Outgoing FCC Chief Tom Wheeler Offers Final Defense Of Net Neutrality

Megalith

Megalith

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Wheeler, who will be departing this week, has argued for maintaining his proudest achievement in his last speech. Stressing how net neutrality is integral to protecting consumers from the self-interests of corporations, he challenges Republicans to find something—anything—that may be wrong with the idea.

Wheeler’s argument, at its core, is pretty simple. He says Republicans should actually take a look at what’s going on and see if the Open Internet Order has really been that bad — or whether it has, in fact, done some good. “Where’s the fire? What has happened since the Open Internet rules were adopted to justify uprooting the policy?” Wheeler asks. “As I said a moment ago, network investment is up, investment in innovative services is up, and ISPs revenues — and stock prices — are at record levels. So, where’s the fire?” As for why net neutrality is necessary in the first place, Wheeler points out what should be pretty obvious: companies can be kind of evil, and regulators are needed to stop that from happening.
 
Wasn't sure about this guy when he was chosen given his background, but he sure won me over.

He listened to reason and facts, he listened to the people, and he enacted common sense regulation. He's what a politician is supposed to be.

He understood what many "yar the free market will work itself out" people don't. If greed is a root of evil, then corporations by their very nature are often evil minded and there's a built-in disconnect between their actions and the people they hurt, thus certain regulations are necessary to give them a nudge. For example, the CEO of a chemical company wouldn't personally go dump a ton of toxic chemicals into his neighbor's pool because it was convenient and saved him some cash (no matter how much he hated those brats for not staying off his lawn). But add in the decision layers and mask the people it affects, and you get poisoned wells or rivers.
 
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Ugh, this is a great example of how easy it is to fool people with deceitful language. Just because Wheeler, a lifelong lobbyist/corporate hack calls his policy "Network Neutrality" it doesn't mean anything of the sort. Name one, ONE example of "network neutrality" being enforced. You can't. Network neutrality needs to come via a democratically enacted law, not by the FCC declaring it has the right to regulate internet access.

Those of us who can see past our noses understand the danger is in the precedent set by the expansion of FCC powers. An unelected, largely unaccountable body of bureaucrats.

You'll cheer this anemic, worthless form of "network neutrality", but you won't be nearly as happy when they begin to regulate content, dictate what constitutes "fairness", and become the enforcement arm of the copyright trolls. Remember, Wheeler and the Democrats who put him in power tried to shove the horrific Stop Online Piracy Act down our throats. Oh, they can't do that you say? They sure can since "Network Neutrality" sets the precedent of FCC regulation of the internet.
 
tikiman2012 said:
Net Neutrality = Consumer Protection

The point is that Wheeler finally had it heading in the right direction. We'll see how bad they screw that up now.
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Nope. It is regulation of the internet. They can call it lollipops and rainbows...Doesn't change anything. Free market is how you open up the internet.

Affordable Care Act is destroying the healthcare system and increased costs about $2k in premiums per person. The title is the opposite of what it does.
 
tbonepat11 said:
Nope. It is regulation of the internet. They can call it lollipops and rainbows...Doesn't change anything. Free market is how you open up the internet.

Affordable Care Act is destroying the healthcare system and increased costs about $2k in premiums per person. The title is the opposite of what it does.
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Free market is how you end up with Monopolies like Comcast and Charter controlling large segments of the population and agreed non-competes in regions ensuring you have no choice in providers.

Sorry, but free market doesn't work in every aspect.
 
tbonepat11 said:
Affordable Care Act is destroying the healthcare system and increased costs about $2k in premiums per person. The title is the opposite of what it does.
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Let me guess, you get your news from the corporate MSM like Faux, CNN, or even worse... Breitbart?

The Affordable Care Act, as flawed as it is. Is a corporate bill that betrayed what Obama promised and revealed himself to be just another pro-corporate Clinton democrat just so he and his donors can call it a "bi-partisan" bill by backing a Republican plan that handed more control to the big pharma insurance industry. Sure, it barred coverage being blocked for pre-existing conditions(like being a woman), let a families child stay on their healthcare until they're 26, and greatly expanded medicaid/medicare if their states governor wasn't a douche putting politics over lives like in North Carolina, Alabama, or Louisiana. But it also removed oversight and did nothing to reign in the industries greed that is purely responsible for rising premiums. The bill itself doesn't affect prices a single bit, the lack of regulations blocking uncontrolled capitalsim (the "free market" is a myth, and only truly exist with regulation) and its self-destrucitve greed however is whats causing price increases.

Like normal, if you want to understand why something hasn't been fixed in America, follow the money and find out who's making a profit. We just saw the most recent example of this this week when Bernie Sanders pharma bill was blocked by the last few Clinton Democrats in the senate, all of whom received over 200K "donations" from big pharma since 2012, and blocked a bill which would've passed thanks to 13 Republicans that voted against their pro-corporate parties policies and sided with progressive democrats and the American people. It's not the size of government that's the problem, it's who the government is working for. If you thought Obama, one of the friendliest businessmen America has had in decades which his policies has led to record breaking Wall Street numbers, and millions of additional (part time, and underpaid) jobs.... Just wait until you see what Trump and his buddies do. In 5 days, the puppet goes home, and one of the puppet masters comes out of the shadows to take over the rape and pillage of America.
 
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Vashypooh said:
Sorry, but free market doesn't work in every aspect.
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Free-market is like competitive sports. Its the best system, but only IF you have a good impartial referee that is ensuring all the players are playing by the rules. Unfortunately, when so much money and power is involved, people start buying the referee off and you end up with fixed fights.
 
The people in here whining about how Net Neutrality is "regulation" and not open are not qualified to speak about the topic.

Everything that the free market wants is OPPOSED to unrestricted access to the internet... which NET NEUTRALITY REQUIRES.
 
tbonepat11 said:
Nope. It is regulation of the internet. They can call it lollipops and rainbows...Doesn't change anything. Free market is how you open up the internet.

Affordable Care Act is destroying the healthcare system and increased costs about $2k in premiums per person. The title is the opposite of what it does.
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ACA dropped the uninsured rate to an all time low. It provides healthcare to those who didn't have access to any form of health care. Preventative medicine significantly reduces the amount that tax payers will spend on uninsured hospital emergency room visits, and improves the health of the entire community (including children, elderly, and people with weakened immune systems). Beyond that, nothing in the ACA allowed an increase in premiums from insurance companies, that was the insurance companies being greedy since more people are shopping for plans. The ACA actually puts a strict limit on how much a business can charge employees for health care plans (9.66% of household income for 2016), so you shouldn't see your plan rise very much in the future unless the ACA gets appealed. It also mandates that businesses do provide health care plans to full time employees if they have over 50 full time workers.

If you're one of the 2 to 4 million families who saw an increase in the cost for coverage for other family members under your plan from your employer, then what you should be asking for is that they place a stricter limit on the cost to cover additional family members; which they've tried to pass twice. Children in some states can qualify for CHIP, you can shop for a cheaper plan on your own whether or not you qualify for cost assistance, or qualify for a catastrophic/basic coverage plan on the marketplace.
 
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Free market doesn't work so well when you have maybe half a dozen big monopolies running the entire internet connection all over the country. These companies which are now imposing 'data limits' on land lines... cell phone plans with data limits. You can't have a free market in this situation because some small joe schmo can't just go make his own telecom and start providing internet. It's not possible, thus the rules of free market can't apply. When any of the telecoms increase rates, or add restrictions, all the others match in the near future. It's much like the airline industry.
 
-PK- said:
ACA dropped the uninsured rate to an all time low. It provides healthcare to those who didn't have access to any form of health care. Preventative medicine significantly reduces the amount that tax payers will spend on uninsured hospital emergency room visits, and improves the health of the entire community (including children, elderly, and people with weakened immune systems). Beyond that, nothing in the ACA allowed an increase in premiums from insurance companies, that was the insurance companies being greedy since more people are shopping for plans. The ACA actually puts a strict limit on how much a business can charge employees for health care plans (9.66% of household income for 2016), so you shouldn't see your plan rise very much in the future unless the ACA gets appealed. It also mandates that businesses do provide health care plans to full time employees if they have over 50 full time workers.

If you're one of the 2 to 4 million families who saw an increase in the cost for coverage for other family members under your plan from your employer, then what you should be asking for is that they place a stricter limit on the cost to cover additional family members; which they've tried to pass twice. Children in some states can qualify for CHIP, you can shop for a cheaper plan on your own whether or not you qualify for cost assistance, or qualify for a catastrophic/basic coverage plan on the marketplace.
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I love how people use that metric to measure the success of ACA. Of course the uninsured rate will drop to an all time low when you FORCE people to sign up via fines and regulation. Prices are still skyrocketing, deductibles are still rising, coverage is still dropping, hospital fees are still increasing. The ONLY benefits the ACA added is the following: 1) Covered preexisting conditions, 2) Free birth control, 3) Companies can't drop you when it's their turn in the deal to pony up.
 
Tiburon1186 said:
I love how people use that metric to measure the success of ACA. Of course the uninsured rate will drop to an all time low when you FORCE people to sign up via fines and regulation. Prices are still skyrocketing, deductibles are still rising, coverage is still dropping, hospital fees are still increasing. The ONLY benefits the ACA added is the following: 1) Covered preexisting conditions, 2) Free birth control, 3) Companies can't drop you when it's their turn in the deal to pony up.
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Well next time don't half ass it and learn from Canada or Sweden. The ACA may have slowed rising costs down, but it's a sad compromise for sake of insurance lobbies. The voiceless masses need a full assed solution with no pro-lobby compromises.

Of course that's easier said than done thanks to citizens united... so not sure how to save us from the silly healthcare "industry" path we're stuck on. I'm not sure how the average Joe can steer politicians away from all that lovely "speech" money.

I got an idea, how about full end of life options? We can't keep up with healthcare costs here so why not offer end of life for those who can't afford it; maybe better than leaving loved ones in debt and losing the house. I don't think insurance companies or rich congressmen would be against the poor offing themselves.

Half joking but sometimes I don't know, it sounds more and more appropriate for a nation of trailer dwelling destitutes as time goes by.
 
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meh... everyone said the same thing about wheeler...



the sky isn't falling, chicken littles.... try not to hurt yourselves lol
 
dr.stevil said:
meh... everyone said the same thing about wheeler...

the sky isn't falling, chicken littles.... try not to hurt yourselves lol
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The sky's not falling, we're just gonna pay more for less and lose more of our competitive edge in the modern digital market. Netflix 4k my ass, they should concentrate on Europe and Asia and offer 720p down here so consumers don't go over their 200gb quota, and so on and so forth. Bottom line: Less tech jobs and more hurdles for local startups.

Again, not a big deal for the technology challenged, but it certainly shapes the direction of the market. One hopes something outside the oligopoly will come and save us from our sociopathic selves.
 
I remember when Wheeler started, the rhetoric then was that he is the cable industry insider who was going to destroy Net Neutrality.. Instead he turned out to be one of it's best champions. Taking a job like that changes a person, and he is a prime example of that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler "Prior to working at the FCC, Wheeler worked as a venture capitalist and lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry,"
 
LazN said:
I remember when Wheeler started, the rhetoric then was that he is the cable industry insider who was going to destroy Net Neutrality.. Instead he turned out to be one of it's best champions. Taking a job like that changes a person, and he is a prime example of that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler "Prior to working at the FCC, Wheeler worked as a venture capitalist and lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry,"
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exactly! I will take a 'wait and see' approach before losing my shit.
 
LazN said:
I remember when Wheeler started, the rhetoric then was that he is the cable industry insider who was going to destroy Net Neutrality.. Instead he turned out to be one of it's best champions."
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That only happened due to all the "SJW's" that organized together and made a big ruckus. If the people didn't speak up and use their voices on social media, protested at the FCC, or contacted their political representatives, Wheeler wouldn't have backtracked on his corporate wishlist. As we saw with the Republican congressman running from his constituents this weekend, the politicians are afraid of the people, and the people need to hold their leaders to account on their BS!
 
tbonepat11 said:
Nope. It is regulation of the internet. They can call it lollipops and rainbows...Doesn't change anything. Free market is how you open up the internet.

Affordable Care Act is destroying the healthcare system and increased costs about $2k in premiums per person. The title is the opposite of what it does.
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Free Market didn't do shit for the internet. Many ISP's still haven't rolled out reliable HIGH speed internet to a ton of Rural areas.

Literally less then 15 miles from me on my 100mbps line there are people that can't get ANYTHING but either crappy satellite internet or 56k.

The ISP's have use backdoors and local governments to setup monopolies in order to keep competition out of their area. They even stay out of each others regions for the most part, because it allows both companies to keep their prices high .
 
Whatever is best for Mediacom is best for consumers. President Trump will be great for the USA, and the World in general.
 
Master_shake_ said:
net neutrality = all data is equal, cause it is.
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Quoted and repeated for emphasis.

NET NEUTRALITY REQUIRES THAT ALL DATA IS TREATED EQUALLY.

This means Comcast throttling down Netflix for its users to favor their own streaming services, like Hulu, would be in violation of Net Neutrality.

So yes, like I said before... Everything that the free market wants is OPPOSED to unrestricted access to the internet.
 
the net neutrality that icann asked for was replaced with a net neutrality that ignored the whole point of the internet in favor or limiting the internet so people could not toss their phones.

ICANN and ISOC asked the federal communication commission's board to create a document to prevent the bell monopoly over the internet. This was back in the late nineties when clinton was in office. The idea is that the internet is utility meaning that it is necessary for human life. So they take the network the army corp of engineers built between major cities and had a private company run it. Only every private company that runs it is too focused on short term profit and preventing any alternative networks that we keep having bottlenecks between networks and overhead that is beyond redundant to unnecessary. Redundant is good that is how you still have light in a black out when a transformer blows out on the power grid, taking down too many points of support and blows out the generators. The emergency lights are on a different system.

What the fcc mandate is, simply put is to make sure the various networks allow traffic from one side of the country to another with the least interference possible. What the current board put in place was is a mess of agreements that don't help the end user send a piece of data from one point to another. Which is why the incoming has to find some one who can say how can we make this work the way it works in theory.

Edit: oh ya I forgot about the decency act. That is also part of their mandate but no one seems to remember that part, including myself.
 
Makaveli@BETA said:
yup you guys are all screwed in a few days!
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I've got Google Fiber - who luckily don't fuck around with my connection.

Now anyone on Comcast or Verizon, I do feel sorry for.

Although, these companies have been doing what they want anyway because nobody seems to be suing them under net neutrality charges.
 
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