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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Nov 22, 2017 - 09:47am PT
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Jody, You're delusional.
It's not just Jody. Look at his exchange with John M above re anti-christ and all that. Two guys hung up in a 2000-plus year old myth or delusion - take your pick - as a core "truth" of their inner operating system. Is it any wonder we face the problems we do in this high tech era and can't as a collective solve them.
Trump. lol
I don't ask why we face these problems but why wouldn't we? - given the circumstances (states of mind, etc.) .
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Dave
Mountain climber
the ANTI-fresno
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Nov 22, 2017 - 10:01am PT
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"Very true and the statement gave me pause. However, if given the choice between giving the government more power and giving the markets more freedom, I would have to take my chances with the markets."
So, Jody, then you mean you SUPPORT net neutrality???
Because a neutral internet helps keep a market balanced and free for startups, young companies, and large companies alike.
Taking that away, as the proposal does, heavily biases the market toward incumbents. Giving the government, Verizon, Comcast, FB and the like a huge advantage. How is that making the market more free?
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 10:05am PT
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President Obama Urges FCC to Implement Stronger Net Neutrality Rules
That was after Americans threw a sh!tfit when his appointed FCC director tried to end Net Neutrality. Unfortunately this is the kind of thing that corporations keep trying to push through until voter/consumer fatigue sets in, and eventually they get it.
And again, I don't like this administration or that one.
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 10:12am PT
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Lots of good comments here. The internet has become the vital means of communication worldwide and as such should be treated as a public utility with assurance that providers, whom we pay, don't start slowing down or blocking competitors. I do not have any television services from my provider (Charter Communications) and pay them only for internet access. That they might be able to throttle sites like Amazon, who is a competitor, is unacceptable.
Many of the internet providers are local monopolies; Seattle is a prime example, with regulation to actually keep out other providers, buttressed by the right of Comcast to deny other cable on phone poles. We are heading for a period of extortion by broadband providers.
We need more of this sort of thing (Benton County PUD):
In 2000, the Washington state legislature passed legislation enabling public utility districts (PUDs) to provide wholesale telecommunication services. PUDs are not authorized to provide telecommunication services to end users; instead, the law requires that utilities operate in partnership with retail service providers to connect customers to their networks. Benton PUD has been in the broadband business since 2002 and currently has over 350 miles of fiber-optic cable installed throughout Benton County. The District is a founding member and one of ten current owners of Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet). NoaNet operates a world-class high-speed broadband network with over 3,000 miles of fiber-optic cables installed throughout the state including a major network hub located at Benton PUD’s offices in Kennewick.
Give Comcast et al some real competition.
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Lituya
Mountain climber
WA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 10:24am PT
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Good comments, Winemaker. I am a free market guy--but the market only works when there is competition. What's worse than getting screwed by a monopoly? What's worse than getting screwed by government? Easy answer. "Public-private partnerships" and exclusive, no-bid contracts. USFS anyone?
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 11:55am PT
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Things not quite right at the FCC comment site. From The HIll:
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) is investigating what he calls a massive scheme to corrupt the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with fake public comments on net neutrality.
In an open letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, Schneiderman said the agency hasn't provided him with information "critical" to an investigation his office is conducting.
Schneiderman said in a tweet his office has been investigating a "massive scheme" over the last six months to "corrupt the FCC's comment process on net neutrality by impersonating 100,000s of real Americans."
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 22, 2017 - 12:00pm PT
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Things not quite right at the FCC comment site You ain't kidding.
The FCC has made it nearly impossible for the public to comment on net neutrality. There is no direct link to the comment page. You have to do a search on the proceedings number (if you know it) and then follow a series of non-intuitive links to get to the proper page to leave a comment.
The link that I provided at the start of this thread was provided by a group that takes the public directly to the correct website.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 01:16pm PT
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In 2004, I was a marketing director working for a company selling gear to the incumbent local exchange carriers around the US- the local phone companies and Internet providers. My job was to reassure them that VOIP was not going to destroy their businesses. I did the best I could showing them the advantages they had by controlling the last mile and having a billing relationship with all the consumers in specific geographic areas...
But in my head, I thought the right strategy was to treat the last mile connection to each consumer’s house as a regulated monopoly. It doesn’t make sense to lay parallel copper or fiber or whatever physical transport technology to each house. There needs to be a way to share it among a variety of companies competing for your business.
Anyone who thinks Net Neutrality is anti-market is clueless about this industry. It can be perceived as “anti-market” for the local owner of the cable or DSL infrastructure, because it stops them from making a bigger profit. But without protections, you will see these companies become among the most powerful in the world, and all the other companies in every other industry will be bowing down to kiss their ring. They are in the path of all modern commercial activity, with the ability to collect more taxes (via kick-backs from companies they deign to let through to us consumers) than the US government.
Is that the market force you want to support? Locusts consuming all food until there is a collapse with nothing left, and locust swarm moves on. That is natural. That is Laissez-Faire. What we should want is a free market where buyer and seller have access to information to make good decisions, and they each have alternatives and can walk away from a transaction. That doesn’t happen in an end-state unregulated environment. No regulations means the bully wins and controls everything for his/her/its personal benefit. Regulations exist specifically to preserve desirable conditions that favor citizens. It has been an intellectual coup of the Republican Party, as a means of tricking its supporters, that “free market” is synonymous with “freedom from regulation.” Subtle word choice difference, but all the difference in the world in terms of ideology and end result.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Nov 22, 2017 - 01:46pm PT
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Freedom of the Corporations and Monopolies to screw you and taking away the means to fight back is what they really mean by free markets
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Lituya
Mountain climber
WA
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Nov 22, 2017 - 02:45pm PT
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A lot of the same propaganda re airline deregulation back in the day. Turned out to be a good call. No doubt, some collusion is infiltrating back in eg baggage fees, etc. “Sports Broadcast surcharge” anyone?
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Nov 22, 2017 - 03:26pm PT
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The difference between 2015 and now:
In Feb 2015 the FCC ended up voting PRO-net neutrality, voting 3-2 along party lines last week to apply Title II to cable and telecom companies that provide Internet service.
Wheeler actually listened to reason and 20 million comments.
In Nov 2017, trump and the FCC said "screw reason." We are here to sell out to the most corrupt swamp dwellers.
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Nov 22, 2017 - 04:17pm PT
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I don't believe that God appoints ALL leaders, evil or not. What you described above about God allowing us to suffer the consequences of our choices is very true. He uses all leaders in one way or another to bless us, teach us lessons, whatever His plan is
Jody, I've got to hand it to you, that's the funniest thing you have ever said.
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GuapoVino
climber
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Nov 23, 2017 - 09:46am PT
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I didn't realize how much the cable companies have the world by the balls until I "cut the cord" and tried to figure out how to work around their monopoly. They control everything. I really hope they don't get control of the internet.
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Jim Clipper
climber
from: forests to tree farms
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Nov 23, 2017 - 10:26am PT
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I hope that the Internet may be another third rail of politics. Don't mess with my likes. The trick for them may be to monetize access in a way that is only mildly inconvenient.
Is it possible to disseminate the infrastructure? Something like peer to peer network?
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Nov 23, 2017 - 12:52pm PT
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IMO net neutrality is already gone. Google a topic and see lots of commercial sites.
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Nov 23, 2017 - 08:06pm PT
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think how much worse it could be if the swamp creatures get their way.
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Bruce Morris
Trad climber
Soulsbyville, California
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Nov 23, 2017 - 09:20pm PT
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The FCC's been paid off before. What do you think Vice Presidents of Market Forecasting, who sit on various regulatory committees, are paid million dollar salaries to do? Lots of graft up there at the top. The courts are going to decide this.
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Bruce Morris
Trad climber
Soulsbyville, California
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Nov 24, 2017 - 01:02pm PT
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One regulatory decision in your favor up there at the FCC can make you hundreds of millions of $$$ with a new compulsory item of CPE (customer premises equipment) at the network interface (NI). It takes a heck of a lot of money to buy the right decision at the FCC that puts a gun to the Fortune 500.
This is going to be an interesting war to watch (if my pocket book wasn't involved).
It's really two pillars of Neoliberalism at work here (and not for the greater public interest): Deregulation and Privatization.
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