As such, ISPs are already pushing hard to codify the FCC’s idiotic and unpopular repeal into law. ISPs like Comcast are claiming they’re just so interested in protecting the open internet (after spending millions to dismantle real net neutrality rules) that a law their lobbyists likely wrote is the only path forward now. But these bills have one purpose: to prevent any future FCCs or Congressional lawmakers from passing meaningful rules down the road.
Enter Tennessee Representative Marsha Blackburn, who has for years been a glorified rubber stamp for AT&T and Comcast, going so far as to support state-level laws that hamstring competition and erode local rights. Today Blackburn unveiled the “Open Internet Preservation Act” (pdf), which, as we predicted, bans things like outright throttling, but ignores numerous other possible avenues of abuse by ISPs, including zero rating, paid prioritzation, and interconnection shenanigans. The bill also tries to ban states from trying to protect net neutrality in the wake of federal apathy, another gem ISPs like Comcast have been coincidentally lobbying for the last few months.
“Rep. Blackburn told Breitbart News why she decided to unveil her legislation to codify the laws of a free and open Internet. She said, “When you talk to innovators in the online space, one of the things that is frustrating to them is that the rules of the internet continue to change over the last few years. What we want to do is codify the rules of an open internet.”
“What we saw with the Wheeler order in 2015 was really control of the Internet. We are going to put rules in place that will stop the ping-ponging depending on who’s in charge of the FCC. This is an issue that should be decided by Congress,” Blackburn added.
Of course Blackburn would have you ignore the fact that her rhetoric almost exactly mirrors a blog post Comcast posted just a few days ago, or the fact that her bill was likely written by Comcast and AT&T lawyers and lobbyists. She’d also have you ignore that the “innovators” she pays lip service to strongly oppose the repeal of the current rules, as nearly 1000 startups made very clear back in April. Blackburn also took to Twitter to regurgitate numerous debunked industry canards, like the entirely bogus claim that net neutrality rules hurt sector investment.
Again, these folks couldn’t give less of a damn about “protecting the open internet.” They’re solely looking out for the interests of AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Charter. And what these ISPs want (and are in the process of getting) is a complete dismantling of both federal and state oversightof telecom duopolies so they can continue abusing the lack of competition in the sector for the foreseeable future. They know the FCC’s repeal is in jeopardy of being overturned by the courts, so they’re trying to rush through shitty legislation that effectively makes violating net neutrality legal.
happy christmas adam to all men’s rights activists
Please stop pestering us with things like this. This has nothing to do with men fighting for their rights. Eve is short for ‘evening’. Please don’t turn activism into a joke. Thanks.
Someone isn’t having a good christmas adam
Christmas Adam: December 23rd. Comes before Christmas Eve and is generally unsatisfying.
Just so we’re clear: People Magazine’s sadly predictable celebration of white American mediocrity aside, we all know that Idris Elba is, unequivocally, without any dispute, the sexiest man alive, right? Like, I don’t even mean this as an issue of personal preference. I am literally just making a statement of objective fact based on scientific evidence which suggests more people would hypnotically follow a pan flute-playing Idris Elba out of a village never to be seen again than any other male celebrity.
You know that whole trope where like, the protagonists get teleported up into the aliens’ spaceship or base or whatever and the alien appears to them only it doesn’t appear as it really looks like but rather, since it doesn’t want to scare the protagonists, it takes the form of something we find familiar and pleasing and is like, “I look like your dad or whatever–is this form okay?” Like I think about that trope a lot and I think like, what if the alien couldn’t pick out a form via telepathy and only had earth media to try and decide what form would scare its human guests least and be accepted almost immediately and honestly the more I think about it the more options for what form that might be are just really fun to me.
“I have chosen the form of your earth playwright and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda–do not be afraid. I come in peace.”
“Greetings. I am Glofnorbo of the cloud you call the ‘Pegasus Nebula.’ I have scanned your earth media from afar and empirically decided that you would find the form of the one known as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson most pleasing. I have come to confer with your leaders.”
“Do not be panic. I come in peace. I have assumed the form of your insectoid demigoddess ‘Hatsune Miku’ so that we may communicate peacefully without my true form horrifying you.”
“It was decided that I would assume the form of your ‘Mister Rogers’ in order to best welcome your world to the galactic neighborhood without frightening your kind.”
“…So did your colleague take on the form of Jack Black for that reason too?”
“No, that is the actual Jack Black. We do not know how to make him leave.”
Yes it’s a real service. I do volunteer work for a rape crisis support service in my city and texting is one of the features we provide as well. But just to boost its credibility, I tried it myself:
andtheytoldustotellyouhello 