Headlines Biden's Internet Takeover Plan

[PokéTrainer J]

https://www.afa.net/the-stand/culture/2023/11/biden-s-internet-takeover-plan/

The Biden administration has asked the FCC to take complete control of the way internet service providers do business in America. Currently governed by the private sector, the FCC would take control and establish rules and regulations to strangle the free market by deep government policies and regulations. This would include dictating broadband prices to consumers, tower and satellite locations, and expansion of services by your local internet provider. It would tightly regulate providers to the point that they would basically become an extension of the government itself.

On November 15th, the five FCC commissioners will vote to put President Biden’s plan in place.

This policy is so bad that one FCC commissioner is speaking out publicly against it. Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling the Biden administration’s “digital equity” plan for all internet services and infrastructure an “unlawful power grab.” You can read Commissioner Carr’s warning here.

In particular, Carr says, “For the first time ever, those rules would give the federal government a roving mandate to micromanage nearly every aspect of how the internet functions—from how [internet service providers] allocate capital and where they build, to the services that consumers can purchase; from the profits that ISPs can realize and how they market and advertise services to the discounts and promotions that consumers can receive.”

The text of Biden’s order expressly provides that the FCC would be empowered, for the first time, to regulate the following for every ISP:

• “network infrastructure deployment, network reliability, network upgrades, network maintenance, customer-premises equipment, and installation”
• “speeds, capacities, latency, data caps, throttling, pricing, promotional rates, imposition of late fees, opportunity for equipment rental, installation time, contract renewal terms, service termination terms, and use of customer credit and account history”
• “mandatory arbitration clauses, pricing, deposits, discounts, customer service, language options, credit checks, marketing or advertising, contract renewal, upgrades, account termination, transfers to another covered entity, and service suspension”

For an in-depth report of exactly how frightening this prospect is, listen to this podcast by Abraham Hamilton III. Abraham is general counsel for AFA and radio host of the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. A successful Biden administration takeover of the internet will result in poorer service, higher prices, and less privacy for every citizen in the country.

Most importantly, send an email to the five FCC commissioners, urging them to reject Biden’s proposed takeover of the internet when they vote on November 15.

Secondly, contact your elected officials in Washington and ask them to speak with the FCC commissioners on your behalf.

 

[TheMantyke]

Why are you linking an article from these people as a source of information for anything to do with… anything? Your account is like 13 years old, do you really trust any organization on the right swinging at internet rights after the stuff in 2012 and 2017? This seems like a very far right minority getting their pockets loaded to oppose something that inconveniences big companies.

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

Yeah they want people to spam the e-mail boxes of these Other people. My opinion is,l I dont care as I am Not affected by any of this

Edit:Use a VPN

 

[bdt2002]

I tend to spend a lot of time dwelling on things that I don’t really need to. Not exactly the best habit in the world, of course, but unfortunately it’s still a habit. I mention this because I feel like if this was a significant issue, I would have heard something about this by now, and yet it’s November the 14th, one day before this vote is being held, and I’m only just now hearing about it because of a Smogon Forums post.

 

[Divine Retribution]

I for one fully support comrade Biden in his bid to liberate the internet from the claws of the bourgeoisie for the good of the proletariat.

Yeah, but seriously though, you act like monopolistic ISPs don't already jack their prices up, throttle your data usage, and track all your information. In my area, you have one option if you want speeds above 100MBPS. That's a monopoly. Nationalizing that shit could only be so much worse.

 

[Bice]

>name contains "trainer"
>default pfp

 

[Tressed]

personally, when i see a political policy i dislike, i also think to immediately post about it on a forum that i haven't been on since obama was president

 

[Da Pizza Man]

 

[MrHands]

The text of Biden’s order expressly provides that the FCC would be empowered, for the first time, to regulate the following for every ISP:

• “network infrastructure deployment, network reliability, network upgrades, network maintenance, customer-premises equipment, and installation”
• “speeds, capacities, latency, data caps, throttling, pricing, promotional rates, imposition of late fees, opportunity for equipment rental, installation time, contract renewal terms, service termination terms, and use of customer credit and account history”
• “mandatory arbitration clauses, pricing, deposits, discounts, customer service, language options, credit checks, marketing or advertising, contract renewal, upgrades, account termination, transfers to another covered entity, and service suspension”

I see no downside? Internet should be treated as a basic utility instead of a for profit service.

 

[spookysocialist]

The fact that Comcast has the time and money to buy defunct accounts on obscure internet forums to post stupid propaganda copypasta and link to podcasts by people who replaced their brain with oatmeal, kinda just argues that regulating these big companies is long overdue.

 

[Teh]

if any comcast agents are reading this thread i will accept financial compensation to voice my displeasure with biden's plan

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

whatever happened w that whole net neutrality thing btw. feel like everyone was talking abt that for ages

 

[Bughouse]

whatever happened w that whole net neutrality thing btw. feel like everyone was talking abt that for ages

Trump admin appointee (Ajit Pai) killed it. I somewhat expect this to be a new thing like the "Mexico City policy" that democratic administrations will implement and republican administrations will reverse, from here to eternity, until it's actually enshrined in law, which is why congress really should be acting here (not likely, sadly), and not the FCC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/19/fcc...s-of-reestablishing-net-neutrality-rules.html

 

[CaffeineBoost]

sorry to be rude but this really belongs in the politics thread.

 

[bdt2002]

sorry to be rude but this really belongs in the politics thread.

I would tend to agree, particularly as someone who still doesn’t really know what to think of this or if it’s even all that important in the long run. It sounds important, but it’s extremely unlikely this will affect me as an individual in the long run. For the time being the Politics thread is discontinued until further notice, from what I know.

All I’m going to say is that the real power in the States lies in the companies and brands that influence people’s everyday lives. The large majority of people won’t be exposed to the government on a daily basis, but they might be exposed to, say, a grocery store chain struggling with inflation for example.

 

[Divine Retribution]

sorry to be rude but this really belongs in the politics thread.

Just one small problem...

 

[Teh]

is this thread going to devolve into another "bring back the politics thread!" thread?

because if so... hell yea bring it back!!!

 

[Bice]

make this the politics thread

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Can we add a new emoji for me to react with --- point up emoji? Feeling like I would use it a lot on these Posts....

 

[faint]

This policy is so bad that one FCC commissioner is speaking out publicly against it. Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling the Biden administration’s “digital equity” plan for all internet services and infrastructure an “unlawful power grab.”

mother of god...

 

[awyp]

fuck donald trump

 

[Platinum God n1n1]

The fact that Comcast has the time and money to buy defunct accounts on obscure internet forums to post stupid propaganda copypasta and link to podcasts by people who replaced their brain with oatmeal, kinda just argues that regulating these big companies is long overdue.

How much for a defunct smogon account?

 

[bdt2002]

I’ve been lurking around this thread again today, and I’ve found a number of people doing the same. I think I know why- it’s the 15th now, and I’d imagine there may be a few of you who were curious about how that vote turned out. The most I’ve been able to gather was that this FCC vote is primarily in regards to digital discrimination, a term often used to refer to the unethical behaviors towards consumers of specific targeted demographics on the Internet. For those whom it may concern, this can be interpreted as an extension of Biden administration policies discussed back in September and October about net neutrality rules.

Speaking as someone who knows a lot of Republicans in his personal life, I do have to admit I find the party’s responses to this a bit confusing. Unless I’m missing something, it seems like the response to the voting proposal is almost entirely split on party lines, with the number of Republicans speaking out against this being smaller than the number of Democratic and/or unaffiliated individuals who either support the change or are just completely ignoring it. To absolutely no one’s surprise, I’m also finding most of the people who are/were against this to be supporters of the former Trump administration.

Long story short- this vote seems to be largely a positive change directed at ISPs rather than individual consumers. The far-right Republicans, of course, must have missed this part of the message because they were too focused on pushing their agenda that basic consumer rights being transferred out from the ISPs is a sign of the government having too much communist-esque authority.

Please tell me I don’t need to explain how freaking stupid that sounds. I swear every time I do research on the modern Republican party I question their sanity more and more each time it happens

 

[ZippyDoo200]

Really couldn’t care less. The internet is nothing special

 

[Bice]

Really couldn’t care less. The internet is nothing special

this is the most gigachad take on all of smogon