I still have to wonder why Chairman Pai thought he'd get anything BUT fierce
opposition, on this matter. It's not like he was absent, last time around. He
saw what people thought then. It was barely 2 years ago.
And formula thinking/spouting is never very convincing. The argument that a
neutrality guarantee would stifle broadband deployment is more of a profession
of faith than it is fact. People everywhere are very well aware of the
difference between their cable TV service and what they have come to love about
Internet service. It boggles the mind to think that some far right ideologues
can't wrap their heads around this. I would look at this from the opposite
perspective. Take away all guarantees of neutrality, and you'll destroy the
Internet. Then see how much of an "antidote to a sluggish economy" it would be.
And this is spot on:
"He's a public official mocking private citizens."
Exactly. And we, the people, have spoken very clearly on this. Twice. Any
partisan/religious/personal issue a government official might have, in the end,
are his own. They should be of no consequence to how the officials carry out
their duties.
End of thread.
Bert
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http://www.tvtechnology.com/resources/0006/mcadams-on-hitting-the-wrong-notes/281080
McAdams On: Hitting the Wrong Notes
June 2, 2017
By Deborah D. McAdams
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's intention to re-reclassify broadband as an information
service rather than a utility is not going so well. The net neutrality camp is
going ballistic. The FCC's docket to roll back the reclassification had more
than 1.6 million comments within 19 days of opening, spurred ostensibly by a
screed delivered by a late-night TV host, HBO's John Oliver.
During what may have been a cathartic lapse in judgment, the chairman decided
to read his own "mean tweets," about network neutrality, like a celebrity
reading insults on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The problem is, the chairman is not a
celebrity on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" He's a public official mocking private
citizens.
What can possibly go wrong with that? After all, despite the most valiant
efforts of our first-grade teachers, mocking is now the currency of our
national discourse.
Be that as it may, many people consider network neutrality along the lines of a
civil right, where internet service providers are not allowed to control the
flow of content the way Google, Facebook and Macedonian hackers do, for example.
But Chairman Pai is about deregulation. The argument for deregulation here is
the same as it is in all instances-investment. You put too many conditions on a
business and no one will invest in it. Broadband is beheld as an antidote to a
sluggish economy, especially in areas abandoned by manufacturing, because
people who work with their hands will naturally gravitate toward coding. So,
from a doctrinaire perspective, ISPs must be supported at all costs (unless
they are municipalities trying to support local school districts and fire
departments).
Regardless of whether or not network neutrality makes any technical sense, is
beside the point. The mere fact that such a thing exists screams to the paucity
of options, and no matter what the FCC does, the price of middling broadband
will continue to escalate.
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