…plotting to pass Net Neutrality.
I’ve written in this space for a while about who the real Astroturfers are in the Net Neutrality fight. Google – and its puppets like Free Press – are promoting this idea that it’s a struggle between big telecommunications firms, and the little guys. Except the little guys are actually bigger Internet firms. The corporations pressing for Net Neutrality are Fortune 500 and even Dow Jones Industrial Average firms, with billions in cash ready to be spent on Net Neutrality, trying to defeat Proposition 8, or even promoting Barack Obama.
That last one makes the FCC’s rush to regulate look bad, given all the placements of Google people within the Obama administration as well as the nearly one million dollars that Google employees gave to the Obama-Biden campaign. How do we know that the secretive Obama White House isn’t directing the FCC to pay off Google?
After all, we know he’s giving donors special treatment. In fact, it has come out that FCC Chairman Genachowski himself was a major fundraiser for Obama, pulling in over a half million for the campaign. Why shouldn’t we believe that this is all a big circle of back scratching in the Obama adminstration, when he refuses to release the kinds of information we need to determine otherwise?
The President has played political games with information all along. He dangles his birth certificate on a string in order to distract the right. He’s keeping as little of the Obamacare agenda in writing as possible, because he knows if we read it and expose his plans, we can win the fight, so we end up with ridiculous spectacles like a Senate committee voting on a bill that hasn’t been written yet. And now he’s playing footsie with donors in secret.
We must encourage and join Senator McCain and Representative Blackburn in their fresh legislative efforts to stop the Google/Obama Net Neutrality scheme. We cannot allow this kind of quid pro quo to go unchallenged.
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
This whole "Net Neutrality" thing has looked to be ugly since day one, several years ago.
USNJIMRET (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 8:42PM EST (link)Any ‘legislation’ in the current Congress that has as innocent and friendly sounding a name as “Net Neutrality”……you just KNOW that it is going to be bad for the general public.
Factor in that Google is all for it, and I can’t imagine a reason on Earth for someone with a working brain to believe it is a good idea.
But maybe that’s just me being overly cynical.
All the Silicon Valley types that supported Barry are getting what they deserved
red_refugee (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 10:07PM EST (link)The last democrat administration brought us the Clipper Chip and Project Carnivore. This one will bring more of the same.
Google has been in bed with the feds since before Barry took over.
red_refugee (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 8:56PM EST (link)http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/13/the_skinny/main3257308.shtml
That's pretty different
Neil Stevens (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 8:59PM EST (link)That’s openly paying for use of land.
Buying the use of land, and buying influence, are two different things.
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Nothing about the Google party planes deal was 'open'
red_refugee (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 9:51PM EST (link)http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/technology/13google.html
NASA auctioning excess space at Moffett to the highest bidder would have been fine with me. But that’s not what happened. The Google boys did buy influence and it got them access to a government airfield.
Liberal tycoons shouldn’t get special treatment regardless of who’s in the White House.
Where do they get these "Offices"?
GregInFla (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 9:16PM EST (link)Director of Citizen Participation?? What is this one?
Then there’s the new Office of Social Innovation? What?
Which Congressional laws established these offices?
I know that there are plenty of others, but why is my tax $$$ paying for social innovation??? We gotta get Beck to look into this.
– A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. Think about it.
– The sign outside the courthouse said no signs allowed. So I took it down.
– Atlas Shrugged is now on the non-fiction aisle at Amazon.
Net Neutrality
nickinvirginia Thursday, October 29th at 10:00PM EST (link)Isn’t the idea of net neutrality to prevent an internet carrier from slowing down or speeding up websites based on their prerogative?
For example: If comcast were to buy NBC, then they would speed up browser access to NBC.com, while slowing other things down, like ABC.com etc.
I’m not very knowledgeable on tech issues; this is all I know about Net Neutrality. Someone explain.
Yes.
libertymt Thursday, October 29th at 10:51PM EST (link)Which is why most tech savy libertarian types (myself included) are largely conflicted about the issue.
From a purely ideological position, net neutrality is more regulation and therefore bad. From a pragmatic perspective, the net was created by the government, is regulated by the government, and there are numerous existing regulations encouraging (or at least allowing) telecom monopolies, and these monopolies are able to block, filter, and steer their users away from their competitors content.
Do you want the local internet provider to be able to control what websites you visit, or how well you can use them, to steer you in one direction or another? Because right now, they can and are doing so, such as in your example. In another (non-hypothetical) example, you have certain telecom companies blocking Skype, and forcing users to buy their service instead. Net Neutrality laws are an attempt to stop that.
Personally, my position is that in an ideal world we wouldn’t have the government involved in any of this. But they are, and their interference has stopped or limited the potential for real competition from developing in many areas, creating these telecom monopolies. As long as these government regulations and the resulting monopolies exist, we need them to be open and free, and Net Neutrality does that.
Yeah.. I want as little government involvement as well..
illinoisconservative (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 11:20PM EST (link)I would almost prefer any regulation simply be a end-user bill of rights.
Let the investors in the internet infrastructure do whatever the heck they like between each other and with the pieces they invest in.
But, when an end-user connects, no provider or service may restrict or impede any access that user requests. I don’t mind the end-user being charged more for extra bandwidth or usage, as long as that is up front in an agreement.
Of Course, We All Do...
libertymt Friday, October 30th at 12:20AM EST (link)But the bottom line is that back in the early 1900′s, Theodore Vail got the government to OK and enforce AT&T’s monopoly on these lines. Even though that company’s monopoly has been broken up for almost 30 years now, the resulting telecoms still have their government granted/enforce local monopoly over the lines.
The government simply won’t let competitors into the market, won’t let any other companies use the lines, supposedly because letting anyone else in would reduce the telecom profits and none of them would be able to expand their services.
The best solution would be to take their government granted monopolies away and break them up so that net neutrality laws wouldn’t be necessary. But of course, no one in either party would be willing to do that. so we’re left either letting these companies abuse their monopoly positions (which again, are created totally by the government), or we regulate the networks with something like the Net Neutrality laws.
Liberty, funny you said that.
SilverIce9 Friday, October 30th at 2:43AM EST (link)You are one of the only people other than myself I’ve heard on the net with the same perspective as me on this subject. I don’t post much here, since I don’t really think I’d have much to add (read: not very conservative), but I don’t see this as a liberal/conservative issue.
Both realistic options suck.
Regulations are most likely going to be a trojan horse, setting a precedent for government censorship down the road, and god only knows what else. It may stop the telcos from screwing the internet up as we know it, but something gives me a feeling it’s only being done to make naive liberals line up behind it as some kind of… us vs. them Sparta battle.
However, there is not free market right now for internet, so fighting the regulations is barely even a conservative position. Right now, I can’t even get DSL where I live in SAN DIEGO! …And I live in the city. There is a monopoly on cable internet here, so half the city belongs solely to Cox (insert joke here) and half to Time Warner. I can pick all of ONE ISP for broadband, so as far as my person life is concerned, Cox may as well be a government unto itself controlling what I see.
Can I please get a Teddy Roosevelt to get some competition back into this industry? I want a freaking free market solution, but it seems that it’s the least likely outcome here…. Am I way off base on this? I’d really appreciate a conservative’s response regarding what seems to me to be two horrible options on the table.
-freedom
Here's a rule of thumb
Neil Stevens (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 9:36AM EST (link)When you’re calling for a champion of progressivism, you’re off base.
RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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Heh...Teddy won't save you...
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 9:59AM EST (link)TR was a regulating progressive, read Liberal Fascism.
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
“We’d be much better off if We The People had desired small government enough to keep it.” acat
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if you are asking for a solution like power companies
illinoisconservative (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 10:22AM EST (link)to be legislated into being so they can be allowed to use the infrastructure laid by existing companies (like Cox in your example of cable), I don’t think you will get much sympathy here.
So your assuming that San Diego is a view of what things are elsewhere?
Richard Mullins (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 11:48AM EST (link)If so, grow a brain because you need one. Really, heavy handed regulation sounds nice, but it stinks in the end. Just because the State might be encouraging monopoly’s is more the reason for you not having access to DSL. It’s wasn’t that long ago that DSL wasn’t available at my parents house(older technology for DSL) then they managed to upgrade the lines so they could take advantage of DSL. No ham fisted regulations, but simple technology did the trick. If heavy regulation is so great, why doesn’t work. Really, letting competition instead of forcing it, is the way to go. I don’t think you see that.
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Joe Biden is like a Decrepit Park owner with a Meth lab that happens to not only be a dealer but a user.
Let’s Bankrupt the Democratic paty. Make spend all the money to defend thier candidates.
I'm not sure if my comment...
SilverIce9 Saturday, October 31st at 1:02AM EST (link)Is being read correctly. I was basically calling for the government not to regulate the internet at all, but to split the ISPs into smaller companies. If there was competition, there is no need for the regulation. One ISP (Cox or ATT) could ban whatever they wanted and make cox.com the fastest web site in the world, but nobody would sign up for it. So I was trying to make an argument for less regulation. I’m not a history major, admittedly, and there is certainly no reason for name calling. I’m pretty far from “brainless,” by the way. I run my own very successful small business, and still find time to live a fulfilling life. That takes brains.
I invoked Teddy simply because I remembered that he split up a monopoly or two, and was not passing judgement about his success or politics, but I can see how that could have been misconstrued.
I guess to sum it up…. Would conservatism endorse splitting the ISP companies (not something really conservative) to achieve the goal of great competition and no regulation (something conservative). I think that’s what I was getting at, but it was late when I posted. Thanks for the input though. I’ve been a daily reader of this site for quite a while (even longer under a long-forgotten username), and occasionally post.
-freedom
And to answer the question...
SilverIce9 Saturday, October 31st at 1:12AM EST (link)from you Richard: Yes, not only do I think it’s like that everywhere, I KNOW it’s like that everywhere. I’ve lived in nine states in the last seven years, and have never had more than two choices for broadband. That is not competition. When I want a computer, I can buy from 50 companies, and prices always go down. When I want paper towels, I can buy from 20 companies, and I’m quite happy with the quality of Bounty. On TV, there are hundreds of channels competing against each other for my eyes. I’m not here to push a viewpoint, I just see competition as important, even as important as blocking regulations.
-freedom
Was it St. Teddy (Kennedy) who
jnoeagle Friday, October 30th at 9:29PM EST (link)Screwed everything up in the communications industry? Wasn’t AT&T like a common carrier in the olden days? Where they had to carry all legal traffic and the wires/airwaves were never to be owned by the editorializers?
Seems like that would be a good idea, so it probably would never happen.
Unrelated thought: What is the specific oath that Congresscritters take on assuming office? It seems probable many of them are violating any oath promising fair practices, honesty, and public service to the citizens. Could they be sued for something?
That's the lie they're telling, yes
Neil Stevens (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 9:35AM EST (link)Read my diary archives though to see what they’re reall doing.
RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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This is my take on it:
bkeyser Thursday, October 29th at 10:10PM EST (link)http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgtkey0811/4035931705/sizes/l/
Or is it something else?
billf (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 10:27PM EST (link)Could it be that the things like Health Insurance, Bailouts, Broken Campaign Promises, Birth Certificate, Czars, etc are just distractions that will generate a lot of heat and get a lot of publicity while he quietly enacts the changes, like Net Neutrality, that he really needs to have happen early in his presidency to assure that his socialist agenda comes together.
Obama is a Marxist
martyinaz Saturday, October 31st at 8:34PM EST (link)Obama is a Marxist socialist/communist, Look at any part of his agenda, it always takes from those with ability and gives to those with need..
Government is a disease masquerading as the cure for all society. Robert Lefevre
Interesting Numbers: 17 Million vs. 931,000
Ausonius (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 10:57PM EST (link)Back in the summer I began tracking the number of Google “hits” for the phrase “Impeach Obama.”
On Google back in July and August the number of hits was above 10,000,000 and seemed to be growing. This was parallel with other search engines.
Suddenly in early September the number of hits crashed to under one million on Google, bouncing between 700,000 and – today – 931,000.
On Yahoo, however, the hits are at their highest ever: 17 million.
Possibly Google would claim they have more accurate hits, with no dead links, etc.
But 16 million dead links?
Ausonius: 310-395 A.D. Teacher, Poet, Consul, General, Farmer.
Personal Tutor to the future St. Paulinus of Nola and to young Gratian, heir to the throne during the turbulent final years of the Western Roman Empire. When his former student Gratian was assassinated, Ausonius threw up his hands and retired to his farm in Gaul. Rome was captured by barbarians 14 years after his death.
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Obama Convention Delegates to Administer "Net Neutrality" Rules
melvinwinter Thursday, October 29th at 11:11PM EST (link)http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/10/obama-convention-delegates-to.html
In the grand scheme of things.....
makemyday (Diary) Thursday, October 29th at 11:43PM EST (link)It may not amount to much but stop using Google. If you have Google toolbar installed, disable it. If your default search engine is Google, change it to something else. If you use a Google phone, turn it in, just say it’s broke. No more Google maps, no more Gmail, just no more Google!
When all else fails…….. Shoot!
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” –American author Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” –George Washington, letter to Philip Schuyler, 1777
and not so grand.....
billf (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 9:59AM EST (link)Would that include a Google calendar on the RedState web page?
Yeah...
dsvet Friday, October 30th at 11:30AM EST (link)That’s pretty funny.
Why yes it would!
makemyday (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 11:33AM EST (link)There are other calendar widgets that could be used in it’s place. Google has some fine products out there, but their politics suck! I love Barbara Streisands singing but haven’t heard one of her songs in years (my choice). I’m old enough for AARP membership but am not. I think Sean Penn is a fine actor, but will not watch him perform. Google is not on my laptops or the systems at my business. Same thinking there. I’m the kind of guy that cancelled using FedEx in my business cause one of their drivers honked at me while I was riding my Harley.
When all else fails…….. Shoot!
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” –American author Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” –George Washington, letter to Philip Schuyler, 1777
Why?
Neil Stevens (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 11:36AM EST (link)They don’t make any money off of that.
RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
Read the RedState Posting Rules
Unlikely Voter: Poll Analysis, Election Projection.
“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder
better take another look into Net Neutrality
gailmarie Friday, October 30th at 10:58PM EST (link)http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/32085/
net neutrality, which would take the Internet out of the hands of private …
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/32549/
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/show/2009-10-19/
.
just to get you started… this guy Glenn he never sleeps trying to do all the research for us. Lots more behind net newtrality. Dont be fooled, Get off the Koolaid. No good can come of it.. WAKE UP
if you dont want to look deeper… listen to makemyday guy
GRANDMAGAIL
when they control
olddog Sunday, November 1st at 5:48AM EST (link)the internet,. it will be the old computer saying, gigo (garbage in garbage out ), because that’s what you will have when government controls your thoughts on line. Government has been controlling what we know, for a long time ,but since the internet happened, information flowed more freely, allowing people to find out how crooked our system has become in Washington, because the “drive by media” aren’t giving info to you straight up.
ONE OLD DOG