Friday, October 13, 2017

Another Tour for Ajit at FCC

FCC is supposed to be regulator agency that protects consumer interests. After former Verizon CEO, and staunch Republican Ajit Pai took over, it;'s been a gongshow. If it's not the threat on the free press, it's net neutrality. Remember when the net neutrality debate first emerged and Republicans were either silent on the issue or threw their support behind telecom? Corporate giant Comcast has only Republicans in their back pocket (and the odd Democrat) that they almost snuck through a net neutrality bill two years ago. Obama in support of net neutrality and the push to turn the Internet into the public utility.
THe fight against net neutrality basically says if you pay more money you can get an unobscured and faster Internet connection. And the providers are trying to choke data through their cables. Because in most cities and places where Internet is provided there is only one provider, the essential monopoly has enabled some large corporations to do as he please and transmitters they want, and now they want to restrict access.

This is why reclassifying Internet cables as a public utility will prevent any attempts to restrict web access. This particularly relevant because the same contribution corporations that are trying to usher in the bill against net neutrality are also losing millions with lost cable revenues as people turn to online sources to view entertainment.

Now, with a President that's a loose cannon, fighting the media on one hand, and largely unconcerned about net-neutrality, there's no stopping repeated efforts to jam through a bill that will cripple the average consumer, make big telecom richer, and slow innovation in the country as a whole.

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