"In fact, the main support Pai has for the rollback comes from the handful of
powerful broadband companies that stand to benefit, including Comcast and his
former employer Verizon, who argue that the rules stand in the way of
innovation."
And a handful of ignorant yahoos, who also keep a sharp lookout for "black
helicopters."
"He seems to be under the thrall of very powerful business interests in
Washington to the extent that he is dismissive of all other arguments," said
Timothy Karr, campaign director at Free Press, "any input that would in any way
upset his entrenched views about helping these powerful cable companies."
That's the main focus of this article. In other words, a crook, and a stubborn
crook to boot.
"When the FCC was considering introducing net neutrality protections in 2014, a
flood of 4m public comments helped push the agency to adopt the rules. In
response to Pai's proposal to scrap the rules, more than 22m public comments
were submitted. This figure was dramatically skewed by spam and pre-populated
form letters, but a study funded by internet service providers (ISPs) that
analysed the unique comments found that 98.5% of them opposed the repeal."
Yes, that was how it happened last time around. Like I said, this time, a
stubborn crook at the helm of the FCC.
"We find that deeply troubling," said Karr. "He's really dismissing a very
important component of rule-making, which is democratic engagement."
Exactly right. The courts, or Congress, need to step in, the crook needs to
leave.
Bert
----------------------------------------------
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/07/net-neutrality-fcc-ajit-pai
Net neutrality
The man who could doom net neutrality: Ajit Pai ignores outcry from all sides
Donald Trump's pick to lead Federal Communications Commission accused of
'dismissing democratic engagement' amid plans to end Obama-era safeguards
Olivia Solon in San Francisco
Thu 7 Dec '17 07.00 EST Last modified on Fri 15 Dec '17 06.54 EST
Over the last few weeks, critics have attacked Ajit Pai online, protesters have
covered his house in cardboard signs and he has publicly squabbled with
celebrities including Alyssa Milano, Mark Ruffalo and Cher.
Why? Because Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and
former Verizon lawyer, plans to scrap Obama-era net neutrality protections and
is ignoring widespread outcry against it.
According to multiple polls, members of the public across the political
spectrum support the net neutrality rules, which are designed to ensure that
internet service providers treat all websites equally and are not allowed to
block, throttle or prioritise some content in return for payment.
In fact, the main support Pai has for the rollback comes from the handful of
powerful broadband companies that stand to benefit, including Comcast and his
former employer Verizon, who argue that the rules stand in the way of
innovation.
"He seems to be under the thrall of very powerful business interests in
Washington to the extent that he is dismissive of all other arguments," said
Timothy Karr, campaign director at Free Press, "any input that would in any way
upset his entrenched views about helping these powerful cable companies."
When the FCC was considering introducing net neutrality protections in 2014, a
flood of 4m public comments helped push the agency to adopt the rules. In
response to Pai's proposal to scrap the rules, more than 22m public comments
were submitted.
This figure was dramatically skewed by spam and pre-populated form letters, but
a study funded by internet service providers (ISPs) that analysed the unique
comments found that 98.5% of them opposed the repeal.
"He's certainly not acting in the interest of the public," said Jay Stanley, a
senior policy analyst at the ACLU.
Without clear rules and with little competition in the broadband market, ISPs
might try their luck with various attempts to make money by throttling certain
services such as Netflix unless (as Comcast has in the past) they pay a fee.
"This is a green light for the broadband industry to figure out how to suck as
much money from the internet economy as possible," said Ryan Singel, media and
strategy fellow at Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.
In an effort to delay the vote - in which Pai will almost certainly get his way
- dozens of Democratic senators and the New York attorney general, Eric
Schneiderman, are calling for a thorough investigation of the public comment
process after researchers found more than a million fraudulent comments
supporting the repeal, almost half a million comments filed from Russian email
addresses and 50,000 consumer complaints missing from the record.
"The FCC has knowingly maintained a system that has already been corrupted and
is susceptible to abuse," said the Democratic FCC commissioner Jessica
Rosenworcel in a statement. "The integrity of our process is at stake. The
future of the internet is at stake. Until we get to the bottom of this, no vote
should take place until a responsible investigation is complete."
Separately, dozens of activist groups called for a delay because of a pending
court case involving AT&T and regulatory authority over ISPs.
In response, Pai's office issued a statement describing "supporters of
heavy-handed internet regulations" as becoming "more desperate by the day" and
said the vote would proceed as scheduled.
"We find that deeply troubling," said Karr. "He's really dismissing a very
important component of rule-making, which is democratic engagement."
Instead of engaging with the public, Pai has turned his attention to social
media companies - who have been vocal opponents to the repeal - describing them
as enabling the "worst of human impulses" and criticising the control they
exert over online content.
"When it comes to an open internet, Twitter is part of the problem," he said,
speaking at the conservative thinktank R Street Institute last week. "The
company has a viewpoint and uses that viewpoint to discriminate."
Pai's critics accused him of creating a distraction.
"It's muddying the debate. There's a big difference between the companies
people use online and the pipes that get us to them," said Singel, echoing
words by Tim Berners-Lee in an interview with the Guardian last month.
The inventor of the world wide web said that powerful internet gatekeepers such
as Comcast and Verizon posed a threat to innovation if they were allowed to
pick winners and losers by throttling or blocking services and that ISPs should
be treated more like utilities.
"Gas is a utility, so is clean water, and connectivity should be too," said
Berners-Lee. "It's part of life and shouldn't have an attitude about what you
use it for - just like water."
Instead of scrubbing the FCC of Obama's legacy, Pai should be focusing on
addressing real problems such as broadband quality in the rural US, said Pierce
Stanley, technology fellow at Demand Progress.
"In some rural areas, 40% of people have zero or one choice of ISP. After
Chairman Pai's plan, that's 40% of people who have no choice the day Comcast
starts throttling and they can't go to another provider. They are stuck. That's
really concerning."
Pai has argued that it is the net neutrality regulation that is preventing ISPs
from making money to fund new infrastructure - something the ISPs themselves
have denied when speaking to their investors.
In the meantime, activists are urging voters to call Republican members of
Congress to ask them to put pressure on Pai. Over the last 15 years, previous
Republican FCC chairs have supported and enforced the principles of net
neutrality.
Some Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine and representative
David Reichert of Washington have already come out in opposition to the net
neutrality repeal.
"Republicans in Congress are the only ones at this point who can convince a
Republican FCC chairman to slow down or stop," Stanley said.
If that fails, activists under the Battle for the Net banner intend to sue the
FCC.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.