Subject: *sighs*
Author:
Posted on: 2017-12-16 02:30:00 UTC
What else should we expect when an ex-Verizon employee is appointed as chair of the FCC? Fox in the henhouse, anyone?
(BTW: EPL, have you gotten my e-mails lately?)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/technology/net-neutrality-repeal-vote.html
I... I really hope that things don't end up as bad as we think. But y'all are my internet family and I can't imagine what would happen if we fell out of contact because of stuff getting screwed seven ways to hell.
So if anything happens to make the Board inaccessible, my email's iximaz(at)gmail(dot)com.
Love you all, and I hope we're able to stick around for a while yet. :(
This whole thing is ticking me off, and I'm going to try everything I can to try and prevent this from happening.
Also, what's the rule about swearing on this board, 'cause there's a meme I want to spread that has some language in it...
Since I can't post anything profane here, I'll just put down a link to a film I did on the matter:
https://psychodemonfox.deviantart.com/art/FCC-Song-for-2017-716708139
It's NSFW, so just be aware of that... I was very angry when I wrote it.
Enjoy!
While the literature many of us produce CAN feature quite a bit of swearing - there are M-rated fics sporked every so often, after all - the Board is expected to be family-friendly, so IIRC, explicit language is strictly prohibited.
Congress can still fix this by overruling the decision, and it is in their best interests to do so. Nobody wants this, and nobody benefits from Verizon and Comcast controlling the internet (except them).
If you're willing and able to call your representatives, the next sixty days is the time to do so.
More information at Fight for the Future.
~Neshomeh is not a phone person, so donated money to pay for other people calling.
From what I've read, there are already lawsuits in the works challenging the decision. While agencies do have the authority to revoke previously-established rules, they cannot be "arbitrary and capricious" about it. Hopefully, the courts will put a preliminary injunction in place so that the repeal doesn't take effect until it gets argued in the courts. If they were quick enough to put a preliminary injunction on Trump's travel bans, they should definitely issue one here.
Though a Congressional fix would render any litigation moot, I wouldn't hold my breath that our divided Congress would move any more quickly than usual. If anything, they'll move at a turtle's pace instead of their usual glacial pace.
I could have sworn that I signed in! How did it turn up anonymous?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
Right now the attorney generals of Washington State and New York State are seeking an injunction given that a huge number of the comments in favor of dropping Net Neutrality were filed using stolen identities.
The FCC is refusing to co-operate so far with the investigation, or produce their server logs to back up the claims that they suffered a denial-of-service attack, rather than just pulled the plug to prevent people from telling them what they didn't want to hear after John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight" show brought attention to the issue and created an easy way to contact the FCC on the issue directly last time this came up. I am a strong proponent of "presume innocent until proven guilty" and an individual's right to privacy. But a government that wants to claim its legitimacy comes from the will of its citizens can't claim that legitimacy if its people don't know what their government is doing.
I'm always in Tinfoil hat mode, but I wouldn't be surprised if Comcast and Verizon didn't just use their customers' billing addresses to file those fraudulent comments on their behalf, since they collect that information when people pay their bills or sign up for broadband.
It wouldn't be the first time a big company has stooped to petty sockpuppeting [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AshleyMadisondatabreach#Dataanalysis] to mislead and defraud their customers or the public at large.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iLUEARMKAB0WIQTfllUBtaeNnRzzfmVK3+74uImA+wUCWjWWfAAKCRBK3+74uImA
+wBoAf4iz7TpVqF4anKAr6+zP4yHc2wqIE7pO7Ul/00cuxk8JZq2kcKVSSAhugJQ
rFRzn0T1JWGh3m3UCj6HZ4eutoVDAf4sqKclxG7LjeBZE6BI213c8QU817sWVQFj
qHjJD0U6wfHvqRg7Fzd9k84p/YcgeB7dlMfTDOXlhXMXrcaX/dMM
=zWBS
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Add this to the ever-increasing list of reasons I hate this administration and everything it stands for.
What else should we expect when an ex-Verizon employee is appointed as chair of the FCC? Fox in the henhouse, anyone?
(BTW: EPL, have you gotten my e-mails lately?)