Ajit Pai Helped Charter Kill Consumer-Protection Rules In Minnesota (arstechnica.com) 116
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A court ruling that limits state regulation of cable company offerings was praised by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who says the ruling supports his contention that the FCC can preempt state-level net neutrality rules. The new court ruling found that Minnesota's state government cannot regulate VoIP phone services offered by Charter and other cable companies because VoIP is an "information service" under federal law. Pai argues that the case is consistent with the FCC's attempt to preempt state-level net neutrality rules, in which the commission reclassified broadband as a Title I information service instead of a Title II telecommunications service.
The ruling was issued Friday by the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, following a lawsuit filed by Charter Communications against the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC). A three-judge panel ruled against Minnesota in a 2-1 vote -- the FCC had filed a brief supporting Charter's position in the case. "[F]ederal law for decades has recognized that states may not regulate information services," Pai said in response to the ruling. "The 8th Circuit's decision is important for reaffirming that well-established principle: '[A]ny state regulation of an information service conflicts with the federal policy of non-regulation' and is therefore preempted." Pai said the ruling "is wholly consistent with the approach the FCC has taken under Democratic and Republican Administrations over the last two decades, including in last year's Restoring Internet Freedom order." The commission says the reclassification should preempt any such attempts at regulating broadband at the state level.
The ruling was issued Friday by the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, following a lawsuit filed by Charter Communications against the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC). A three-judge panel ruled against Minnesota in a 2-1 vote -- the FCC had filed a brief supporting Charter's position in the case. "[F]ederal law for decades has recognized that states may not regulate information services," Pai said in response to the ruling. "The 8th Circuit's decision is important for reaffirming that well-established principle: '[A]ny state regulation of an information service conflicts with the federal policy of non-regulation' and is therefore preempted." Pai said the ruling "is wholly consistent with the approach the FCC has taken under Democratic and Republican Administrations over the last two decades, including in last year's Restoring Internet Freedom order." The commission says the reclassification should preempt any such attempts at regulating broadband at the state level.
Not surprising (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Remember: his name is a Shit Pie
Re: so... no state rights (Score:1)
Wrong: the state wants to have its cake and eat it too.
By clinging to Obama-era "net neutrality" rules (which is a gross redefinition of what we here used to discuss was Net Neutrality - treat all packets the same regardless of origin) to make Internet a regulated "information service" (where the federal government can dictate who gets access to the service and under what conditions but the providers aren't required to roll out services) rather than a "telecommunication service" (where everyone should event
Re: (Score:1)
Obama-era net neutrality rules were to regulate internet as Title 2 telecommunication services buddy. Ajit Pai wants them to be Title 1 information services. You seem very confused about the whole situation, maybe you should stick to something you can understand.
No shit the fuck you think they hired him for? (Score:2)
Goofy desirap attempts didn't get him the job, sucking corporate cock and screwing the consumer got him the job. NOBODY SHOULD BE SURPRISED, the fuck did you think Trump hired him to do? He's a WHORE, duh.
Re: (Score:2)
the fuck did you think Trump hired him to do?
Oh I thought it was Trump draining the swamp you know, draining it from the DC metro area right into the whitehouse.
I'd like to call this regulatory capture (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure the savings will trickle down eventually...
Re: (Score:2)
Except this is regulation, specifically federal regulation preempting state regulation in a cross-border service. What's more, I can pretty much guarantee that this bit of regulation came about because the phone service companies lobbied for it since they didn't want the competition in a government protected space.
Re:I'd like to call this regulatory capture (Score:5, Informative)
And yes, regulations cost money and thus can kill some jobs. But you have to make a choice - do you want water you can drink, or a higher pay check?
The problem here is that those in charge (the pro-corporate profit over people, global warming denier types) while most Americans are distracted by the Trump circus, the GOP is busy shoving as many pro-corporate federal judges into office as possible. This changes the rules well beyond an election into future generations.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, take a wild guess what will trickle down from a shit pile.
Re:I'd like to call this regulatory capture (Score:5, Informative)
No, "the voters" don't understand regulation enough to have a reasoned opinion.
What "the voters" (and you know who you are) wanted was a president who would make it safe for them to say the N-word again. Let's stop bullshitting.
Re:I'd like to call this regulatory capture (Score:5, Informative)
You mean since Charlottesville?
Re: I'd like to call this regulatory capture (Score:2, Troll)
Of the two most violent incidents at Charlottesville the one most closely resembling a violent riot was instigated when one of a group of BLM members tried to steal the flag of a bunch of racists and then another in the group attempted to bash in the head of the guy who wouldn't let go of the flag with a metal pipe. The response of said racists was to administer a curbstomping to the guy with the pipe. Certainly not nice, but neither were they rioting. The other incident was a guy trying to kill people with
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
First, you appear to be forgetting the fact that only two incidents led to charges (and convictions) and they were both violence perpetrated by white supremacists (see below).
https://www.thedailybeast.com/... [thedailybeast.com]
Second, go fuck yourself you nazi-defending piece of shit. Supplying you with a citation took about eight times more effort than you deserved.
Re: I'd like to call this regulatory capture (Score:1)
Hmmm, should I believe a daily beast article or video and high school physics class. Decisions decisions.
Re: (Score:3)
You've been around long enough to know that it's best not to challenge my citations. Don't like the Daily Beast article? OK.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0... [nytimes.com]
https://q13fox.com/2018/05/02/... [q13fox.com]
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
Or, you could just look it up yourself. You can look at the court record.
Re: (Score:2)
I know what the court record is. It is also a very clear case of jury nullification, a concept which I've argued for before on this very site. You don't bring a heavy metal flashlight to a midmorning protest unless you're planning on using it as a weapon.
Re: I'd like to call this regulatory capture (Score:3)
Here is a link to stats:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pu... [bjs.gov]
Seems like black-on-white crime is almost 6x more likely than white-on-black crime. And what do you know, there are 6x more white people than black people in the US. So intraracial violence seems proportionally the same for these two.
It's seems MOST violence is from the same race. BUT White people seem to attack other races more than black people. Hispanics DO appear worse, but it makes sense that a minority attacks other races more... considering the
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
1) 540,873/92,728 ~ 5.8x white vs black on cross race violence.
2) 197m/40m ~ 5x white vs black people population.
But on #2, I went with the US Census website which said 76.6% and 13.4% 2017 populations for white and black. That is ~5.7x. In 2010, it was just a little closer to 6. So I rounded both to 6. Conclusion: relative to population, both sides are equally violent to each other.
NOW, I totally disagree with your comparison of numbers. You are comparing cross race violence as a indicator of threat a
Re: (Score:2)
I do not disagree with your sentiment that intraracial violence is the far bigger issue, but it's not like that makes it any better, it pisses off the left to no end to talk about th
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't say they were uneducated or poor.
Re: (Score:2)
By avoiding title 2, it seems like this avoids taxes and other requirements such as being forced to have 911 service. I don't have to pay an extra tax for streaming movies or television over IP, why do we want this to be different for phone over IP?
Republicans and states right (Score:1)
Can shove that sentiment ;).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Except they haven't been a majority at any time in the past 30 years.
No, you could say "tyranny of the minority" is the GOP's middle name. Or just shorten it to "tyranny".
Re:Republicans and states right (Score:4, Informative)
Tyranny of the majority (or tyranny of the masses) refers to an inherent weakness of majority rule in which the majority of an electorate can and does place its own interests above, and at the expense of, those in the minority. This results in oppression of minority groups comparable to that of a tyrant or despot, argued John Stuart Mill in his famous 1859 book On Liberty.
Potentially, through tyranny of the majority, a disliked or unfavored ethnic, religious, political, social, or racial group may be deliberately targeted for oppression by the majority element acting through the democratic process
Tyranny of the majority is used commonly by conservatives to pass laws that infringe on sub-groups rights, whether directly or indirectly. Often when the courts throw out social conservative laws, the GOP screams "judicial overreach" when it's actually just the courts telling them they can't infringe on peoples rights.... that the tyranny of the majority will not stand. We've seen it with civil rights, interracial marriages, sodomy laws, same-sex marriage...they pass laws that infringe on peoples constitutional rights, and they do so more often than not through states because of the smaller voter bases. Conservatives want all their rights, but they don't want anyone else to have any.
Let your voice - I mean info service - be heard. (Score:3)
... VoIP is an "information service" under federal law.
Then federal law is wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
If you can't do that, it's plunders away.
Re: (Score:2)
And if he doesn't, just vote the OTHER corporate whore in next time, that's gonna change something.
Face it, this political system is pretty much like the Machine in Zak McCracken where you can of course pull the switch and make the power go from full to the left to full to the right, with exactly the same result. The main difference is that Zak feels dumb for doing it. Apparently he's smarter than most of the US population.
Re: (Score:2)
The USA isn't divided. The morons on both sides are united in their hatred for each other over pretty much nothing, while anything in the middle has simply gotten apathetic because they noticed that a two party dictatorship still does not offer you any choice, so why bother pretending to choose something?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And you really think that any of this changes anything? Hey, maybe next week we get to vote on whether the first lady's dress is going to be teal or brown when they go abroad and sign away some more jobs to the benefit of some large corporations.
What we'd need to be able to decide about is whether those damn jobs go overseas!
It is known (Score:3, Informative)
We all already know Ajit Pai is a scum bag big ISP shill. We really don't need to hear it again.
Re: (Score:2)
In the meantime we plan to fuck you over good.
You mean fuck everyone over?
Re: (Score:2)
Libtards? Libtards?!
This has nothing to do with liberal vs conservative, left vs right, vim vs emacs.
This is much more simple. Either you like The Internet, or you hate it.
I guess I know which side you're on.
Re:It is known (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it needs to illustrated again and again. Every dodgy deal he makes needs to be thoroughly documented and publicized.
Until he is gone.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm getting sick of saying this in every story about Ajit Pai, but: Ajit Pai is not the problem. There are no surprises here, he's doing exactly what he said he'd do when he was nominated. Congress is the problem.
Re: (Score:2)
Good, you've identified the problem.
Now, please outline exactly what you intend to do about it.
I'll wait.
Re: (Score:2)
Step 2: complain about it to anyone else who will listen. This is the lazy version of canvassing.
Step 3: Hope that this is enough, because I'm not going to do canvassing for real.
Re: (Score:2)
Huh.
So, effectively nothing then.
Do you live in America?
Re: (Score:2)
I mentioned above that I try to draw attention to the fact that Ajit Pai is not the real problem whenever he comes up in this sort of thread. I
States can still restrict right-of-way (Score:5, Interesting)
The states definitely have control over right-of-way on all land within the state. States can always remove pole/digging access from anyone that doesn't comply with Net Neutrality. If VoIP is an "information service" then a Title I company does not have a legal right to pole access if they are not providing a real dial tone on the copper.
Re: (Score:2)
Federal judges don't like cynical attempts at workarounds to their rulings. Just FYI.
this is all a losing battle (Score:4, Interesting)
As such, the ONLY way to win at this, is to push local govs to add fiber utilities. For most states, it means passing laws that allow this. Some states like Colorado have the law and just need to have local govs vote on it. What is interesting is that nearly all attempts have passed. So, if techs REALLY want to make difference, just target the cities in which net neutrality has been violated. Once businesses realize that they can lose all their customers and profits in an area, they will stop. In the mean time, by pushing local gov fiber, we gain with G speed and much lower costs.
Re: (Score:2)
The far right wants to make it so that the companies that lobby them (i.e. bribes them) wins out.
As such, the ONLY way to win at this, is to push local govs to add fiber utilities.
Firstly, you need to go learn what ONLY means. You use it quite a lot but it obviously doesn't mean what you think it means.
Secondly, How does your ONLY solution help people with 'far right' local governments?
Re: (Score:2)
Instead of stealing or buying junk, it is better for the local gov to put in fiber. Do it le
Pai is just a symptom (Score:3, Insightful)
One needs to look for the root cause, which is the whole current Republican regime. It's corrupt from top to bottom.
They'll say – and more importantly, they'll do anything – to hold on to power. They'll gerrymander. They'll lie. They'll cheat. They'll steal. They'll stop at nothing.
Everyone who thinks voting is pointless. That their vote doesn't count. That nothing will change. Get the fuck out and vote in November. Kick these assholes out.
We can stop them. The power to do it is in the ballot box. Crawl over broken glass if you have to, but just go vote.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
If the dems did even half the gerrymandering the republicans did then there would be no republican party. The republican party is significantly smaller than the democrat party
Cue outrage or something? (Score:2)
Law applied as written, according to ruling by Federal judges.
You wanted the law to be violated? You wanted Federal judges to disregard the law? You wanted the FCC Chairman to be on the losing side — arguing against what the correct legal interpretation turned out to be, according to judges?
Or what? What should everyone involved have done differently?
Re: (Score:1)
The law is semi ambiguous. As it is written though it specifically defines phone service as Title II, They're arguing that it's not phone service but something else entirely in part due to the requirement that users get their CPE from spectrum. This is exactly what we had trouble with back in the day when the phone company was broken up.
State option ? (Score:2)
Ban charter from the state. Not sure it is legal or proper but it would sure feel good.
Re: (Score:3)
Different circuit court, so perhaps not. Different details on the law, so perhaps not.
OTOH, it would be reasonable to prohibit use of public right of way (i.e. poles) to any company that did not adhere to net neutrality. Or a tax to subsidize other carriers that did provide it. Or lots of other possibilities. All there needs to be is the political will to do so, and the possibilities are nearly endless. This has been said before, long since: "The power to tax is the power to destroy.". The implicatio
From My IANAL POV (Score:2)
The ruling is plain wrong. It fails the duck test.
From a consumer standpoint, VOIP looks like POTS, walks like POTS and quacks like POTS. It should therefore be regulated like POTS.
Not to mention that many ISPs require killing your POTS if you want their broadband service.
It's a gray area (Score:1)
Here's the kicker, VOIP services fall under what the government has started classifying as critical infrastructure. Some states have different rules than at the national level and as far as I know, they cannot be bypassed without the provider being hit with a multitude of fines. It sounds like MPUC needs to go at regulating VOIP as regulating critical infrastructure, that should solve their problem.
Today's two minute hate? (Score:1)
What's with you people and Ajit Pai?
Q: Were the decisions correct as a matter of law? Does the law need to be changed?
A: Who cares! Let's demonize this guy! Maybe we can get his children threatened again! Perhaps someone will physically attack him!
May those who push this sort of personal attack be on the receiving end one day. Oh, wait, that does happen, because the left eats it's own. It just hasn't happened to YOU yet.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey, guess what, a shit pile is also posting on /.!