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The Internet Communications Network Your Rights Online

FCC Votes To Maintain 2017 Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules (reuters.com) 84

Posted by msmash from the breaking-news dept.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on Tuesday to maintain its 2017 repeal of Obama-era net neutrality rules, even after a federal court directed a review of some provisions of the repeal. From a report: The 2015 net neutrality rules barred internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or slowing internet content or offering paid "fast lanes." Under President Donald Trump, the 2017 FCC order granted ISPs sweeping powers to recast how Americans use the internet, as long as they disclose changes. A federal appeals court in October 2019 largely upheld the FCC's repeal of the rules, but ordered the agency to reconsider the repeal's impact on public safety; regulations on attachments to utility poles; and the FCC's ability to provide subsidies for broadband service. The FCC majority opted to leave the order unchanged.
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FCC Votes To Maintain 2017 Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules More

FCC Votes To Maintain 2017 Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules

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  • Damn Trump (Score:4, Insightful)

    by lipof86677 ( 7388932 ) on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @02:28PM (#60655024)
    Why is it that Republicans are on the wrong side of every issue but still get elected over and over?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 )

      Have you seen their voter base? Ancient old farts who still think religion and ideologies matter. And then there's the racists, militias and just straight up dumbasses. All glued together by a core of very wealthy private individuals whose nightly prayer is "Fuck you, I got mine."

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Train0987 ( 1059246 )

      I'm generally in favor of net neutrality but what harm has come from the 2017 repeal? It wasn't overturned, it was always still in effect. Have any of the hyperbolic predictions of doom come true? No.

      • Re:Damn Trump (Score:4, Insightful)

        by bobbied ( 2522392 ) on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @02:41PM (#60655082)

        I'm generally in favor of net neutrality but what harm has come from the 2017 repeal? It wasn't overturned, it was always still in effect. Have any of the hyperbolic predictions of doom come true? No.

        Even though what you say is true, you will get savaged for this...

        Way too much political hoopla is getting attached to nearly everything during an election cycle, and we've been in a continual election cycle for the last 4+ years now so everybody is losing their minds.

      • Note that the companies that are both media producers and internet service providers are still in the process of building their corporate data silos (exclusive streaming media collections). Once a company like AT&T actually has enough leverage to force you to watch HBO Max instead of Netflix or Hulu, and this law is completely obsolete, I suppose we can hope that they'll still be charitable. Free market advocates would tell you the solution is to "vote with your dollar" (in the absence of regulation, th

        • It was never a law though, that's the problem. If you want a law then tell your reps to make it law. If you leave it to the whim of an unelected panel of five people then this is what happens.

          • The chief problem is that both Republicans and Democrats aren't going to be thinking in terms of net neutrality when they get around to actually writing new law. The new goal is to bring the big social media companies to heal, and most of these guys don't really understand the infrastructure of the Internet, and thus just conflate Facebook and Twitter with the Internet. So they'll write new laws alright, but none that remedy the problem. They'll probably figure out some way, intentionally or unintentionally

        • Outside of proprietary IP from the other streaming networks, most everything is still available as subscription channels on Prime Video; it's how I get HBO, CBS, and Motortrend TV.

          There is no ISP on Earth, not even ATT or...whatever Level 3 goes by these days, that can jerk Amazon around.

      • Re:Damn Trump (Score:4, Interesting)

        by FictionPimp ( 712802 ) on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @03:41PM (#60655294) Homepage

        True, but none of the promised increases in investment have happened either. We are still stopping local cities and counties from building their own broadband, there are entire areas of this country without any high speed internet, and companies are removing access to the existing services without any replacements or competitors (Looking at you DSL). Hell the biggest news about internet access in my area is Comcast trying to stop other providers from gaining the ability to provide services in their 'market' while at the same time refusing to provide it themselves.

        When looking to buy land for my new home I found it nearly impossible to even get anyone to tell me if internet would be available at the location. In most cases when they would tell me, it was bad news. My mother lives in a subdivision with over 300 homes yet has no access to high speed internet as Comcast is the only option and they refuse to provide to the one street her home is on in the subdivision.

        It's not shocking though, these are the same companies that took federal funds to build out rural networks and then claimed the Southside of Chicago was rural. Internet is a utility that is pretty much required to do business. It's time we treat it that way.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kenh ( 9056 )

          There are no federal laws preventing community ownership of ISP service (like municipal water service), its state and local regulations - stop trying to get a federal solution to your state problem, just fix your own regulations! Stop voting for the folks that gave the ISPs a local/regional monopoly and change the law.

          You aren't helpless, and you aren't a victim - you have just been convinced that only the federal government can solve your problems.

          • I never vote for them, nothing has changed because the people vote for them. They don't care about this special interest, they care about keeping babies from being aborted. Next suggestion?

      • I'm generally in favor of net neutrality but what harm has come from the 2017 repeal?

        Immediately? Well, there was going to be some looking into the shenanigans wireless carriers engage in regarding tethering/mobile hotspot (using your phone as a wireless access point), and their zero-rating of certain streaming providers. That never happened, since it was all based on the legal premise that net neutrality might apply to wireless, too. Also, related to the administration change at the FCC was that Verizon broke a clause in the agreement they signed for the "C block" spectrum, which requir

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kenh ( 9056 )

          Immediately? Well, there was going to be some looking into the shenanigans wireless carriers engage in regarding tethering/mobile hotspot (using your phone as a wireless access point), and their zero-rating of certain streaming providers. That never happened, since it was all based on the legal premise that net neutrality might apply to wireless, too.

          Net Neutrality has nothing to do with tethering/mobile hotspot !

          Swear to god, people treat Net Neutrality like it is some wonder elixir, able to cure any problem or complaint about anything related to the internet.

          Net Neutrality has nothing to do with rural service, equipment leasing fees, the speed of your local connection, etc.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dr. Tom ( 23206 )
        They said it would be the end of the internet as we know it. I'm still waiting for that. I'm not a fan, myself. Meanwhile we're migrating to Internet 2, which has nothing to do with NN, it's all about security.

        NN arguments really miss the point, we've already moved on

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kenh ( 9056 )

        Look at the basis of this story:

        A federal appeals court in October 2019 largely upheld the FCC's repeal of the rules, but ordered the agency to reconsider the repeal's impact on public safety; regulations on attachments to utility poles; and the FCC's ability to provide subsidies for broadband service. The FCC majority opted to leave the order unchanged.

        The appeals court, incapable of finding a legal justification to overturn the FCC decisions they don't like, in effect, told the FCC to "go to your room and think about what you've done!

        So, after 2-3 years of "thinking about it" the FCC came downstairs, looked at the appeals court and said "OK, I've thought about it" and went outside to play with their friends.

        Who expected the FCC to change its mind based on the non-binding encouragement from the appeals court?

    • Re:Damn Trump (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Smidge204 ( 605297 ) on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @02:39PM (#60655070) Journal

      "Voting Rights" and "Election integrity" are two of the issues they're on the wrong side of, which makes it MUCH easier for them to be re-elected...

      =Smidge=

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        Seriously go fuck yourself with a knitting needle.

        The democrats are actively seeking to count ballots where the signatures don't even match. We are not talking about late arrivals with post marks, we are talking about ballots completed remotely without any authentication of any kind. They are not pushing election integrity. Some elements of the party are pushing to have people who are not citizens be allowed to vote etc.

        Even if there might be some common ground to be had like making election day a federal

    • Because you are an extremist who can only see the world from a very one-sided perspective.

    • Why is it that Republicans are on the wrong side of every issue but still get elected over and over?

      I'm reminded of a joke Ron White told at a military base. I don't remember the exact numbers or phrasing, but it went something like this:

      Ron: "There's 14,000 military here in the audience tonight..."
      Female Heckler: "and every one of them's a lousy fuck!"

      Ron thinks for a moment, and says:

      Ron: "You know, after the first thousand I might start to think... maybe it's me?"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ytene ( 4376651 )
      I think you'll find that its called gerrymandering. [wikipedia.org]
    • Gerrymander and voter exclusion
      read Greg Palast
    • an Establishment elite. Trump's part of that.

      The Senate & Electoral college were designed as a buffer between people who work for a living and the elites in the Establishment. They're fundamentally undemocratic institutions meant to protect the rights of wealthy landowners. Go look into how Democracy worked in the 1700s and you'll be shocked how few people could actually vote and how little their votes matter. You actually have way, way more political power with your vote than somebody in the 1700s

    • You'll NEVER persuade normal people to be on your side if you spend all your time snarling and spitting at them, flipping them off, cursing them, denouncing them as hate-filled deplorable bigots, homophobes, sexists, racists, Islamophobes, etc. You have highlighted your extreme nature by refusing to have civilized discussions on any subject and instead labeling anybody who disagrees as some sort of evil (review that just-mentioned list).

      You'll NEVER change their minds when your side loots, pillages, burns,

      • You'll NEVER change their minds when your side embraces hate-filled deplorable bigots, homophobes, sexists, racists, Islamophobes, etc., while your side's journalists stand on live TV and say Trump was just making a joke.

        You'll NEVER persuade normal people to be on your side if you spend all your time judging their entire party by the actions of a tiny minority of criminals that turned peaceful protests into violent riots.

        The supporters of both parties have roughly equal levels of shitty actors. If that's

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kenh ( 9056 )

        You'll NEVER change their minds when in every political fight they express concerns about the second- and third-order effects of policies you propose, and you attack them for the warnings and announce that these obvious cascading side effects will never happen - and then after you get your way and the side effects DO occur, you claim they are not happening or you blame them on the very people who warned about them.

        This.

        Democrats wrote PPACA all on their own, waited till they had filibuster-proof majorities in the House and Senate, and controlled the Oval Office, then literally spent a year talking about how great it was, how Republicans just wanted everyone to die, and refused ANY amendments to the bill - remember when the Republicans shamed the President into finally meeting with them to discuss it, only to have Obama say "Elections have consequences." They only got around to passing the bill once Ted Kennedy passed

    • The Republicans are actually right on this one.

      Why do we need Net Neutrality? Because the ISPs might degrade services like Netflix, and extort Netflix to pay them to restore service. Why can they do this? Because they know customers can't flee even if they degrade service. Why not? Because they have a monopoly. If it weren't a monopoly and they degraded service, customers would simply switch to a different ISP who didn't degrade Netflix. So no sane ISP would try anything so stupid - they'd be shoot

      • Well said. It would be good if schools taught economics so voters could understand that customer regulation is a much more powerful signal than fiat regulation.

        The leftists should be furious that these monopoly grants cause prices to skyrocket and that every incumbent corporation wants government protection for its regulatory framework, so they can extract maximum rent-seeking profits from workers.

        Unfortunately, they advocate for policies that harm workers. Power seems to be more important than social jus

    • Why is it that Republicans are on the wrong side of every issue but still get elected over and over?

      Because there's basically three types of Republican voters: Ones who earn a good living and don't want to be taxed more, ones who don't earn a good living and believe they'd be taxed more, and ones who really wouldn't be appreciably affected either way but enjoy forcing their ideology on others.

      Of course, since it's an election year I probably should present the flipside:

      Because there's basically three types of Democrat voters: Ones who earn a good living and don't mind being taxed more, ones who don't ea

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kenh ( 9056 )

        People who talk about being willing to pay more in taxes still take every deduction offered by the current tax laws - if they want to pay more, maybe they should cut back on the deductions they claim? They are optional.

        Ever read that a major star got $10M to act in a movie? Do you really think they pay 21% off the top to the IRS? Are they really arguing that they should instead be paying 28% of their income to the federal government? No, of course not. Their income is funneled through a professional service

    • Democracy isn't just "the people who think they are most moral get what they want" It's a back and forth thing, weak laws like this don't last, even Obama admitted that the way he got this in place was not the best.

  • I am sure they will be well publicised as opposed to being on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard'

  • WASHINGTON, October 27, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission today adopted an Order on Remand in response to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s remand of three discrete issues for further consideration by the FCC regarding its 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order. The court’s October 2019 ruling in Mozilla Corp. v. FCC affirmed the FCC’s decision to end its brief foray into heavy-handed utility-style regulation of the Internet under rules designed in the 1930s f

    • WASHINGTON, October 27, 2020 The Federal Communications Commission...
      Since the adoption of the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, the United States has set annual records for new fiber deployment, the installation of new wireless cell sites has increased dramatically, and average fixed broadband download speeds have more than doubled according to Ookla.

      There is NO correlation between the increased installations and net neutrality.
      The installation of fiber and improved wireless will happen ANYWAY!
      ISPs and carriers benefit from those things regardless.
      This is a fully misleading bit of propaganda!

      The internet has become a necessary utility. Treat it as such.

      • Sir, What I posted was simply cut and paste from the FCC's statement about this. I've added no commentary or personal opinion.

        • Yes, I know. My reply was not directed at you.
          It's a comment on the BS that the ruling posted.

  • Ping (Score:2)

    by kackle ( 910159 )
    Can you imagine in the future paying for a certain gaming ping metric and not getting it because there are different tiers now and you somehow keep getting the crummier latency of the "videos only" package? That's the kind of problem I see myself having where I try to prove this to the person over the phone, 4 months into my 2-year contract. "Everything looks fine here..."

  • I would have liked to donate to the GOP/Trump campaign. But the ISP in my liberal town has their site blocked.

  • Every law, regulation, rule or policy that has the force of law should have to be voted on by an elected legislature. aka non-delegation.

    Agencies should submit proposed regulations to the legislature. 30 days for public comment, 30 days for up or down vote. It must be voted on.

    This is what legislators are elected to do.

  • Ajit Pai = No changes (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bustinbrains ( 6800166 ) on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @04:22PM (#60655490)

    As long as Ajit holds the reins of the FCC, nothing will change, including any recommendations to Congress to enact changes to the existing body of law. He's in the telecoms' back pocket and filled his drawers with their corrupt money. Bought hook, line, and sinker with not a care in the world about individuals who struggle day to day with subpar Internet access and zero competition between ISPs in a clear oligopoly.

    • Twas only a few days ago that there was a Slashdot story about Ajit Pai's FCC holding-up money to the Telcos for universal high speed internet access until he can get the coverage maps updated to scrub-out the coverage lies the telcos had gotten away with for many years. That one act alone may well end up advancing the cause of universal high speed internet access in the nation more than any other government action in a decade. After the maps are cleaned up and finally accurate, and the deceit of some of th

  • 2017

    I thought revoking Net Neutrality was going to end the internet as we know it.
    The internet is fucked [theverge.com]
    Funny.. my internet seems fine since 2017

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ksevio ( 865461 )

      I thought revoking Net Neutrality was going to lead to a boon in Internet infrastructure.

      Haven't seen Verizon running new fiber or Comcast upgrading their service

      • I thought revoking Net Neutrality was going to lead to a boon in Internet infrastructure.

        Haven't seen Verizon running new fiber or Comcast upgrading their service

        So you agree there was no impact?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Ksevio ( 865461 )

          Hard to tell. The repeal of net neutrality also removed a lot of the monitoring of ISPs. I wouldn't really know if my netflix was buffering because comcast was just having problems or if they were intentionally throttling it to push their own streaming service

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kenh ( 9056 )

        I thought revoking Net Neutrality was going to lead to a boon in Internet infrastructure.

        Haven't seen Verizon running new fiber or Comcast upgrading their service

        Look closer:

        Since the adoption of the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, the United States has set annual records for new fiber deployment, the installation of new wireless cell sites has increased dramatically, and average fixed broadband download speeds have more than doubled according to Ookla.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Ksevio ( 865461 )

          All stuff planned well before that. They haven't announced any new plans for deployment.

  • ..from the ISPs to every FCC board member who voted to keep Net Neutrality killed.

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