4 ms·

Speaking of telecom regulation, whatever happened to net neutrality? Why has the Biden administration not managed to install a new FCC commissioner (so I suppos

by tivert 3y ago

Speaking of telecom regulation, whatever happened to net neutrality? Why has the Biden administration not managed to install a new FCC commissioner (so I suppose we're still technically in the Ajit Pai era)? I mean, we're already starting to get into the next presidential election cycle, for pete's sake. It seems pretty clear to me that doing the right thing on this stuff isn't a priority for anyone.

delfinom 3y ago
>Why has the Biden administration not managed to install a new FCC commissioner Because Trump gutted the government so badly that it's taking years to do the congressional dance to approve replacements for many departments. Congress isn't helping either being basically a failed political body.
- lesuorac 3y ago
  Good thing that the Constitution allows for the Executive branch to immediately appoint and replace any vacancy while Congress is out of session for the summer. > Article II, Section 2, Clause 3: > The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Too bad the Democrats are intentionally hamstringing Biden by pretending to be in session all summer long despite not actually working.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    Were the Democrats to move to adjourn without a pro-forma session, every Republican + Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema would vote against it, since it would end-run their hostage-taking on nominees. (The GOP led House would also object, and their consent is usually required for a recess sufficient to trigger recess appointments, but that disagreement itself would allow the President to use the extraordinary, and never yet exercised, power of his office to declare an adjournment in the case of a disagreement between the houses of Congress on the matter, so while it would be a major escalation to bypass it, the House objection wouldn’t be insurmountable — the failure of a majority in the Senate, though, would.) (Still think they should do it, even though it would be a break from long-established [0] practice, but it wouldn’t have any practical effect other than setting up another debate for the next election.) [0] long enough to be a bipartisan norm, actually not that long in historical terms.
dragonwriter 3y ago
> Why has the Biden administration not managed to install a new FCC commissioner Because the Senate is a thing, and a very dysfunctional one at that.
- tivert 3y ago
  > Because the Senate is a thing, and a very dysfunctional one at that. Tom Wheeler was confirmed with without a filibuster-proof Democratic majority. I don't think the reason is "the Senate sucks." It seems to me that the Biden administration initially nominated someone who wouldn't get confirmed, but the FCC is such a low priority for them so they didn't course correct for years.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    > Tom Wheeler was confirmed with without a filibuster-proof Democratic majority. I don't think the reason is "the Senate sucks." Tom Wheeler was confirmed in 2013; the degree and nature of dysfunction in the Senate has changed since the first year of Obama’s first (edit: second, duh) term.
  - jshier 3y ago
    Wheeler was also a former small ISP CEO, so everyone assumed he'd be in big telco's pockets. That he turned into the main driver of full net neutrality was shocking.
trostaft 3y ago
> Speaking of telecom regulation, whatever happened to net neutrality? There was a good verge article on this https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/20/23800161/gigi-sohn-fcc-nomination-dark-money-campaign-net-neutrality-profile https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/20/23800161/gigi-sohn-fcc-no...
marcosdumay 3y ago
AFAIK, the US doesn't have it anymore, and it's common for their ISPs to sell access to their clients for big service providers.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  The US, qua US, doesn't, but California and a number of other states have taken action on it, and for that and some other reasons, general practice is basically neutrality-ish in the US.
  - sidewndr46 3y ago
    But US states can't regulate interstate commerce. So it's moot.
    - dragonwriter 3y ago
      > But US states can't regulate interstate commerce. This is wrong: so long as it is neither discriminating against interstate trade (that is, as long as it treats interstate and in-state trade equally), nor acting in areas where Congress has explicitly or implicitly, by adopting its own regulations, prohibited state action, yes, they can. And while the FCC anti-neutrality regulation was asserted in court to preempt state action, that arguement failed to prevail.
      - tstrimple 3y ago
        The California market is so large it's often more cost effective for companies to just adopt CA standards instead of creating split markets. We've seen ripples throughout the auto industry due to CA laws. Complaints from farmers about how they treat their pigs was also due to a CA law. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2023/05/11/iowa-based-national-pork-producers-council-loses-supreme-court-challenge-to-california-law-gestation/70207838007/ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/20... > "California is the nation's most-populous state, and the producers say that the way the pork market works, with cuts of meat from various sources being combined before sale, it is likely all pork will have to meet California standards, regardless of where it is sold."

by tivert 3y ago

delfinom 3y ago

>Why has the Biden administration not managed to install a new FCC commissioner Because Trump gutted the government so badly that it's taking years to do the congressional dance to approve replacements for many departments. Congress isn't helping either being basically a failed political body.

lesuorac 3y ago
Good thing that the Constitution allows for the Executive branch to immediately appoint and replace any vacancy while Congress is out of session for the summer. > Article II, Section 2, Clause 3: > The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Too bad the Democrats are intentionally hamstringing Biden by pretending to be in session all summer long despite not actually working.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  Were the Democrats to move to adjourn without a pro-forma session, every Republican + Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema would vote against it, since it would end-run their hostage-taking on nominees. (The GOP led House would also object, and their consent is usually required for a recess sufficient to trigger recess appointments, but that disagreement itself would allow the President to use the extraordinary, and never yet exercised, power of his office to declare an adjournment in the case of a disagreement between the houses of Congress on the matter, so while it would be a major escalation to bypass it, the House objection wouldn’t be insurmountable — the failure of a majority in the Senate, though, would.) (Still think they should do it, even though it would be a break from long-established [0] practice, but it wouldn’t have any practical effect other than setting up another debate for the next election.) [0] long enough to be a bipartisan norm, actually not that long in historical terms.

dragonwriter 3y ago

> Why has the Biden administration not managed to install a new FCC commissioner Because the Senate is a thing, and a very dysfunctional one at that.

tivert 3y ago
> Because the Senate is a thing, and a very dysfunctional one at that. Tom Wheeler was confirmed with without a filibuster-proof Democratic majority. I don't think the reason is "the Senate sucks." It seems to me that the Biden administration initially nominated someone who wouldn't get confirmed, but the FCC is such a low priority for them so they didn't course correct for years.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > Tom Wheeler was confirmed with without a filibuster-proof Democratic majority. I don't think the reason is "the Senate sucks." Tom Wheeler was confirmed in 2013; the degree and nature of dysfunction in the Senate has changed since the first year of Obama’s first (edit: second, duh) term.
- jshier 3y ago
  Wheeler was also a former small ISP CEO, so everyone assumed he'd be in big telco's pockets. That he turned into the main driver of full net neutrality was shocking.

trostaft 3y ago

> Speaking of telecom regulation, whatever happened to net neutrality? There was a good verge article on this https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/20/23800161/gigi-sohn-fcc-nomination-dark-money-campaign-net-neutrality-profile https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/20/23800161/gigi-sohn-fcc-no...

marcosdumay 3y ago

AFAIK, the US doesn't have it anymore, and it's common for their ISPs to sell access to their clients for big service providers.

dragonwriter 3y ago
The US, qua US, doesn't, but California and a number of other states have taken action on it, and for that and some other reasons, general practice is basically neutrality-ish in the US.
- sidewndr46 3y ago
  But US states can't regulate interstate commerce. So it's moot.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    > But US states can't regulate interstate commerce. This is wrong: so long as it is neither discriminating against interstate trade (that is, as long as it treats interstate and in-state trade equally), nor acting in areas where Congress has explicitly or implicitly, by adopting its own regulations, prohibited state action, yes, they can. And while the FCC anti-neutrality regulation was asserted in court to preempt state action, that arguement failed to prevail.
    - tstrimple 3y ago
      The California market is so large it's often more cost effective for companies to just adopt CA standards instead of creating split markets. We've seen ripples throughout the auto industry due to CA laws. Complaints from farmers about how they treat their pigs was also due to a CA law. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2023/05/11/iowa-based-national-pork-producers-council-loses-supreme-court-challenge-to-california-law-gestation/70207838007/ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/20... > "California is the nation's most-populous state, and the producers say that the way the pork market works, with cuts of meat from various sources being combined before sale, it is likely all pork will have to meet California standards, regardless of where it is sold."