House Rejects FCC's 'Open' Internet Rules (Net Neutrality)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

House rejects FCC's 'open' Internet rules

WASHINGTON | Fri Apr 8, 2011 5:12pm EDT
By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives voted on Friday to reject Internet "neutrality" rules that were adopted last year to keep big Internet service providers from blocking certain traffic

House Republicans, in a 240-179 vote, pushed through a measure disapproving the Federal Communications Commission's rules. Tech and telecom giants such as Verizon Communications Inc and Microsoft Corp could be affected.

The outlook for further progress by the Republicans in rolling back the FCC's actions was uncertain, however.

While a similar measure has been offered in the Senate and has 39 co-sponsors, the White House said on Monday that President Barack Obama's advisers would recommend that he veto any such resolution.

Read more: http://us.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7376UR20110408?WT.tsrc=Social%20Media&ca=rdt

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@lhfang : Dems who just voted to kill net neutrality: Reps. Boren, Bishop, David Scott, Shrader, Bennie Thompson, Peterson.

[Lorien]

1. Who was the bonehead who dubbed it "net neutrality"? Label it for the masses:

call it "Net Freedom". The public doesn't understand what net neutrality means, so most aren't paying attention to this issue.

[juxtaposed]

4. the gop already did

[northernlights]

6. exactly. I have no idea what "net neutrality" means

and I don't have the time or interest in trying to interpret any longwinded explanations.

And I also don't care that the republicans call it "net neutrality." You're suggestion is dead on. I'm sick to death of democrats losing battles because they're too stupid to translate technobabble or legobabble or any other babble into plainspeak.

I expect other people feel and react the same way.

[Occulus]

10. It means "the way the internet always has been"

It means every bit is treated NEUTRALLY by the network.

Not hard to understand....

[boppers]

13. The network has never treated every bit neutrally.

That's part of why the fight has been so messy, because folks are trying to insist on a network that doesn't exist.

[joshcryer]

20. But "net neutrality" doesn't treat it as a network that doesn't exist.

It allows for quality of service.

It just says you cannot punish people for having services.

[JoeyT]

18. The part of net neutrality that would help you the most

is the part where the ISP can't treat different parts of the internet differently.

Just as an example, say you have ISP X for your internet with no net neutrality. The owner of ISP X is a Republican. So when you visit FoxNews.com, your connection runs at full speed. When you visit MSNBC.com or DemocraticUnderground.com, your bandwidth is throttled (the sites download very very slowly) or the connections repeatedly interrupted so you can't read either one. Your only source of news on the internet becomes the Republican websites that the Republican ISP owner wants you to look at.

[northernlights]

23. thank you for proving my point

the 2-word slogan "net neutrality" has no inherent meaning to the person walking down the street *unless* they take the time to read a long paragraph *and* spend a lot of time on facebook or some forums or other.

A *good* slogan needs no explanation. None. Pretty much everybody jumps on it immediately and "gets it." They may all, if you actually talked to them, get it differently. But it appeals to their gut, they *feel* they understand it, so they jump on the bandwagon.

Net Neutrality just *doesn't* have that feeling. It's just...neutral.

It's like the "Pro-life" versus "Pro-choice." Pro-life immediately suggests that anybody else is "pro-death," when in fact, the so-called pro-lifers are the ones that tend to have no problem bombing others into oblivion. But people rally around "Pro-Life" because it makes them feel good about themselves. "Pro-choice" doesn't appeal enough to the gut either, because many people don't really want more choices in their lives. They substitute making serious, substantive choices with picking out which clothes to wear and their done. They kind of want somebody to tell them what to do, so they don't have to think any more or be responsible for the results. Maybe "Uterine privacy" so that people are immediately repelled by the idea of strangers inquiring into the status of their uterus? Hell, yeah, I want my uterus kept private, or , hell yeah, you'd better keep your nose outta my wife's uterus.

Anyway, I digress. As I wrote above, I wasn't looking for an explanation of what net neutrality means. Slogans that don't appeal to the gut are doomed to fail as slogans. Slogans need to have *emotional* meaning to succeed.

[Doctor_J]

2. Pretty soon internet will be just like TV & radio

all right-wing propaganda, all the time.

[Lorien]

3. That seems to be the goal. nt

[boppers]

14. TV and radio have limited spectrum.

The internet does not.

[Posteritatis]

24. Artificial scarcity will be provided. (nt)

[girl gone mad]

25. Limited bandwidth.

Rather than upgrading the infrastructure, they'll simply charge more and more as limits are approached. Nice deal, if you can get it.

[DFW]

5. This is Custer's last stand, right here

Progressives are surrounded by big-money-owned media, and aside from a few shows on MSNBC, the internet is THE
last bastion of unfettered communication. Without it, Howard Dean would never have raised enough to mount his
campaign and for sure Obama would never have raised enough money to get off the ground.

Without net neutrality, we stand about as much chance as Custer did at Little Big Horn of keeping our communication
freedom, and that is exactly what the Republican Party wants to see happen.

[Ter]

7. Not sure I understand this bill

I support complete internet freedom with no rules at all. Should I be happy or mad that this bill passed?

[AndyTiedye]

8. This Would Allow Your ISP to Censor or Slow Down Sites It Didn't Like

There should be some rules. Those rules should ensure that the ISP doesn't block certain sites, or try to force us to their "marketing partners" instead of the sites we want to go to. Those are the rules that the FCC passed earlier, that the House is trying to undo.

The House Republicans want to censor the Internet.

[boppers]

17. Your ISP always had that power.

The rules would take that power away, and require them to carry *all* traffic regardless of a consumer's desires, or the network's ability, or its cost to consumers, etc.

[joshcryer]

21. No, this concerns things like VoIP or video streaming.

Cable company has its own digital media. Another provider has its own digital media. Cable company blocks streaming or slows it down appreciably. Other provider is shafted.

This didn't happen with cable / digital media, but it could have or still can.

It did happen with VoIP.

[boppers]

15. Does "no rules" mean that you can block spam if you like?

Or that you cannot legally block spam?

[TomCADem]

9. I Remember The Corporate Sock Puppets Attacking Democrats On Net Neutrality, But...

...The House's vote shows who is really against it (Republicans) and who is for it (Democrats). Yet, another fact that kills the corporate sock puppet narrative that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, as Republicans seek to repeal regulations promulgated by President Obama's FCC appointees.

[and-justice-for-all]

11. The US is turning into a Fascist Theocractic State..nt

[Hissyspit]

12. Kick. Not sure why this isn't getting more attention. nt

[boppers]

16. It's a long and technical topic. Also, similar legislation was ruled unconstitutional.

Letting the Federal Government control the internet in the US isn't something lots of folks are in favor of.

[JoeyT]

19. Indeed. That should be left to large corporations.

They've always acted in our best interest in the past, so I can't see why we wouldn't want to grant them absolute control over the internet. I'm sure they won't abuse it.

[Demit]

22. Regulations are the same "letting the federal government control the internet"?

Wow. I have to say, that sounds like the other side talking.