The FCC Votes to punish Comcast for violating Net Neutrality

[Krynn72]

Just got this in an email.

Your hard work is paying off! Just one hour ago, the Federal Communications Commission voted to punish Comcast for violating Net Neutrality and blocking your right to do what you want on the Internet.

This win is yours. Defying every ounce of conventional wisdom in Washington, activists, bloggers, consumer advocates and everyday people have taken on a major corporation and won.

Today's vote at the FCC is also a precedent-setting victory that sends a powerful message to phone and cable companies that blocking access to the Internet will not be tolerated from this time forward.

News of this win is now being covered by every major news outlet as a turning point for Net Neutrality. Many more people are discovering our people-powered movement for a free and open Internet.

Today's FCC victory is a milestone, but our work is far from done. Companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon are continuing to fight Net Neutrality using lobbyists, lawyers and campaign contributions. These special interests should not be allowed to set Internet policy for the nation.

And a link I found when looking on CNN.com

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/08/01/fcc.comcast.ap/index.html

 

[hool10]

Yeah, Comcast Cable Internet is incredibly fast and even rivals FiOS where I live. Then they shut down the telephone service and forced me to go with the more expensive digital voice. They put this box on the modem that serves as a router/incoming call device. Needless to say, it has slowed down my internet and created weird buzzing/electronic sounds while on the phone. Rarely something goes on with their network as well and I don't have internet for an hour or so. I don't know if I can get/make calls at that time either.

 

[Ennui]

Nice, +1 for Net Neutrality.

Honestly I'm not even worried in the first place, even if the Internet was taken over by companies and strictly regulated an Alternet would pop up within weeks

 

[Vegeta897]

and created weird buzzing/electronic sounds while on the phone.

lol I immediately imagined the following:

Hello? Hi, it's Hool. What's up? Oh, I was just gonna drive ov-

WORK IT
MAKE IT
DO IT
MAKES US
HARDER
BETTER
FASTER
STRONGER

 

[Krynn72]

Nice, +1 for Net Neutrality.

Honestly I'm not even worried in the first place, even if the Internet was taken over by companies and strictly regulated an Alternet would pop up within weeks

Which would take us back to the 90s in terms of internet availability and speed. And this ruling was a close call. It was 3-2, and had it not been for the people speaking up, there would have been no chance for it to pass.

 

[Ennui]

not necessarily, there's quite an infrastructure existing at present and some companies would definitely hop on that train, maybe even in addition to providing internet services

 

[hool10]

Idk it sounds like static but that can't possibly happen with digital. The digital noise sounds like beeps and whatnot, almost like a modem. Idk, maybe homeboy security is spying on me??

 

[Krynn72]

not necessarily, there's quite an infrastructure existing at present and some companies would definitely hop on that train, maybe even in addition to providing internet services

But who owns that infrastructure? Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and several other huge players that would be absolutely against another internet going live. Start up companies and even established smaller companies wont stand long against the likes of Comcast and AT&T who such immense resource reserves. I mean, Comcast pays people to sit in on hearings, they could just pay people to **** up the new internet and not even feel the hit in their wallet.

 

[VirusType2]

Fantastic

 

[Saturos]

If Comcast succeeded in making customers pay for a subscription fee for every web site, the internet market would undoubtebly crash as the black market would take over.
Would definately bring pirates and HL2.net members a little closer fs. (The moment of truth as to who is really a pirate around here)
Comcast execs have failed though, so that means we can continue hating on pirates for the time being.

/Wishywashy doublestandards is still wishywashy

Then again, you'd be surprised at how many internet junkies would conform to such ridiculous fees so they can still get their fix. The fools.