Internet deregulation

Oh my God! This is pretty disturbing. I can't believe I didn't hear of this before! I think if this happens, the internet as we know it will be gone forever. We won't be able to choose where to visit and go anymore and just remain limited to what our providers would offer. The way we easily exchange media would be over. It'd completely cripple everything that makes the net great. I think what these big companies fail to see is that the net is so explosive and active right now because it's free and open! I can't help but feel kinda naive for doing this, but I went ahead and sent letters to preserve internet-neutrality to all three of my appropriate senators.

Quote:

Please act immediately to save the Internet. The internet is one of the few truly free and open enviroments where we can express ourselves and exchange information without crippling restrictions. Restrictions that only serve to hinder our rights. Congress must preserve a free and open Internet. Please vote for enforceable network neutrality and keep tollbooths, gatekeepers, and discrimination off my Internet.

Everyone should do also do this.

Quote:

The phone and cable companies want to be free to charge for new services and make more money, and they argue that it's not up to the government what they do with their networks.

It's not like there's much they can or can't do with their precious networks. All their network does (and all they should have responsibility over) is the insurance of moving data. NOT choosing for us, the consumers, what data to pass through, what to censor and not pass through at all, and what to pass through only at a higher price. Thanks, but I can handle it myself when it comes to deciding what I want to be exposed to and what I don't.

This isn't freaking retail where the store owner gets to decide what to have available for cosumers to purchase. If these companies fail to see that, then perhaps the government should take over these networks so that they remain neutral.

-EDIT-
Would it count as spamming if we had links to savetheinternet.com in our sigs? After all the cause is so universal!

I also think that this topic should be in the general discussions section since it's so huge.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by shizeet

The House has approved the bill, but it's more of a preliminary battle. The vote in the Senate will be more of a deciding factor.

That's why it's improtant that we all bother our senators about it! Why is everyone so calm here? Is everyone just really unmotivated or am I overreacting? I swear I don't understand people. They let things happen right in front of their eyes and then complain about it when it's too late. I just posted about this in another online forum, and they just gave it a "meh...it'll work itself out attitude". If it wouldn't have been forced on us all, I'd say some people deserve this new "internet".

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Arainach

"Maintain its profitability". These companies have long since paid off the cost of all the lines they've laid. As a matter of fact, they're reneged on promises to lay more cable that they got tax breaks for. Source - That one gives one of the most in-depth explanations, which is why I linked to it in particular. If you want raw numbers of sources, it's all over Google as well. They're getting money for something that costs them essentially nothing.

God thank you! With all the backwards steps we've taken in America over the last 8 years, I don't see this too far off from reality. Hopefuly, if nothing else, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft can stop it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Watts

Yeah! Those greedy corporations are on our side. Wait, wasn't and isn't Microsoft still involved in all those anti-trust lawsuits from Europe to here?!

I wouldn't be surprised if all these scary tactics were taken from a public interest group tied to Microsoft.

Microsoft's a giant corporation with questionable ethics. Wow Watts, I didn't think that it was needed to state that that's common knowledge. Yeah, I'm not super fond of Microsoft but I recognize that they have power. Therefore, questionable ethics or not, I'm just glad that they're, for once, on the desired side! Cause, frankly, I don't want these other fuckers shitting all over my internet.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?