Google, Netflix, Amazon demand net neutrality: ‘We’re going to be pretty vocal about this’

[cal04]

Last edited Tue Jul 15, 2014, 09:03 PM - Edit history (1)

Major U.S. web companies on Monday urged regulators to restrict the ability of Internet providers, including mobile carriers, to strike deals for faster delivery of some web traffic and planned a publicity campaign about the government’s proposal.

The Internet Association, which represents three dozen web companies such as Google Inc, Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc, made their case in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, which plans to establish new so-called “net neutrality” rules.

The rules guide how Internet service providers (ISPs) manage traffic on their networks, aiming to ensure they do not unfairly limit consumers’ access to website and applications.

(snip)
“We’re going to be getting pretty vocal about this issue,” Beckerman said. “It doesn’t make sense anymore to differentiate the way net neutrality applies to mobile and wireline.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/14/google-netflix-amazon-demand-net-neutrality-were-going-to-be-pretty-vocal-about-this/


FCC extends net neutrality open comment deadline to Friday
After an ‘overwhelming surge’ of comments, the demand forced the FCC to extend the comment period on the proposed open Internet rules.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/fcc-extends-net-neutrality-open-comment-deadline-friday-article-1.1868238

[Sunlei]

1. Gov. Funded free Internet access for all.

[msanthrope]

3. Municipal broadband---I'd love to see that expand. nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. +1.

[randys1]

5. And much faster than what we have now...

This is a no brainer, as are most essentials like all energy, water, etc.

MUST be govt funded and controlled or for profit companies will kill off the weak and poor...literally

[Sunlei]

6. Every American should have access to the Internet

Doesn't have to be fast but it needs to be free ,it's a basic human right to be able to communicate.

There would still be plenty of room for profit businesses to set up peoples routers to provide email services,to fix their computers, sell them phones and software.

We have the worst government in our history federal ,state and local.

[BrotherIvan]

8. +1

We truly must invest in our future--a tech race if you will. We are so far behind other countries in terms of wireless/mobile speeds and cost. I wish we could break the stranglehold of the religious nutjobs who keep electing more and worse vultures to dismantle and privatize everything. We are not building for the future and are heading for 2nd world conditions.

[joeglow3]

15. It is sad when we consider internet access in the same category as water and food

Says a lot about us as a society.

[randys1]

26. Try surviving without it unless you live in a tree somewhere

[joeglow3]

35. Try living without food or water anywhere.

[Uncle Joe]

27. It's sad to underestimate the critical need in our democratic republic for a free and open Internet.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

George Washington

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgewash146824.html#Sk1AD8dG7gymUilf.99

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

Frederick Douglass

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/frederickd390807.html#VP6y8fvBq8WfcrXx.99

I begin to feel like most Americans don't understand the First Amendment, don't understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don't understand that it's the responsibility of the citizen to speak out.

Roger Ebert

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/rogerebert361712.html#cSxJsWBZQkQK1g8D.99

Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/lawrencefe258750.html#lVUuAqXcPkHF9wBw.99

[joeglow3]

32. Let's have a contest

I will go without internet and you go without water and we will see who survives the longest.

[Uncle Joe]

33. This isn't an either/or but if you're so willing to give up the most powerful tool enhancing your

freedom of speech power since the First Amendment was adopted, how long do your believe the mega-corporations will allow you to have water or food?

Perhaps you're willing to lay down and trust them carte-blanche but I'm not.

[joeglow3]

34. So, mega corporations are going to kill all their customers????

I agree internet is a powerful tool, but it equate it with food and water is outrageous.

[Uncle Joe]

36. What do you think mega-corporations are doing in the cases of global warming, promoting war, and

going outside of the U.S. to use toxins banned in the U.S. on crops that have been proven to cause cancer among other things?

The tobacco industry has made billions by addicting and killing its' customers.

Mega-corporations by there nature have three distinct features, quarterly short term thinking, money is their god and they're authoritarian.

If they don't kill you, there are mega-corporations that would love nothing more than to profit from your imprisonment.

If they don't kill or imprison you, they get pup tents in their pants by continually siphoning money from an ever shrinking middle class and sending it to vastly overpaid CEOs and upper management, in the U.S. CEOs now make over 400 times the salary of their average employees.

They not only fight against a livable wage, they battle against a minimum poverty wage, trying to turn the U.S. into a feudal system with them as the nobility and most everyone else the serfs.

As the 99% have continually less wages, to live on, who is going to give them food and water?

You go ahead and trash the Internet's freedom of speech power as not being vital or necessary and you will only grease the skids for corporate supremacy to take full control.

[littlemissmartypants]

37. Wow. Thank you! nt

[joeglow3]

39. Again, I agree with what you are saying

It is still flat out outrageous to compare the internet to food and water. My wife and I had a dial up connection until about 4 years ago and I got my first cell phone 1.5 years ago. Guess I must have been on life support...

[LordGlenconner]

40. The poster is delusional

And I noticed he/she never answered your bet on who would last longer without food or water vs. without internet.

The conversation was over when you said "try living without food or water anywhere" and yet they limped on.

[Uncle Joe]

42. Reading comprehension is your friend, no one on this thread said or implied that in the case of

immediate survival the Internet was as critical as food or water.

The free flow of information and freedom of speech are vital to a healthy functioning democracy and the Internet plays a critical role in this regard.

If you would be happy living in North Korea so long as you had food or water, have at it.

[LordGlenconner]

44. I can read just fine

And you did kind of make the case that it was just as important. Maybe you could be more clear in your posts, or perhaps ease up on the dramatics.

[Uncle Joe]

46. I never "kind of made the case" I said it wasn't an either/or issue. If it seems "dramatic" to you

that freedom of speech and information via the Internet are critical to a modern, healthy democratic society that's because the drama is well earned, this is for real.

[Uncle Joe]

41. As I said up-thread, this isn't an either or argument, information and freedom of speech are critical

to any democratic society, I never said it was as critical as food and water in the immediate requirement for survival and nobody on this thread has.

I did say information and freedom of speech are vital to a healthy functioning democratic society.

Man nor woman for that matter, does not live by bread alone.

[joeglow3]

43. So, were we a dictatorship for the first 225 years as a nation

It was just in the last 15 years as the internet exploded that we really experienced freedom of speech and information?

[Uncle Joe]

45. It was just in the last 60 plus years that television exploded, what do you believe the consequences

of that was?

[joeglow3]

47. Nice try Socrates, but can you answer my question?

[Uncle Joe]

48. Thanks for the compliment, but I did answer your question.

"It was just in the last 15 years as the internet exploded that we really experienced freedom of speech and information?"

Before television the predominant form of communications was print and then in the early 20th century, radio cam along. The playing field for freedom of speech was much more level in those days.

The creation of television has greatly diminished freedom of speech and information, this is especially true today as 5-6 corporate media conglomerates own 90+% of everything the American People see on television, hear on the radio or read in newspapers and magazines.

People are literally hypnotized by television.

These are information monopolies and as I posted up-thread, corporations by their very nature are authoritarian, top down creations, and their prime directive is in making money for themselves or their commercial buying customers,the public good or sphere at best only gets lip service.

That's five or six mega-corporations ultimately ruled by 5-6 CEOs.

The corporate media screens what the American People can see, hear and read, the only counterpoint to that kind of propaganda, brainwashing power is the Internet and that's why they're attacking the Information Superhighway, they want to turn it into cable television with all manner of roadblocks and hurdles to free speech.

[joeglow3]

50. Bull

There are public access stations in all major markets. There are public, college run radio stations.

Just like the internet, people have to look a little harder, but it is there. The people too lazy to find those are most likely not using the internet for much more than streaming illegal movies, looking at porn and checking sports scores.

[Uncle Joe]

51. Cow

They are miniscule in comparison to the commercial networks reach, scope, wealth, power and influence.

As I posted above people are literally hypnotized by the power of commercial television.

[joeglow3]

54. And the same is true of the internet

The major companies dominate the internet, yield the top search results, are prominent at the top of all search pages, etc. One has to dig deeper to find alternative sources, just as one has to do with television or radio.

[Uncle Joe]

56. The Internet allows virtually unlimited, mass, instantaneous dissemination of information all for

the whole wide world to see, no other format comes close to approaching that kind of scrutiny.

[valerief]

53. Check out Detroit. nt

[thesquanderer]

13. Won't happen for the same reason we have Obamacare

For better or worse, ACA does not provide us with healthcare, it provides us with better access to private insurance... because, the argument goes, something like single payer would have been too disruptive to the existing healthcare economy (i.e. damaging those companies, putting their employees at risk of losing their jobs, negatively impacting the lives of people who had retirement funds in those companies, etc.). Similarly, I don't think the government is going to take steps to eliminate one of the biggest sources of revenue for all the cable and phone companies by moving toward nationally funded universal internet access.

[Sunlei]

14. Then the government can subsidize the Internet providers just

Just like the government subsidizes 90% of my Obamacare insurance.

although subsidies are a ridiculous waste of our federal and state taxpayer-funds because of the huge chunk removed for the wonderful lucrative profits.

[woo me with science]

16. *Taxpayers* subsidize the obscene profits mandated by the ACA,

rather than what should have happened, which is to make *insurance companies* pay and ultimately end this middleman scheme instead of entrenching it through mandate.

[Sunlei]

19. Yes we do ,but better than when

Blue cross said we don't even want you at all.

We do need Medicaid or Medicare for all and those days will be coming soon as we get rid of the Republicans

[woo me with science]

20. And the Third Way corporatists pretending to be Democrats. nt

[Sunlei]

21. could you name a few of them? don't really understand what 'third way' is, is that Ron Paul?

Paul followers are just used by republicans (for R votes) like the 'koch funded tea party' are.

[woo me with science]

24. Pretended naivete is quite silly, Sunlei.

Why are you pretending not to understand what I wrote?

[Sunlei]

25. This is what you wrote

"And the Third Way corporatists pretending to be Democrats. nt"

Who did you mean is pretending to be 'Democrats'? me? President Obama? If you could just state a name please, so I can understand who you think is a 'Third Way corporatist' (whatever the heck the 'Third Way' is, is that a new political party?)

[tkmorris]

28. You have spent enough time here to amass over 6000 posts...

But you don't know what a third way Democrat is? That's a tad hard to believe.

[Sunlei]

31. I hope its not anything that splits the D party vote. Republicans would win then.

Not enough Ds vote as it is. Republicans would love to split the votes.


Ok here I searched and found a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way

The Third Way has been defined as:


...Something different and distinct from liberal capitalism with its unswerving belief in the merits of the free market and democratic socialism with its demand management and obsession with the state. The Third Way is in favour of growth, entrepreneurship, enterprise and wealth creation but it is also in favour of greater social justice and it sees the state playing a major role in bringing this about. So in the words of... Anthony Giddens of the LSE the Third Way rejects top down socialism as it rejects traditional neo liberalism.

ok, right there where it says--->> " it sees the state playing a major role" <<<-----

Our States downward to the local level are firmly in RW control, conservatives have had regular Americans under their local thumbs for many decades. We are way over regulated locally. No freaking way for 'the state' to rise up. The change has to happen at the Federal level, if ever any third way stuff gets out of the chat rooms. IMO.

[woo me with science]

17. +100000 In fact, this administration is deliberately allowing control of the internet

to pass to corporations as we speak:

And this administration enables more corporate takeover of the internet.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024609888#post3

They are most aggressively doing nothing, except ensuring that the ongoing consolidation of corporate control of the internet is not interrupted.

The Obama administration could direct the FCC to reclassify broadband right now, but they refuse. They are heavily funded by these corporate vultures, and they have no intention of interrupting that gravy train. Look at the opportunities they had this week, and how they responded. They declined to use the FCC to reclassify broadband. They declined to appeal the court ruling throwing out net neutrality rules. They flatly refuse to act on *any* of the things that they could do immediately to stop this consolidation of corporate power and defend net neutrality. Instead, we get vague, election year promises that they won't let anything bad happen from this increased corporate control that they are deliberately allowing to happen. They promise to rewrite the rules....sometime down the road.

It's an election year. The fact that they are kicking this can down the road when they could do some concrete things immediately and when doing something immediately would be immensely popular with the voters, shows clearly that their intentions are elsewhere.

That, and this administration's extensive history of pretty election year rhetoric versus actual action on behalf of corporate donors.

FCC won't appeal court ruling throwing out "net neutrality" rules
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024527150

White House says it won't direct FCC to reclassify broadband
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57619081-94/white-house-says-it-wont-direct-fcc-to-reclassify-broadband/

Would Teddy Roosevelt have stood by while Comcast bought the internet?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024494701

110 years ago our president used the Sherman Act to DISMANTLE the trust that controlled RR lines...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4494306

Let's see.....Net neutrality is killed off. Then two largest cable/Intrnet companies merge
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024495645

US Plummets In Press Freedom Rankings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024487392
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024488178

Always follow the money, and this administration sides, over and over again, with corporate money:

Revolving Door: Top Obama Admin Antitrust Officials Tied To Comcast
http://election.democraticunderground.com/10024497324

Comcast, Time Warner execs have been big Obama/Dem supporters
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024494813

.

[Scuba]

38. + another

[msanthrope]

2. Excellent. Given the DC Circuit court's hamstringing of the FCC, a corporation vs. corporation

fight might be the only way to get net neutrality.

[Monk06]

7. Good. No toll road for the Telicoms. Greedy bastards.

[Atman]

9. I'd bet these three have some pretty deep pockets to fight CableCos.

How much money do the cable companies really feel it is worth to take on this battle? Sure, they'll make a few big deals with a few big companies, but over time will it really outweigh the billions they'd spend in court? Maybe, maybe not. If I were one of their shareholders I'd me more concerned with them making themselves into companies people LIKE and WANT to subscribe to -- and thus return higher profits from satisfied customers -- than just being The Big Evil Corporations out to screw everyone.

[peoli]

10. k/r

[Takket]

11. Does anyone know when the FCC is going to announce whether net neutrality stays or not?

[Armstead]

29. Dont know but today is the last for public comments

[onecaliberal]

12. This is good news.

I hope they are extremely vocal about their objection.

[Orsino]

18. Finally, some voices that will be heard.

Ain't democracy grand?

[Cha]

22. thanks cal.. and netflix, google, amazon..

[KamaAina]

23. Good!

I guess Google and Amazon aren't complete wastes of oxygen (or bandwidth, I guess) after all.

[Sunlei]

30. has anyone read about outernet? "broadcast to the entire world from space. For free."

The most important information from the Internet broadcast to the entire world from space. For free.

Think big. This looks like it will go live and global by the end of this summer. I voted for SA and Russia first, you can vote too. https://www.outernet.is/

https://twitter.com/OuternetForAll

[blkmusclmachine]

49. Good luck! You'll be fighting against ALL of the Republicans, and HALF of the "Democrats."

[lonestarnot]

52. Oh well then, big corporate involvement maybe they'll take notice because

God only knows they don't listen to a fucking word we say.

[Blue_Tires]

55. So Google gets to play both sides of the fence?

Act like they favor it in public while killing it behind closed doors? People are really buying this??

[Sentath]

57. Pardon? I think I'm behind on this.

Where did Google act to kill it?

I need to know so I don't look like a fool, please.