Much like when under Reagan the FCC also decided in 1987 that it would no longer enforce its "Fairness Doctrine," and when Clinton's FCC signed the Telecommunication Act of 1996.
This fucked-up Internet give-away, is simply for more corporate profits & control, if it becomes the Obama's FCC agenda for the Internet on Tuesday, (tomorrow)....much of the Internet will become nothing more than just another massive propaganda & marketing tool for the corporations, the wealthy's political party, used exactly the same as the corporate mainstream media, Fox "news", etc...
Censoring will be rampant, big corporations ISP will simply be paid off or not offer info they don't agree with - just as bad is not allowing certain information to reach the internet users & subscribers.....This truly has the potential to be a terrible blow for the last major medium of free speech and information for all.
And the Obama administration (FCC) is offering it all to the corporations (AT&T Verizon Comcast) on a silver platter....America's media & Internet have steadily become an increasingly important factor in the electoral process. This FCC ruling WILL have major consequences on our political process and future elections - And NOT for the better, but will be utilized by the corporations and the elitist for their own self interest, power & manipulation of opinion.
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"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was expected this week to vote on a set of so-called "Net Neutrality" rules that some Democrats believed would fulfill a key Obama campaign promise to ensure all Internet traffic is treated equally.
Instead, rules authored by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski would allow for a greater fractioning of the Internet and data rationing on mobile and wired networks, according to analysis of the policies. Major network stakeholders like Verizon and AT&T would be able to sell bandwidth in capped tiers, with overage charges for users who download too much information, and certain types of data traffic like peer-to-peer file transfers could be banned altogether.
If they pass and telecoms are allowed to move forward with their plans, "the Internet as we know it would cease to exist," Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) concluded in an editorial published by Huffington Post.
"That's why Tuesday is such an important day," he continued. "The FCC will be meeting to discuss those regulations, and we must make sure that its members understand that allowing corporations to control the Internet is simply unacceptable."
Franken added that Genachowski "has been calling the CEOs of major Internet corporations seeking their public endorsement" of a bill that would actually "destroy" the principle of "Net Neutrality."
Franken also called "troubling" the fact that President Obama and Genachowski have campaigned "convincingly" for "Net Neutrality," yet now appear poised to deal its death blow.
"Imagine if Comcast customers couldn't watch Netflix, but were limited only to Comcast's Video On Demand service," Franken continued. "Imagine if a cable news network could get its website to load faster on your computer than your favorite local political blog. Imagine if big corporations with their own agenda could decide who wins or loses online. The Internet as we know it would cease to exist."http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/the-internet-cease-exist-fccs-proposed-rules-sen-franken-argues/