The whole net neutrality discussion seems to be focusing on download speeds and access to particular services, but does anybody remember back in 2006 when AOL got caught blocking people from sending or receiving emails that expressed criticism of AOL? There was no sign that it was happening, and the emails would appear to be delivered - AOL’s mail servers would even report a normal “accepted for delivery” status code - but they’d just never show up in the recipient’s inbox. Or how about the incident a year earlier where Telus imposed fake service outages for websites expressing support for the
Telecommunications Workers Union? Again, no indication that any blocking was taking place: just a error page falsely claiming the affected sites were down.
Under the proposed deregulations, this sort of thing would be explicitly permitted, and we know it’s possible because it’s been done. Now consider how much more communication happens via the Internet in 2017 than in 2005/2006. It’s not even email or websites; big chunks of the telephone network now pass through ISP-mediated VOIP channels, and those conversations would likewise be targetable by faked outages.
Like, this isn’t some dystopian sci-fi scenario; we’re talking about horseshit that major ISPs were getting up to on the sly over a decade ago, and are now about to be told can be engaged in without regulatory penalty.
Guys, please be careful to vet that what you choose to signal boost is actually accurate. I’m seeing a lot of well-intentioned posts today about Net Neutrality that are likely to do just as much harm as good due to misinformation in them.
For instance, we are not all suddenly shouting that the sky is falling because the FCC has PASSED the bill abolishing Net Neutrality and the changes are to be put in place some time this month. As claimed by one post I just saw with over 5,000 notes already. This is simply, unequivocally NOT true, and it can actually get in the way of the call to action that very post made, asking people to call and email their congressmen, because a lot of people who see that might think “what’s the point, if its already passed?”
It hasn’t. Chairman Ajit Pai of the FCC unveiled in April his proposed plan to strike back the Net Neutrality regulations Obama’s administration passed in 2015, and which have since 2015 been upheld by the courts in the face of Republican opposition’s attempts to claim they overreached. What has people shouting the sky is falling NOW is because yesterday (November 21st) is when the date of the official vote on this proposed plan was announced. That date is December 14th.
Which means there IS still time to affect the outcome of the vote. People are pessimistic about the chances of this vote because the FCC board is held by a Republican majority at the moment, but make the passing of this bill seem toxic enough to other Republican interests and there is still a chance to keep it from passing.
Which is still a hell of a lot better than assuming the bill has already passed and that there’s really no point.
We have until December 14th to kick up enough of a fuss that the Republicans on the FCC board think twice about voting for this bill. And even after that, there are still legal recourses. The courts have refused to uphold other bills Trump’s administration has attempted to pass as overreaching, unconstitutional, and/or in opposition of the true will of the people - just as the Republicans attempted to do back in 2015 when the FCC under Obama passed the Net Neutrality laws in the first place.
This does not mean be complacent. This does not mean assume enough other people will raise enough of a fuss without adding your voice to the mix. It simply means THERE IS STILL TIME TO ACT. The sky may be falling, but until it finishes falling, there’s still a chance to catch it instead.
We have until December 14th to kick up enough of a fuss that the Republicans on the FCC board think twice about voting for this bill.
there IS still time to affect the outcome of the vote.
They met a Demon at a crossroads, he said they had to make a deal with him or he would steal their souls. The Fighter was like, “Hey can you just wait for 5 seconds for me?”
Demon’s like: “Alright.”
Five seconds later the Fighter says “Alright our deal is complete”
???
“What do you mean our deal is complete?” said the Demon
“Well I asked you to wait 5 seconds, then you agreed. Since you waited 5 seconds, that means our deal is complete right?”
The Demon is in shock, and so am I, the DM. This fighter just out-tricked a freakin’ demon deal by telling the demon to cool his heels for a moment I couldn’t believe it.
And this is when the demon decides to becoming a recurring pest to the party, or a legitimate threat
He actually did, he sent a “bounty hunter” chain devil named Gnev after the party.
