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No. To save the internet, we have to make the most gigantic stink the world has seen since the Trump election. The solution is not "give up and let this pass,
by tbabb 9y ago
No. To save the internet, we have to make the most gigantic stink the world has seen since the Trump election.
The solution is not "give up and let this pass, and then quietly try to work around it." It's "make the people in power pay DEARLY for their transgressions."
- visarga 9y agoYour solution needs to be refreshed with each election, we need a permanent solution that won't be reversed 2 years later.
- aaronbrethorst 9y agoStep 1: Try to convince the FCC to not vote to kill NN. Step 2: Call your members of Congress and tell them to enshrine NN into law. Step 3: Vote your Rep out next year if they refuse to do what you ask for. Step 4: Vote out the President in 2020 if he vetoes NN. Pretty straightforward, imho.
- imglorp 9y agoTrouble is, Ajit gets up there and talks about competition being good for the consumer, and then all the rightwingers echo that "Bigly". As wrong as this is, it will be hard to vote someone out if the facts are muddled.
- tbabb 9y agoI think this can easily be made a bipartisan issue, in that it's the common man vs. big, rich, controlling corporations. If I were the telecoms (and telecom lackeys), that's the movement I'd be scared of.
- aaronbrethorst 9y agoI agree. It's a purely populist play, and we're in a populist mood as a country.
- tallanvor 9y agoYes, and the Republicans conveniently ignore that most consumers in the US have very little choice in ISPs. These days you probably have the option of DSL from your phone company or the offering from your cable company. Luckily some communities are setting up their own broadband services, but the telecom monopolies are doing their best to make it illegal for communities to do this.
- zaarn 9y agoSimple solution from the FCC; they'll outdate the outrage. Simply make some rule that to the average person looks like Net-Neutrality but in reality isn't. Or go only half way. And with that all the average people will simply tell you "but they did bring back net neutrality!" and you'll have to update the outrage. It's a much more efficient way to deal with outrage, currently employed by EA.
- ikurei 9y agoI don't see how that's straightforward, especially numbers 3 and 4. Are you gonna vote out the president just for NN? Even if you don't think the other guy is gonna be much different in that regard? Americans cast one single vote (in presidential elections) for one of two candidates, on a myriad of issues of every level of seriousness. Leaving aside the fight to convince a majority of americans, just deciding to vote against someone for NN is anything but straightforward. I don't see why the criticisms on the idea discussed in the article. We can try both routes, give them all the flak we can for this and also try alternative paths to NN. This is an extremely uphill battle, we should be looking for every remotely-viable path.
- int_19h 9y agoOne reason to raise stink now is to make it clear to any candidates for 2018 and 2020 elections that this is an issue to which they can pander for the sake of good PR and votes. That applies also (and, perhaps, especially) to the primaries.
- sundaeofshock 9y agoThis Congress has been trying to gut healthcare and is about to pass an extremely destructive and unpopular tax “reform” bill. It is obvious they don’t care about popular opinion or even their chances for re-election.
- aaronbrethorst 9y agoThey care very deeply about reelection. In order to get reelected, they need money and to survive a primary. They won't get money from their big $$$ donors if they don't pass the tax cut bill. They won't survive a primary if they're seen as being 'soft' on the ACA by the true believers in their party. They don't have any idea how they're going to make it through the general election, but that's a fight for another day. They have other priorities first.
- sundaeofshock 9y ago
- boomboomsubban 9y agoIf next year my choice of mai party reps to vote for boths support ending net neutrality, then what? Vote third party and hope a majority of my state has also turned politics into a one issue system?
- aaronbrethorst 9y agoIt is unlikely that both candidates will be opposed to NN. NN is part of the Democratic Party platform agreed upon at the 2016 Democratic National Convention: page 9 of http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/117717.pdf http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/117717.pdf However, there are a few Democrats who have voted against NN in the past, or have indicated that they do not support it. From this vote in 2016: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2016/roll152.xml http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2016/roll152.xml You have: Jim Costa (CA-16) Scott Peters (CA-52) Collin Peterson (MN-07) Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09) Albio Sires (NJ-08) If you live in their districts, call up their office and tell them that you want them to change their tune on NN. Go to their town halls and tell them there. There are also four Democratic Senators who listed as being part of 'Team Cable' according to this: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2017-10-04-democrats-who-voted-for-fcc-chairman-ajit-pai-have/ https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2017-10-04-democrats-... Again, if you live in their states (MI, MO, MT, or WV) call them up and tell their staffers that you want them to change their mind on NN and tell them why. Go to their town halls and tell them there. Bemoaning your elected officials' choices without ever trying to influence them will not change anything.
- TaylorGood 9y agoIs Trump able to override the FCC? Talk about a clear route for easy "heroism"
- imglorp 9y agoHe follows the money. No way.
- AndyMcConachie 9y agoLet's be clear on something. "The Internet" doesn't care how Americans go about ruining their economy by prioritizing certain network traffic. As a Dutchie my Internet is largely unaffected by the FCC. If anything the FCC rejecting net neutrality may be a boon for investment in EU startups and might actually benefit the EU tech sector. So go right ahead and take a crap on yourself America. But let's be clear that the FCC has nothing to do with "The Internet". They're strictly an American affliction.
- bringtheaction 9y agoWhen the Americans successfully ruin NN for themselves they might inspire other countries to follow though.
- ivm 9y agoNetherlands has a net neutrality law since 2012, Chile – since 2010.
- akerro 9y ago>As a Dutchie my Internet is largely unaffected by the FCC. You can't be more wrong. Since Netflix, Amazon, youporn, imgur, reddit will be affected by this and they will have to pay more to keep their bandwidth on the same level as now, or slower by only 10% (hey, they could slow down their network links by 60%, but since they pay 20M per year, its slower by only 10%!) you as the end, you the end consumer will have to pay for this more. It doesn't matter where you live, as long as you use any of US internet services, you will pay for this more, sooner or later.
- ekianjo 9y ago> No. To save the internet, we have to make the most gigantic stink the world has seen since the Trump election. This "call to arms" happens every year or two. Basically that's a short term solution, and sooner or later a law will manage to get the votes it needs and it's game over (will be very tough to reverse). And even the demonstrations after the Trump election did not achieve anything, by the way, so I doubt this is a good analogy.