The battle for Net Neutrality Continues...

[apophis775]

First, I HATE having to take any sort of official political stance, and I'm not really a fan of politics or promoting them here. But this DIRECTLY affects online gaming.


We shouldn't even have to discuss this again.

But thanks to Fuckface Von Clownstick and his cabinet, it's something we need to fight again.

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

Sign the petitions, contact your senators and representatives.

Stop the ISP fuckery.

[Artouris]

Oh also go to,

Gofccyourself.com (100% legit I swear)

Since it'll take you directly where you need to go to write to the fcc itself. Just hit express and type your angry opinions about this. Also mainly since it's the head of the fcc put in by trump who wants to do away with tthe Switzerlandness of the internet.

[NoahKirchner]

fuggin goddamn it

[McRipfist]

Maybe, for the sake of Non-Americans and people not in the know, go into more detail on the situation at hand.

[Crab_Spider]

What is net neutrality?

[NoahKirchner]

Maybe, for the sake of Non-Americans and people not in the know, go into more detail on the situation at hand.

This allows american ISPs to slow internet to a crawl unless users pay for "fast lanes", essentially meaning that ISPs like comcast can slow internet connections to websites like Netflix because they are direct competitors, essentially granting monopolies over the internet.

[kazere]

What is net neutrality?

My understanding of this situation is that Corporations want to control how the internet provides it services thus without the Neutrality, they will be within their rights to give more shitty connection speeds, disable connections to sites that oppose them and literaly complete their circle of control in our lives.
It may be more complex than that but from what I learned and heard of the last battle for Net Neutrality, it all boils down to the Corporations want to milk money from the internet which I am sure if they succeed will certainly bring rack in those cash and empty our wallets.

[cheesebagel]

The problem isn't net neutrality, the problem is a lack of competition among ISPs caused by government barriers to entry.
More regulation is a step in the wrong direction.

[Boltersam]

This is so obviously stupid that there shouldn't NEED to be a neutrality movement to stop it. Take my own contribution.

[Jay Burns]

Net neutrality is not only important to online gamers, but important to society as a whole (let me explain).

Now what is net neutrality, it is the concept that all of the internet is accessible (as long as its legal) and all the websites on the internet have the same speed to use and all Data has the same importance.

Now what shitty companies like At&T and Comcast are doing, is that they are trying to get legislations put forward in America that allows them to charge websites fees for their services, any websites that don't pay will have their bandwidth severely reduced, making the website extremely slow to load, for example, lets say Netflix didn't pay the tax, their broad bandwidth on your network would be reduced, and since streaming takes up a lot of broadband, it will make streaming your shows IMPOSSIBLE, since it would need to keep buffering and buffering and buffering, that's just one example, imagining something like 4chan, where you need to reload the page every half a min.

This also allows for the companies to limit what you see (let me explain) so controversial websites like 4chan and the daily stormer (To be fair they are nazis) would be almost impossible to load, so lets say good o'l comcast doesn't like the opinions/articles in https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/ then they can just make it extremely slow and impossible to get onto, so in turn limiting/controlling the information we can find, which is the first step towards an extremely authoritarian state, see censorship and propaganda in N.Korea or the soviet union, now this is an extreme example I know but its what COULD happen.

Now just a bit onto the actual people pushing for this new legislation, if you look into it, you can see that quite a few of them are in the bankroll of comcast and companies like so, just use this as a research point. https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/b ... t-history/ (look into each senator and look how much they made from ISPs)

This is not just an American issue, if it gets pushed, this could affect net neutrality all over the world, so I implore you even if your not American to do your research and do everything in your power to stop this.

(better article on senators being paid by ISPs https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/1510 ... -fire-sale)

(another link explaining net neutrality https://youtu.be/92vuuZt7wak)

[Bigchilly]

>doesnt use shitty ISP's (Comcast, for example)

>uses some local ISP that isnt owned by a huge mega corp that steals your wallet

I rather complain about my town fucking inflating my water bill than this, but you have my grain of salt, go wild.

[McRipfist]

Didn't he kill TPP? Wasn't that worse?

Edit: Or someone did.

[SpaceFarer]

The biggest problem around net neutrality is that all legislators are old out of touch senile corrupt bastards who probably couldn't even make a powerpoint presentation, yet are voting for the laws regarding internet usage they don't even come close to comprehending. Thus they rely on whatever kindergarten-level explanation their "advisors" offer them, which could be misinterpreted or given a spin to seem like this is "good" for the "people".

[Kerek]

Congress is voting on the issue in 36 days, now is the time to speak. Sign every petition, email, call, everything. If this passes so many companies are fucked.

[Stripetail]

If Net Neutrality is destroyed the only people who will benefit will be the corporations that hold the key to the internet in their pockets. These companies have been lobbying and bribing to have their own pockets lined and businesses protected from any legal recourse. Verizon's greed and challenge to the FCC was the catalyst that forced the FCC to change ISP's classification under US law. (That's right, when the FCC attempted to punish Verizon from pulling some anti-consumer shit, Verizon laughed and stated that the FCC didn't have jurisdiction over ISPs. (Which they didn't at the time.)

Meanwhile other companies such as Comcast were selling consumers overpriced packages whilst throttling speeds, adding data caps to plans with no logic or proof to backup their effectiveness at increasing internet speeds. (Hint, they did no such thing, and Comcast got caught stating that data caps never effected internet speeds but were a great way to make consumers pay more for a supposedly better quality service.)

These companies are monopolies, not in the way of the oil barons of old, but a new kind of monopoly. They preach that they're for the consumer and for the people, but have twisted and milked every penny they can out of their consumer while whispering lies into their faces. They claim that one could simply go to another company, that we have choices and that these decisions they're making are dictated by the market, but the market for internet unlike oil is subject to something that wasn't thought of when monopoly laws were put in place. Even now, in order to change internet providers in most areas of the US you would have to physically pack up and move from your home. People have never wanted these obscene practices thrown upon them, they have no choice to either bear them or go without, and with the current world having unrestricted access to the internet is needed more and more.

Fuck, I hate talking about this subject, it's outrageous that we even need to.

TL/DR
Verizon laughed at the face of the FCC as the FCC tried to protect consumers.
The lawsuit the FCC had against Verizon was dropped because FCC had no jurisdiction over ISP's.
FCC Rallied to have ISP's chartered different so they could regulate their practices and protect the consumer.
Laws were placed that are governing the principal of Net Neutrality. The internet for the first time is defined as free and open to everyone.
ISP's lobbied and got one of their own stooges into the FCC board, are now seeking to demolish these laws so they can return to their shady practices and milk consumers and businesses for more money.
You have a voice in this chain of events, speak out against it, tell friends or family or post on a forum. What happens here will change the world one way or another.

[WinterClould]

Can't we just smoke fat dabs, jerk off, and eat good food so we just never have to worry about this ever again?

That sure would be nice, and I don't even do drugs.


I'm on the Net Neutrality team because fuck Companies. They'll screw us, milk us, and kill us all while telling us its whats best for us.
A Neutral Net is better then any fairy tail dream world some Free Market supports will tell you about were somehow putting less restrictions on these Monopolies will help us in some way.

But honestly, you've all seen how many times we've been over this. This is what? The third? Forth time the Neutral Net has some under attack? I'll bet on us winning this fight. Ill bet on us winning the next. But what about the next one? Why does there have to be a next one. Why does there have to be one right now.
It takes everyones voice to get it in the heads of our politicians that this isn't good for the people. It takes everyone showing how we'll hate them and curse their name if they support this. But why don't they just know that right from the beginning, that this isn't something anyone but the big companies want.
We know why. It's because they just don't care. The companies give them their money and that's it. They got theirs so fuck the rest of us. They say a man will sell his soul to the devil to make a dime, well politicians, democrat or republican doesn't matter in the US, they're given the chance to sell out every hour, every day of every week, every month they're at work they're selling us out to make the company man money.
So long as our world is one ruled by the dollar and not by whats best for mankind this struggle isn't going to end. Today it's the internet but tomorrow it's the right to clean air, or fresh water. Affordable housing or educations. In this nation off so much wealth we waste all of it letting the 1% amass more then they'll ever need. They could share that wealth and we could all live like kings, but instead they'd rather bury themselves in luxury while millions go homeless and starve. They aren't going to stop cheating us. Our politicians aren't going to make them stop, hell the politicians will gladly help them scam us to death.

God I've gone wild with this. Basically, if people put the effort they put into keeping the internet neutral into say, securing other basic human rights for ourselves.. we would do so much better for ourselves then we are now.

[Sheodir]

I don't get it.

Hillary supported the TPP, who fucked Net Neutrality up bad, then Trump destroyed it, then it came back under his administration. It really seems it's a meme of the general politician class VS the populace more than any real "political" issue.

It's probably the top companies using their political sway to convince whoever's in power to do this crap. I swear, it'll never end.

[Nightcaper]

https://github.com/save-net-neutrality


FCC votes December 14th, not much time left to make yourself heard!

[Youbar]

Gonna be honest here, net neutrality is a lost cause. Trump is intent on destroying every bit of Obama's legacy, this included. Best make the most of your last few weeks of unrestricted internet in America.

Basically, if people put the effort they put into keeping the internet neutral into say, securing other basic human rights for ourselves.. we would do so much better for ourselves then we are now.

Net neutrality is something that is backed by multiple large-scale corporations, namely Facebook, Alphabet, and Netflix, who use significant amounts of data when streaming their videos. That's why you're seeing so much activity around this issue - it's something that'll effect them on a bigly scale, so they're pouring all the money they can into securing the future of their companies. If there were corporations out there that actually had an interest in pouring money into furthering human rights, I assure you, it'd have the same amount of fervour around it as net neutrality.

[Pictish20]

My understanding of the facts on net neutrality are as follows: more competition is an infinitely better solution to regulation. By having incentive to keep internet cheap, fast, and unrestricted to keep customers, companies are prevented from doing the things proponents of net neutrality fear, which are valid concerns. The problem with the government participating in this issue is that the public sector does a worse job than the private sector in most areas, this included. Take the USPS (postal service), for instance.

I advise watching this video from PragerU, upon the difference between the public and private sectors: https://youtu.be/NJY6P7t-yD0

Edit: added the video.

[NoahKirchner]

My understanding of the facts on net neutrality are as follows: more competition is an infinitely better solution to regulation. By having incentive to keep internet cheap, fast, and unrestricted to keep customers, companies are prevented from doing the things proponents of net neutrality fear, which are valid concerns. The problem with the government participating in this issue is that the public sector does a worse job than the private sector in most areas, this included. Take the USPS (postal service), for instance.

I advise watching this video from PragerU, upon the difference between the public and private sectors: https://youtu.be/NJY6P7t-yD0

Edit: added the video.

I normally agree with PragerU and free market policies in general, but the monopolies and duopolies that you see in the american ISP business are pretty awful. Where I live, which is a suburban area close to a major city, there are only two ISPs available to me. Those being comcast and verizon, both of them offer the exact same services at the exact same speeds, both are ludicrously expensive and both are equally as fucking terrible in all manners. Their customer support is awful, their uptimes are inconvenient, they have the same on-demand features (They just have exclusives), and they are both downright terrible.

The last thing I want these companies able to do is to restrict internet access under a fee, because they already have godawful prices for godawful speeds, I don't see how this will help.

Of course, I hope I'm wrong and I do hope that this spurs innovation; I believe that it's possible. I'm just not overly optimistic. The internet, in my opinion, is a resource as opposed to a mode of entertainment. Access to it should be, I think, un-restricted and universal, lest we miss out on differing (If offensive, or generally disagreeable, granted) points of view, especially the seconds that ISPs don't want to be associated with a specific type of content. I dislike stormfront, but I support their right to exist and not be throttled by ISPs regardless of their political affiliation. (They are white nationalists for those who don't know)

In this day and age, regardless of political alignment, the internet is one of the primary ways to make your voice heard. It's free-ish, non-discriminatory in what your opinion could be, easy and decently reliable. Especially after seeing what google's went through to keep advertisers happy following ads being shown next to "Offensive" videos, the last thing I want to happen is the entire internet to become the same way.

[Pictish20]

I normally agree with PragerU and free market policies in general, but the monopolies and duopolies that you see in the american ISP business are pretty awful. Where I live, which is a suburban area close to a major city, there are only two ISPs available to me. Those being comcast and verizon, both of them offer the exact same services at the exact same speeds, both are ludicrously expensive and both are equally as fucking terrible in all manners. Their customer support is awful, their uptimes are inconvenient, they have the same on-demand features (They just have exclusives), and they are both downright terrible.

The last thing I want these companies able to do is to restrict internet access under a fee, because they already have godawful prices for godawful speeds, I don't see how this will help.

Of course, I hope I'm wrong and I do hope that this spurs innovation; I believe that it's possible. I'm just not overly optimistic. The internet, in my opinion, is a resource as opposed to a mode of entertainment. Access to it should be, I think, un-restricted and universal, lest we miss out on differing (If offensive, or generally disagreeable, granted) points of view, especially the seconds that ISPs don't want to be associated with a specific type of content. I dislike stormfront, but I support their right to exist and not be throttled by ISPs regardless of their political affiliation. (They are white nationalists for those who don't know)

In this day and age, regardless of political alignment, the internet is one of the primary ways to make your voice heard. It's free-ish, non-discriminatory in what your opinion could be, easy and decently reliable. Especially after seeing what google's went through to keep advertisers happy following ads being shown next to "Offensive" videos, the last thing I want to happen is the entire internet to become the same way.

I fully agree with you that monopolies are a bad thing, especially in the information industry. I also fully support antitrust actions against tech giants, however, the issue is that the government is not the best equipped to solve this problem.

[NoahKirchner]

I fully agree with you that monopolies are a bad thing, especially in the information industry. I also fully support antitrust actions against tech giants, however, the issue is that the government is not the best equipped to solve this problem.

I know they're not, and I hate that they're the ones that I'm siding with because the government fucks everything up, but as it stands I'd just like to support the status quo to stop things from- at the very least- getting worse.

[E73S]

The reason the government ain't equipped to deal with trustbusting is because the chucklefucks who hate trustbusting got elected.

Like, if you voted for the clown in office right now and anyone with an R next to your name and you're pissed about the Net Neutrality repeal efforts, this is you:
https://twitter.com/cavalorn/status/654 ... 36?lang=en

Plain and simple. We're in this boat because folks chose to climb aboard.

[NoahKirchner]

The reason the government ain't equipped to deal with trustbusting is because the chucklefucks who hate trustbusting got elected.

Like, if you voted for the clown in office right now and anyone with an R next to your name and you're pissed about the Net Neutrality repeal efforts, this is you:
https://twitter.com/cavalorn/status/654 ... 36?lang=en

Plain and simple. We're in this boat because folks chose to climb aboard.

To be fair, not as concerned with the politicians being the ones doing the censorship, more concerned about liberal complaints on every minorly offensive things making this awful, source: google ads, recent controversies making companies bend over backwards.