Here's Obama's FCC version of "Net Neutrality"

[Armstead]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/obama-fcc-caves-on-net-ne_b_799435.html

--Timothy Karr

--Campaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com

Late Monday, a majority of the FCC's commissioners indicated that they're going to vote with Chairman Julius Genachowski for a toothless Net Neutrality rule.

According to all reports, the rule, which will be voted on during tomorrow's FCC meeting, falls drastically short of earlier pledges by President Obama and the FCC Chairman to protect the free and open Internet.

The rule is so riddled with loopholes that it's become clear that this FCC chairman crafted it with the sole purpose of winning the endorsement of AT&T and cable lobbyists, and not defending the interests of the tens of millions of Internet users.

Welcome to AT&T's Internet

For the first time in history of telecommunications law the FCC has given its stamp of approval to online discrimination.

Instead of a rule to protect Internet users' freedom to choose, the Commission has opened the door for broadband payola - letting phone and cable companies charge steep tolls to favor the content and services of a select group of corporate partners, relegating everyone else to the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

Instead of protecting openness on wireless Internet devices like the iPhone and Droid, the Commission has exempted the mobile Internet from Net Neutrality protections. This move enshrines Verizon and AT&T as gatekeepers to the expanding world of mobile Internet access, allowing them to favor their own applications while blocking, degrading or de-prioritizing others.

Instead of re-establishing the FCC's authority to act as a consumer watchdog over the Internet, it places the agency's authority on a shaky and indefensible legal footing -- giving ultimate control over the Internet to a small handful of carriers.

Obama's 'Mission Accomplished'

Internet users deserve far better, and we thought we were going to get it from a president who promised to "take a backseat to no one in my commitment to Net Neutrality." Watch now as he and his FCC chairman try to spin tomorrow's betrayal as another "mission accomplished."

Don't believe it. This bogus victory has become all too familiar to those watching the Obama administration and its appointees squander opportunities for real change. The reality is that reform is just a rhetorical front for industry compromises that reward the biggest players and K-Street lobbyists while giving the public nothing.....

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[msongs]

1. corporate america's goal = how to loot the social security trust fund nt

[emilyg]

2. Bingo

'The reality is that reform is just a rhetorical front for industry compromises that reward the biggest players and K-Street lobbyists while giving the public nothing.....'

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lamp_shade]

5. A fraud?

[Radical Activist]

4. Does the author think he can get people to take action with cynical comments about Obama?

People have tried it on every other issue and it mostly just alienates people. Those who enjoy that sort of thing are too cynical to bother calling their Congressman or writing a letter anyway. They don't believe it makes a difference.

[ibegurpard]

6. what else would you expect from this administration?

[onenote]

7. more posts by DUers who fail to understand the concept of an independent regulatory agency

The Chairman and Commissioners of the FCC are presidential appointees. But unlike cabinet posts, they are not executive branch officials. They cannot be fired by the President or asked to resign. There is a long history of FCC Chairmen doing their own thing even if it is at odds with the views of the administration that nominated them.

In addition, the legal and policy issues in play here are complex and multilayered. The courts have already struck down one attempt by the FCC to regulate the Internet. The FCC had a couple of options it could pursue. One would have involved an expansive reading of its authority that is contrary to previous rulings by the FCC and that even Democrats on the Hill, such as Henry Waxman, were not very keen on. The other involved a new effort to adopt regulations on a jurisdictional footing similar to the one that the courts struck down. Neither is a very good choice. Congress, of course, could address this directly, but there isn't any chance of that happening. In fact, even the rules that the FCC adopts could have a hard time surviving a Congressional Review Act challenge after the first of the year. If that succeeds, there will be no net neutrality rules for a long time, if ever.

So yes, the rules the FCC is adopting are not everything that some proponents wanted, particularly when it comes to the treatment of wireless carriers. But going further would put the outcome at even greater risk of Congressional reversal. There is a reason that folks like Kerry are on board with the current plan. Its a step in the right direction, which makes it better than doing nothing and having little chance of anything being done for a long time.

[Armstead]

8. Still more excuses

I'm trying to figure out what some people think the president does for a living.

He can't do this because of congress...nor that because of regulations...or the courts...etc. Etc. Etc.

Problem is it seems that when the GOP is in charge, they get what they want instead of making excuses.

I realize that this is a complex issue, and thatcther was ajudicial roadblock....However, when the result is -- yet again -- a "compromise" that gives Big Business still more power with crumbs tossed towards the rest of the public, it gets very depressing and infuriating.

[onenote]

9. repubs get what they want instead of making excuses

interesting comment given that the first attempt to enforce net neutrality requirements on Comcast was led by a repub FCC Chairman who was able to succeed only be cause he had the votes of the two Democrats and thus was able to prevail over the opposition of the two other repubs on the Commission, only to have the decision thrown out by the DC Circuit.

[ProSense]

10. Tim Karr

has followed Senator Kerry's actions on net neutrality, and knows he's a very strong advocate.

Sen. John Kerry wrote here that the FCC needs to fight "to make sure the Internet stays in the hands of the American people, that we get to set the rules to benefit all of us, not just a few huge corporations."

link

Net Neutrality Needs Your Help TODAY

Who Really Owns Your Phone?


Net Neutrality: A Win-Win for Small Businesses' Economic Success

The rules may not be as strong as Karr wants them to be, but the notion that these rules are going to harm the net neutrality efforts is plain wrong. It is also not the end of net neutrality.