because it will eventually cost big money for you, a business owner, to hook up to the super highway and be accessable to potential customers who will not even be aware that there is a new super highway. Note: there are currently no tolls or super highway right now, just the internet a wide open highway for everyone. Business owners just pay the regular fees and do not pay a super highway fee. Note: these fees may eventually be more than a small business makes in a year.

I don't want anything, but I do want small business people like yourself to be able to continue to have a business on the internet.

"Nothing is changing...the govt is making shit up to get it's hand in it. Just like with healthcare and everything. It's all we've got left and I'll take the lesser of the two evils any day."

The government is not making this up. The government is responding to people in all political parties who own internet business's and are demanding that the government protect them from the changes that the big new mega-corporations want and have already attempted to make. They want tiered toll highways that businesss owners will have to pay fees for in order to be accessable to customers on the internet wanting to make purchases. It will be fairly small at first, but in time the price will be too high for small business's and the big ones will aquire the little ones for next to nothing as the small ones look to exit.

I am 100% certain that once you fully understand what is at stake and what Comcast and Verizon want to do to the net, you will be 100% against it. I have not even gotten into the part about them controlling words, sentences and information.

I'm done. That's all I wanted to say. Peace.

I am done too. I think we are both much more similar than different in more than just owning internet business's. We both want the government to keep their hands off. Small business is the backbone of America and drives inovation. The internet is one of the last places someone can start a business for next to nothing. I support net neutrality because it is necessary to protect small business, freedom and in some ways the constitution. Corporations control our government for the most part, so we may be screwed either way. Peace and Happy New Year!

Last Edited by A Muse on 12/31/2014 03:16 PM