A Righteous Rant
Steve Bates made a calm, reasoned comment to the FCC on “Net Neutrality” discussing the impact on small business of the proposed two tier system. He covers a very important point about the need for a “level playing field” where the best product or service can attract customers without millions spent on marketing.
I will be commenting shortly on the effect on the average user in the area of downloading software updates. Imagine what it would be like to update Windows every month with a dial-up connection…
Not everyone is satisfied with with the reasoned approach, and the CBC reports on a different tack: John Oliver’s net neutrality rant crashes FCC website.
John Oliver is another Daily Show alumnus who has branched out to his own show and his rant is definitely worth a look.
7 comments
Yeah, I watched John Oliver last night! I was PMSL! He’s a definite “chip off the ol’ Stewart block!” 😉 😀
He is completely correct that it’s a total sham by your Comm’s monopoly.
Of course, Obama continues to prove he is a complete corporate ass-kisser worse even than either ex-prez Bush by nominating cable industry lobbyist & campaign bundler Tom Wheeler as head of the FCC! So, expect nothing to change. You are screwed, as are we all by extension. Thanks again USA!!
Hmmm. Maybe the public might get a win, if they keep up the pressure! Tough call, as the Gov & Corporates have proven time and again they don’t give a f*ck what people think. Still… here’s the latest”
From RT, the first place I go for USA news. 😉 LOL
RT: John Oliver crashes FCC site after calling to defend net neutrality
And this statement from Oliver sums it up nicely, especially since Aussies definitely get the allegory! Curious that he used that one as I very much doubt many in the USA will get it. If he was aiming it at Aussies, why? Maybe he thinks that Aussie ex-pat’s in the USA will be the only one with balls enough to take on the FCC! LOL
What he was alluding to, is this bit of shame in our history!
Wiki: Death of Azaria Chamberlain
For the record, I do not believe for a second Azaria’s mother was guilty of any crime. She was simply a convenient scapegoat. It’s much like justice in the USA really.
First off, the dingo story did get reported in the US, and I seem to remember a TV movie about it as well as references in a few other movies. He also made some Canadian and British allusions during the piece that I noticed, but then this would affect everyone using the ‘Net that needed to route through the US.
He did use the traditional reference to the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz at the end, so he maintained the traditions of the ‘Net.
He was dead on – the telecoms don’t compete, and they aren’t investing in either improving the existing infrastructure or expanding it into unserved areas. They are concentrating on extracting the most money they can from the existing system for their short-term benefit.
Industry lobbyists become industry regulators become industry lobbyists … ad nauseam.
When Obama tapped Tom Wheeler for FCC chair, I walked into the next room and said to Stella, “You were right!” She looked puzzled and said, “About what?” “About Obama being an almost out-of-the-closet Republican,” I said.
I was fortunate to pursue my IT career in what may appear in retrospect to be the Golden Age of the Internet. The coming era looks all too liable to be the Gilded Age…
It looks more like Tarnished Brass than Gilded because they aren’t even pretending any more.
Badtux and I had Zero pegged as a Republican before the primaries really got rolling, but no one was interested – the Kool-Aid was just too tasty…
Maybe Neal Stephenson was right and it’s The Diamond Age. When Zero first came on the scene, I, at the time a loyal Democrat, supported him because I so very much wanted another great Democratic leader, another FDR or JFK. Not this guy. Would McCain or Rmoney have been worse? Probably, though not by much. Would I vote for O’Bummer if he could run for a third term? Aw, c’mon… At least I paid for my sin by not being able to find a job in his economic “recovery.” I do believe that when neither major party can come up with an acceptable candidate in two successive presidential elections, our national goose is well and truly cooked.
As long as money controls politics, the way it obviously does, I don’t think that there is any hope of getting a decent candidate from either of the existing parties.
I get a half dozen e-mails a day claiming that the other side is winning based solely on how much money they have raised. Spending billions of dollars on elections is absurd.