- Mar 10, 2007
- 3,677
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https://www.battleforthenet.com/
Call the FCC at 1-888-225-5322 (Option 1, option 4, option 2, option 0. You're entering a complaint on proceeding 17-108. Be polite, be concise, and be firm.). Be prepared to wait (some people claim upwards of two hour wait times). Be polite. But call them. Call your congressmen. Call your senators. Call the people who support net neutrality and tell them they have your support. Call the people who oppose net neutrality and tell them why they should change their minds.
US Capitol Switchboard: 1-202-224-3121
Email and phone number of the FCC's Inspector General Hotline: hotline@fcc.gov 1-212-418-0473
And if you want to e-mail the asshat himself: Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov
Updated information at the bottom of this post about a new bill that could save the internet from ever getting messed with.
IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME AND FREEDOM ON THE INTERNET, CALL YOUR REPS NOW.
Dating back to the original SOPA, there have been many iterations of this and the popular rumor is that Ajit Pai is going to try to sneak the next vote under everyone's noses the day before Thanksgiving. People are worried with the vote being so close to two major US holidays (Thanksgiving/Black Friday**) that it will fall under everyone's radar and finally pass.
I haven't followed it very much since where I live, our governor/senators are perfectly happy with changing the rules and have made it clear they have no intention of changing their minds. However, I have heard theories from people on both sides of the spectrum to the far extremes and it seems (please correct me if I'm wrong) this is how it could go:
1. The vote passes and ISPs are allowed to throttle speeds to whatever sites they want while completely blocking other sites for their users unless they pay additional fees. It's been speculated that Comcast has their eyes on Youtube and Google while Time Warner is looking at Bing, Yahoo, MSN, and the major sports sites. It's also been said that if one ISP gains control over Youtube, they could easily limit how many videos you're allowed to watch for free (under your current plan) per day and if you want to watch additional videos, you have to pay extra. Essentially if the vote passes, everyone would be at the mercy of their ISP and even startup companies who want to make a new website would have to pay fees just to get Comcast/Time Warner/(popular ISP) to allow their customers access to their site. Oh, and say goodbye to free porn.
2. The vote passes and ISPs work together to create a much faster internet service to everyone worldwide. As it stands (this is the part I hadn't heard before), cable companies aren't able to provide better Internet (ie. fiber optic) because of patents on top of corporate rivalries for more money. If the vote passes, ISPs would no longer need to charge for competitive rates because everything would be open to everyone, so the consumer would get faster speeds for much lower rates. There have also been speculations about opening the internet will effectively squash all illegal activities happening in the dark/deep web because they would no longer be able to hide behind proxies and VPNs.
Now, I understand point #2 doesn't make much sense (at least not to me), but I haven't heard that many arguments for the vote to pass, so the information there is rather limited. I guess it all boils down to whether or not you trust billion dollar corporations to have your best interests at heart and whether or not they will actually try to work together to provide a better internet for the end-users. Personally, I've been using Comcast's Xfinity for about five years now, and while I absolutely love the speeds, I cannot stand trying to contact their customer support. Not only is it almost impossible to understand the vast majority of the people on the other line, it adds a little more salt to the wound that they make them answer with: "Hello, this is Jason Smith..." or "Hello, this is Jennifer Connel..." in the thickest East-Indian accent you've ever heard.
Thoughts?
**I understand Black Friday isn't an actual holiday, but given how many people completely skip Thanksgiving to sit outside Best Buy and Target for 20+ hours just to spend $300 less on a TV is insane.
A new bill has been introduced which will prevent the FCC from ever messing with the rules of the internet (at least until their lawyers find some shitty loophole and they exploit it to turn their millions into billions, but until then...):
H.R.4585 - To prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from relying on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the matter of restoring internet freedom to adopt, amend, revoke, or otherwise modify any rule of the Commission.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4585
ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE (if your rep is on the committee, call them immediately)
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2927 (main)
(202) 226-4972 (press)
The Democrat E&CC: (same thing as above)
2322A Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
Main Office: (202) 225-3641
Press Office: (202) 225-5735
Call the FCC at 1-888-225-5322 (Option 1, option 4, option 2, option 0. You're entering a complaint on proceeding 17-108. Be polite, be concise, and be firm.). Be prepared to wait (some people claim upwards of two hour wait times). Be polite. But call them. Call your congressmen. Call your senators. Call the people who support net neutrality and tell them they have your support. Call the people who oppose net neutrality and tell them why they should change their minds.
US Capitol Switchboard: 1-202-224-3121
Email and phone number of the FCC's Inspector General Hotline: hotline@fcc.gov 1-212-418-0473
And if you want to e-mail the asshat himself: Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov
Updated information at the bottom of this post about a new bill that could save the internet from ever getting messed with.
IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME AND FREEDOM ON THE INTERNET, CALL YOUR REPS NOW.
Dating back to the original SOPA, there have been many iterations of this and the popular rumor is that Ajit Pai is going to try to sneak the next vote under everyone's noses the day before Thanksgiving. People are worried with the vote being so close to two major US holidays (Thanksgiving/Black Friday**) that it will fall under everyone's radar and finally pass.
I haven't followed it very much since where I live, our governor/senators are perfectly happy with changing the rules and have made it clear they have no intention of changing their minds. However, I have heard theories from people on both sides of the spectrum to the far extremes and it seems (please correct me if I'm wrong) this is how it could go:
1. The vote passes and ISPs are allowed to throttle speeds to whatever sites they want while completely blocking other sites for their users unless they pay additional fees. It's been speculated that Comcast has their eyes on Youtube and Google while Time Warner is looking at Bing, Yahoo, MSN, and the major sports sites. It's also been said that if one ISP gains control over Youtube, they could easily limit how many videos you're allowed to watch for free (under your current plan) per day and if you want to watch additional videos, you have to pay extra. Essentially if the vote passes, everyone would be at the mercy of their ISP and even startup companies who want to make a new website would have to pay fees just to get Comcast/Time Warner/(popular ISP) to allow their customers access to their site. Oh, and say goodbye to free porn.
2. The vote passes and ISPs work together to create a much faster internet service to everyone worldwide. As it stands (this is the part I hadn't heard before), cable companies aren't able to provide better Internet (ie. fiber optic) because of patents on top of corporate rivalries for more money. If the vote passes, ISPs would no longer need to charge for competitive rates because everything would be open to everyone, so the consumer would get faster speeds for much lower rates. There have also been speculations about opening the internet will effectively squash all illegal activities happening in the dark/deep web because they would no longer be able to hide behind proxies and VPNs.
Now, I understand point #2 doesn't make much sense (at least not to me), but I haven't heard that many arguments for the vote to pass, so the information there is rather limited. I guess it all boils down to whether or not you trust billion dollar corporations to have your best interests at heart and whether or not they will actually try to work together to provide a better internet for the end-users. Personally, I've been using Comcast's Xfinity for about five years now, and while I absolutely love the speeds, I cannot stand trying to contact their customer support. Not only is it almost impossible to understand the vast majority of the people on the other line, it adds a little more salt to the wound that they make them answer with: "Hello, this is Jason Smith..." or "Hello, this is Jennifer Connel..." in the thickest East-Indian accent you've ever heard.
Thoughts?
**I understand Black Friday isn't an actual holiday, but given how many people completely skip Thanksgiving to sit outside Best Buy and Target for 20+ hours just to spend $300 less on a TV is insane.
A new bill has been introduced which will prevent the FCC from ever messing with the rules of the internet (at least until their lawyers find some shitty loophole and they exploit it to turn their millions into billions, but until then...):
H.R.4585 - To prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from relying on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the matter of restoring internet freedom to adopt, amend, revoke, or otherwise modify any rule of the Commission.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4585
ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE (if your rep is on the committee, call them immediately)
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2927 (main)
(202) 226-4972 (press)
The Democrat E&CC: (same thing as above)
2322A Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
Main Office: (202) 225-3641
Press Office: (202) 225-5735
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