Obama FCC Expected to Abandon Net Neutrality, Universal Internet

On Sunday, the Washington Post reported that the Federal Communications Commission is expected to abandon its pledges to protect Net Neutrality and to ensure universal, affordable broadband. The story cites anonymous insiders confirming that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is "leaning toward" siding with the most powerful phone and cable lobbyists on a crucial decision: whether the FCC will have any authority to protect an open Internet and make it available to all.

It is a testament to the phone and cable industry's overwhelming influence that they seem to have convinced the nation's communications agency to swear off authority to protect Americans' right to open communications. But it is stunning that Genachowski would even contemplate allowing it to stand, given President Obama's repeated pledge to ensure fast, affordable, universal Internet broadband for every American.

So what's going on here?

In early April, a a federal appeals court ruled that, based on decisions by the Bush-era FCC, the agency lacks the authority to regulate broadband providers. In so doing, the court effectively handed control of the Internet to companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon -- allowing them to slow down or block any website, any blog post, any tweet, any outreach by a congressional campaign. The FCC no longer has the power to stop them.

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/obama-fcc-expected-to-aba_b_561418.html

Wash Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/02/AR2010050203262.html?hpid=topnews

More: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/10/05/03/fcc-abandon-net-neutrality

What is net neutrality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U

---------------------------

If you want your internet experience to be just like your cable and commercial television experience, then do nothing. If you want the internet free and open so that you have a choice of what you read and say, write congress and Obama at link below.

It is coming bit by bit and will happen unless we fight it. The "free market" corporatists, neo-libs, neo-cons, centrists and other conservatives are working hard to allow the internet to be sold to the highest bidder. Don't count on the mainstream political parties to protect the internet by default.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Not.

huge.

the whole world is shocked that nothing much hs changed in your corporate-run country! Has America lost its innocence. again? Or yet?

On issues that really matter to "his base" he betrays us, repeatedly. If he does this I will work for his opponent in the 2012.

Oh yeah, escalating in Afghanistan - he managed to stick to that.

He doesn't actually care about anything, except maybe pleasing whoever has the most power.

This is really bad. The idiot provider I have, Comcast, could decide whether or at what speed I use DU.

There is just no room for that.

How different is corporate censorship here in the U.S. from governmental censorship in China?

Just sayin'.

his promises. He was a very good spokesperson for U.S.A. Inc.

nt

:sarcasm:

I guess it is funny in a way.


It is fascinating how many times they show what they really believe.

Im so very disappointed..and i did not expect much after his vote to allow the spies to continue to listen to my phone calls and open any or all of my mail.

our email, telephone and internet usage (including posts like this) to NSA and CIA. Considering the control of our legislative and regulatory process by corporations, would it shock anyone if there was a quid pro quo for their extraordinary assistance?

nt

I don't doubt your statement, I'm just interested in the answer.

a co-op internet owned and operated by us..Its just an idea since I have no idea of how to go about it.

Currently I have two options. Use the cable owned by the Cox or use the telephone line owned by Quest.

L.A. Free-Net

A volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to bringing people together, providing
community information, and offering Internet access at the lowest possible cost.
www.lafn.org

L.A. Free-Net (LAFN) began in 1994 by a group of local physicians as a means to share medical information with the community. It quickly grew to become a method for the public at large to share all kinds of information with each other.

L.A. Free-Net is a non-profit organization, operating under Section501(c)(3) of the Internal Reveue Service tax code.

Unlike commercial ISPs, the L.A. Free-Net does not derive any income from on-line advertising. The service is free of all solicitations, banner ads, and pop-ups. We do not sell our user lists. All incoming spam mail is blocked unless specifically permitted by the user, and we prohibit our users from sending out solicitations.

All personal information for accounts is encrypted on our servers and is never sold or made available to other organizations except as required by law.

Our service support is handled by friendly and experienced mentors who are all volunteers.

Dial-up access is available toll-free throughout all of California and major portions of 45 other states.

Low-cost DSL access is available in California and 12 other states in areas covered by AT&T telephone service.

And since they still use AT&T it's also subject to AT&T's whims.

Just like heath care reform and everything else.

And operate in a legal bandwidth area in my small town and I will get prosecuted BIGTIME! The FCC has no trouble at all regulating that...

How is it they can stop the small person and the lil pirate radio station, but not handle regulating A T & T?

Just like their education policies Obama's admin seems to think that allowing corporations to control all avenues of learning and information is the best route to take in maintaining control over the populace.

If I believed in this crap I would have voted for a Republican instead of a conservative cloaked in Democratic clothing.

Sometimes I wonder if Obama really believes in the stuff he does, or if not, then by whom and with what has he been threatened... I mean, why doesn't he just switch parties and be done with it..
Don't get me wrong I supported him 200%, but--- I mean... jeesh...FDR he ain't.

he's already made his deals--our letters go in the "round file," along with those letters about single-payer health insurance, prosecution of war criminals and traitors, gays in the military, wind and solar energy, etc etc ad ad nauseum. The fix is in, we are totally irrelevant as they divide up the spoils. Keeping the greedy, useless capitalist pigs happy is numero uno.

Thank you very much for posting just what I wanted to say.... I've signed so many petition's & not one has gone in favor of what the people wanted, including one just last week or so dealing with Net Neutrality. Again thank you

I should keep my cynical BS out of it and let those who are optimistic (and probably younger than I) fight the good fight.
I'm just too heartsick about everything now. The way things might have been, and probably never will be because of greed, utter stupidity, and total lack of foresight. I've gotten to the point where I think it will take a total collapse, as with the Roman Empire, before anything will change. We The People are already serfs and many of our freedoms have eroded or disappeared, and most don't even know or care.

There are way too many fanboys/girls on here who still think Obama is playing chess and we are all just too slow to keep up with his ninja moves and master plan to stand up for the people and do everything right by them. Sheesh.

They simply refuse to let it soak in that he had back door deals with big pharma, that he sabotaged the public option by capitulating to insane Rethuglican outcries, that he didn't even whisper single-payer throughout the whole thing. Not to mention that he allows illegal spying on American citizens to continue and does not believe we should be allowed to file civil suits for those actions.

He is a friend of business, he is not standing up for the people. I've given up writing him. It falls on deaf ears.


p.s. You'd think DU would add "Obama" to their spell check so it doesn't come up as misspelled every time. ;)

18 months ago. Now I realize we will get almost no help from the admin.

Because he raised a crapload of money for Obama. And not a ton of small contributions, but quite a few big ones.

He is the one who gets to decide because the other two D's on the FCC have said they would vote to reclassify and impose neutrality, and the two R's have said they are opposed to any regulation of the the monopoly carriers.

What happens to his ability to raise money from these big corporate lobbyists if he pisses them all off by voting to reclassify? All those spigots from Comcast and AT&T and Verizon etc... won't send it to the Dems anymore. Policy doesn't matter here.

And don't think this is just Julius - he is one of the President's good friends and plays basketball with him all the time! If the President really wanted network neutrality to happen, guess what, Julius would know. Do you really think they never have discussed the topic?

He's a corporate sellout to the monopoly phone companies who send the intel community all kinds of private information.

Off that the end of the Internet as we know it will be caused by one of President Obama's closest friends. The R's, sure, we would expect that, but I thought our side had won the election? This FCC is doing nothing differently than a Republican FCC would do. And it's not Clyburn or Copps that's the problem, it's the chairman himself.

and never to We The People or what would really be best in anything.

The time I wasted voting is time I will never get back. Next time I won't bother.

This Net Neutrality will be the final straw with us & we will probably won't bother to vote again. All this just make's us sick.

I share your feelings. I encourage all of us who feel this way to change their strategy rather than giving up. Sure it feels hopeless, but if all the good people are so disillusioned that they give up, guess who that helps?

Choose your path as best you can, progressive Democrats, socialists, worker's party, Green, whatever, and put your efforts there. Change is hard but it's always possible.

Good luck with it, sick about it all here too. I can't even look at Obama anymore without disgust.

I am SO tired of hearing that if I don't support the Dem's, I might as well be asking Hitler to rise from his grave!

I registered for the Socialist Party of Ohio, and this morning, voted for Dan LaBotz, Ohio Socialist candidate for Senator in the primaries (he is running unopposed). My SO and I are going to continue to put our $$$ and efforts in non-corporate candidates.

Why not? If Vermont can do it, maybe Ohio can, too!

How else do they learn what the public wants? It's not individual campaign contributions for sure. They're getting that in spades from the corporations. It's the votes. If they don't get the votes no amount of money will help them, and votes are all the power we have left.

Somebody needs to learn a lesson, and yes we might not like who gets put on the supreme court for a while, but seriously, what other options are open to us? I think we have to lose a few in order to win.

Or independents. We need a non-corporate party out there. Of course we can't just start running people for Congress or the Presidency; it has to start locally, on school boards and city councils. It will take many years but clearly the Democrats are worthless as a party.

they are put in positions where are powerless. The other Obama appointed democrat, Clyburn, is supportive of reclassification. However, Julius and is staff are not working with her at all, or Copps for that matter.

There are people who are willing to stand up and do the right thing, and are knowledgeable. They get appointed to various positions to show the administration is committed to the objectives they campaigned on, but are never allowed to step into decision making roles.

I still can't get over how this guy is willing to side with the monopolists. I UNDERSTAND why he is doing it, but I can't fathom why on this issue, they have to toe the monopolist line...

Imagine how many of your friends and family know nothing at all about this nonsense. Imagine how many of them would be outraged if they found out they suddenly had to subscribe to access certain content on the Internet -- much like the so-called premium cable packages?

I am beyond disappointed in this administration. I am dammed disgusted. Not disillusioned because I never bought any of the hope/change bullshit. It was always meant as a ploy to allow people to fill in the blanks -- all whilst thinking it was what the candidate said. Admittedly, this isn't as bad as McCain would have been, but that does not make this excusable any more than the other (MANY) failures on key issues from health care to financial reform to the "war on terror."

There are lots of people who are very smart on the issues and understand technology that would have been awesome FCC chairpersons. But what did we get? A bundler! Someone who raised a few hundred grand for the president!

Is it any surprise that this guy isn't willing to buck the incumbents?? This was bad news from the day his name was put out!

We need a Democrat in the White House.

You know, a REAL one.

One betrayal after another. Wonder what Obama will do on social security.

:grr:

So nobody sees it. Look at the difference in sizes of demonstrations of the anti-war movement and the teabaggers. Anti-war protests outnumbered the teabaggers by tens of thousands and look at the skewed coverage. Teabaggers EVERYWHERE on cable, even as guests on all the political pundit shows. And where were the anti-war protesters? Not on your TV, that's for sure. And when they did get a bit of coverage for a protest of 100,000 people equal air time was given to the 6 pro-war people who showed up. In fact, they were the ones who usually got the interview portion of the live coverage.

It's all bullshit. Time to move to Europe.

I want to be optimistic but it is impossible. All this screaming that Obama is a socialist is part of the smoke screen.

Net Neutrality was in the cross-hairs of the corporate media because the Internet empowered the American People's Freedom of Speech rights like nothing else since the First Amendment was adopted.

This is why the corporate media so enthusiastically waged their "War Against Gore" with all manner of libel and slander, they wanted to neuter the power of Internet.

Thanks for the thread, scentopine.

is the core issue for those of us that want to preserve a representative democracy here. Because we know the internet is the last source of untainted information. This is clear.

So, if Obama allows this to happen I will then consider him as bad as Palin, McConnell, Limbaugh, Boner, Beck and the others. He becomes my political enemy from that day forward.

I am sure this is because the Chairman decided to kill network neutrality. Colin worked for Markey who is a huge supporter of network neutrality, and his job couldn't be much fun now that all the Congressional Dems who have not sold out to corporate monopolists must be calling him up and angry about what Julius is doing. Now that it's clear that Julius is going to be a rubber stamp for monopolists, you should expect all the real Dems to leave his staff, however few they may be.

Washington, D.C. -- Today, it was announced that Colin Crowell, Senior Counselor to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, will leave the FCC in June.

"Colin has been indispensable to every key decision we've made and his rare combination of policy smarts, wise counsel, and communications expertise has been invaluable to me and the agency as we developed our broadband agenda for the nation," said Chairman Genachowski. "He will be missed but I am sure he will continue to contribute his insights into the intersection of innovation and public policy in the next stage of his career."
Prior to serving as Chairman Genachowski's Senior Counselor, Crowell was a longtime veteran of Capitol Hill. He served as the top telecommunications staffer on the House Telecommunications Subcommittee to Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), and was the lead staffer for Chairman Markey on numerous landmark laws -- including the requirement in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requiring the FCC to develop a National Broadband Plan, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and many others.
"It has been a true privilege to work with such a talented FCC team, committed to advancing Chairman Genachowski's pro-innovation agenda," Crowell said. "Chairman Genachowski has been a great friend and the decision to leave was not an easy one. Yet after twenty two years in public service, it's time for me to explore other professional opportunities."

of 1996 - giving the republican corporate media industry unprecedented consolidation....as well as both pieces of legislation signed by Reagan - Guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming were abolished and signed by Reagan in 1985 - and eliminating the "Fairness Doctrine" signed by Reagan in 1987.

If Qbama abandons "Net Neutrality" it will be more devastating for the freedom of speech than what both Reagan & Clinton signed over to the corporations combined!

The two former presidents gave the power to the republican corporate media to control and completely own the airwaves & cable markets for their lies, self interest and to pass their self serving bills & legislation as well as cover up any news the republicans choose, while deciding only the bullshit they (republicans & corporations) want the mass public to see and hear.

National media and most local print (newspapers & magazines) are nothing more than owned by the same corporations who own every other information source.....So what is left not controlled by the corporations?

Now Obama will allow the same republicans & corporations to control the content on the Internet? It certainly will leave very little for progressives and dissenting opinions just as republicans & corporations want and are planning for.

Anyone fool who doesn't know that all five of the major news corporations (Viacom, GE, Time-Warner, Murdoch and Disney) are big time republican donor & contributors better wake up...as well as over 90% of radio owned by republican corporate interest.

Hey, here's an uncensored newsflash for you: Corporations ARE the republican party!

And with republican corporations like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Viacom and all the rest....information will be completely dominated by republican corporation...the Internet has what's given us progressive room to fight back, republican know this all too well and now this is their way to stop it and control it just as in the past....through their corporations.

Obama abandoning this incredibly important bill along with the Supreme Court decision to allow corporations unlimited donations to candidates, and their multi-billion dollar corporate lobbyist what chance for the truth to get out consistently as is now available for anyone to consume on the Internet.

We will have no voice the corporations are moving in....They have already dwindled down unions to less than 7% nationwide! Soon to extinction?

Then what real voice will a single person have, right now we still have the Internet, but corporate fascist big brother is quickly trying to close down this avenue.

Republicans have always used corporations as a way to shut up opposition....

Publicly republicans will say it's just business allowing corporations access to the free market, capitalism, privatization 'it's what made America great'.

If you really don't believe this has been a long planned take over of Internet free speech then you have been asleep and it's truly late & time to wake up....the republican communications corporations will make obscene amounts of money stating as always that this is their only true motive for controlling the flow & information on the Internet!

You said it exactly right.

What conclusion can we come to? Apparently Obama has never read 1984. Or, perhaps he is entirely owned. I suppose the evidence I ignore suggests he is owned, like everyone else. Are there limits to greed?

Without the balance of a free internet the U.S. will be COMPLETELY owned by the corporations. This is the proverbial nail in the coffin as if Citizens United was not bad enough.

I already had my "last straw" over the phony "health care reform" and its associated deal-making and corporate butt-kissing and almost got banned at that time, so will not say much now. Only that I did reregister as Independent a few months ago, but still get fund appeals from DSCC and DCCC that I welcome as a chance to scrawl a few fuck yous and complaints about their latest backroom deals and selling out and mail back in their postpaid envelope.

K&R

This disgusting business model that blast ad's from every dusty crevice of the World already consumes so much bandwidth and space that the Advertisers have paid off the Browser people to enhance the "Ad Experience" and "Maximize User Impressions". Microsoft now embeds the "Locality API" in Windows 7 explicitly to help advertisers locate you precisely in the world, and if it is in Windows 7, it's most certainly in your Cell Phone O.S.

Of course, hiding this onerous API in plain sight, and presenting it as a "Boon for developers" is nothing more than Corporate marketing hype that hopes to divert attention from yet another way to collect geo spatial information on every user surfing the web, or using virtually any application of interest.

Taken to it's conclusion, we may be seeing legal constructs like End User License Agreements for Internet content (You agree to not circumvent the display of our Advertisers) for example.

Last time I looked, Google was selling for 530 bucks a share. Sorry to say it, but that is generally obscene, considering that they do nothing more than facilitate data collection and advertizing, sugar coated with a good search engine. The honeymoon with Google has yet to come to an end, but when the world wakes up and realizes just how much control this organization has over your life, libraries may just become popular again.

The trouble is, all the libraries are being migrated to Google Books as we speak...

but like the so called Healthcare reform he sided with the insurance companies and now he has sold us out to the cable and phone industry. Showing us once again that what he said on the campaign trail and what he does are complete opposites.

...then we've lost...period.

If it isn't clear by now how much disdain they have, including this administration, for the people who elect them, it never will be.

We have to find some other way to be effective.

Appealing to them is the equivalent of a someone in jail for something they didn't do, appealing to the prison authorities to let them out. They do not care about the people.

I admit that I thought Democrats would care for the past eight years, even though a lot of people, who I thought were just being cynical, told me they did not except for a few.

Maybe they were better at pretending, but THIS administration is blatant. Every speech Obama makes he never forgets to slam 'the left' if he is addressing the hateful rhetoric of the right, which he did last weekend. He makes sure to slam 'both sides' every time.

We have to forget about the WH, imho. Focus needs to be placed on Congress, that is the only way to stop presidents from having too much power, to have a Congress that has the best interests of the public in mind.

There are primaries coming up this month, Marcy Winnograd is challenging Jane Harman. Harman is backed by the Party and the Establishment. We could help Marcy beat her by donating , phone-banking etc for her. And if she wins that would be one down with only a few hundred more to go.

I can't think of anything else to do but emailing the WH is a waste of time. They are not on our side.

however, he and his staff believe the liberal vote/cash is not needed nor wanted because in truth there are very few liberals in America thanks to Fox and MSM. But, I promise this much, it will only take one charismatic republican and all the new "democrats" he has been courting will leave him standing at the altar and we will have wasted the opportunity of a generation.

The hypocrisy is maddening - for example, punishing teachers, cutting their pay and killing unions for poor grades while Geithner promises India that we will continue outsourcing to low wage, low skill, unregulated labor markets there. What they really want to teach us is how to accept $7 an hour as a living wage.

Meanwhile, Wall Street and Fed have cause worldwide catastrophe and they are unaccountable and rewarded with record bonuses.

The incestuous relationship between government, wall street and our perpetual state of war is a cancer nourished by our two mainstream political parties. By staying just one small click to the left of the total fascism advocated by the right, the democratic party claims the high road.

It is political relativism, turned into a simple parlor trick. But the truth is, democratic leadership today is barely distinguishable from the neo-cons of 1980. The right wing is barely distinguishable from the KKK.

In my estimation, the neo-dem is composed of the worst of

1. neo-lib (faith in global "free" markets and corporate benevolence as a solution to health and welfare problems)

and

2. the neo-con (faith in wealth and war) philosophies.

I no longer volunteer for democratic candidates nor give them any cash; being called retarded and being referred to as "those on the left" was the last straw. I try to send cash to groups that push for change from the outside.

I have to admit you may be correct about the futility of it all.

You are not alone, thanks for the reply!

It's been a rude awakening after eight years of desperately trying to get 'more Democrats' elected. Maybe we needed to see it sad as it is.

I also will not donate to any political party or pac where the money is allocated by the party. The people who have actually been fighting for the people are the ACLU eg. Money is better spent strengthening organizations like that so that they can keep fighting.

And, voting for real liberals when they run for Congress. I hope it's not too late though, there seems to have been a Corporate Coup facilitated by both parties.

Not many of the usual defenders and apologists around since the oil spill, although they were there two weeks to defend the decision to lift the ban on offshore drilling. I wonder how many more of these flip-flops it will take before they realize that it's time to unite with the rest of us and start working to get rid of these sell-outs and replace them with people who have some principles.

Glad to know I'm not alone, thank YOU!

this is bullshit!!!

the likelihood that i will vote 3rd party for just about every race in 2012 is now around 80%. i'm not sure i could be more disappointed in my decision to vote for Obama. we need a viable 3rd party sooooo fucking bad.. :grr: :(

We had that first year to press for him to do what he promised. The handwriting was on the wall from day one. Rahm Emanuel, the Goldman Sachs Gang, let bygones be bygones with the war criminals, Afghanistan, saber rattling with Iran. The left stood around and watched and demanded the extras, like legalizing pot, gay marriage and stopping Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The left never pressed for anything of substance, you know, like guarantees of openness, corporate re-regulation, repeal of the Bush's Presidential executive orders, stopping of renditions and torture, the whole litany of evils that came to us over the last 20 years. Meanwhile he's selling Richard Nixon's stale health care plan from 1973 and the left acted like he was some hero of Progressiveness. We've got to face the truth, this guy is a well spoken, dark skinned version of a seventies center right republican. We, we got a watered down version of Nixon's plan, more war, more illegal detentions and extrajudicial killing and now we get the big closed door on open information and later the hobnailed boots on our necks. Welcome to 21st century USA as the sun sets and promises fade into memory. By the way, with the way the debates are held, a third party would have no chance if a third party candidate can't get in. With the current rules, that'll never be allowed in future televised debates.

i hate that we focus so much on social issues like abortion and gay marriage... i think everything (pretty much) should be legal and if you don't want it, or don't want to do it, then don't.. i hate that he's turned out to be such a pro-corporate Dem.. a choice between only TWO things isn't really a choice at at all... i'm sick of both parties.. you and i realize we are in serious trouble with the 2 parties covering each other's asses while nobody looks out for the people.. wonder how long it will take others to realize.. i'm afraid your post title is sadly correct on many levels - It's Too Late.

--on edit: i know many people here did call for prosecutions of Cheney and Bush, wanted out of Afghanistan, were against escalation, as well as opposed the wall street bailout - but the media and especially the obama administration wouldn't even consider it.. hell they didn't even consider single-payer for healthcare! what amazes me is that even when Obama betrays us over and over and over again, many people still, for some reason, think that he's still on our side. doesn't fly with me - just cause the guy is better than Bush doesn't make him good. my dog is better than Bush. and i don't have a dog.

*some people might call you out for saying "the left" when everyone here pretty much is the left but i think you made very good points and i consider myself VERY left

Completely worthless corporate tool.

State of the Union should be given by the guy from SNL.

I'm looking for a primary challenger. He/She will win. Give me Hillary at this point.

n.t.

Sad but true.

And the hits just keep coming.

The rest of the world will continue to be in the 21st century,and making profits,while you're on your way back to the good old days.Have fun with the telegraph.:puke:

n/t

n/t

let the tedious parsing begin.
was he "really" for net neutrality before? did he not "campaign on it," really? and if he didn't, how can we complain now when we only "wished" he did? is this part of some "well thought-out plan" that I "wouldn't begin to understand" because he's "thinking multidimensionally"?

please tell me why I should vote for this again. and don't say, enjoy President Palin if I don't, because that lame "reason" will no longer fly with me. Palin is nothing but a stooge aimed at scaring the masses into voting for the "lesser of two evils." feh--whatever. looks like I'll be writing in Howard Dean or Dennis Kucinich in 2012.

If not, please do so now......

http://www.change.org/alternet/petitions/view/tell_obama_and_the_fcc_to_protect_net_neutrality_now

---and---

https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=356

Don't just think about it....

DO IT!

Free Press is holding a teleconference today on whether or not the Obama administration is going to abandon it's Tech agenda, specifically address what happens if the FCC goes down the path that Genachowski is going. It's at 9 AM Pacific, noon eastern. Call in and hear what a disaster this will be if Genachowski does nothing, and what you can do to change it.

Details here: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/05/04-10?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4369687">http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4369687

We have an federal administration proven to show deference to wealth and power. This is the "third way". The centrist way.

AT&T has been very cooperative with federal wiretapping of everyone's email and cell phone conversations and data. Time for payback. Notice no industry howling from AT&T? They are sitting pretty. Feds can't and won't do anything to regulate these companies practices. People who like insurance companies and oil companies will alsoo love telco companies after these "rules" are in place. Its a tea baggers dream come true. More ways to screw people over and take their money while delivering carefully censored, safe and groomed information.

Here is more from this link:

http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/10/05/04/will-fcc-abandon-president-obama%E2%80%99s-broadband-agenda-while-pretending-carry-it-out

‘Where Are the Results?’

A glimpse at this cowardly strategy came in a recent exchange between Genachowski and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). Rockefeller noted that the FCC had found that Comcast engaged in a willful and deceptive practice of blocking consumer access to legal applications and content, but that the recent D.C. Circuit Court opinion called into question the FCC’s authority to stop such bad actions. Rockefeller then put it directly to Genachowski: “My question is simple … As a result of the court decision, what happens if Comcast engages in the same practices today?”

After rattling off a stock answer about how the court case had created some “complications,” Genachowski said, “I think it’s essential that the freedom, the openness of the Internet for consumers, for speakers, for entrepreneurs continues.”

Rockefeller wryly responded: “That’s impressive, almost elegiac, but where are the results? When are we going to see things happening?”

Unfortunately for Senator Rockefeller and the millions of American’s wanting the FCC to take a stand for consumers in the face of the powerful incumbents, the answer appears to be sometime shortly past never.