Net Neutrality

[Chezzestix]

I must agree with what has been said here however I do see the phone companies side of this. They have built a system and provided a service and it is theirs to regulate or take away. While I do see thier side I am also disgusted at thier capatilistic ways. This move, whether a conspiracy or not, under our economic system is the next logical move and very likely. Everyone complains about separating the state and religion but I say we worry more about separating big business and state.

No one will be able to stop the idea of the net or free media because just when they restrict one kind society always creates anouther.
It has always been my saying "If you don't like the way it works; then work it a different way." That is the tendency of society it allways finds a way to wriggle its way out of a vise. If it didn't Half Life 2 would have no story.

Whether they put a vise on the internet or not the net will always live on.

[miron]

If AT&T shuts down my internet service because of some content I host on my server, I'd instigate a riot.

[Tad2020]

If TW shut down mine, I'd be screwed, they're the only ones that service my area. AT&T barely provides phone service here where their central office is about 3 miles away (via walking).

I've read many ISP's TOS policies at work (for people who work from home) and most of them would have to be rewritten if any net neutrality laws are ever pasted. They do things like block your access to smtp server, vpn, sometimes pop3 too, and they some times have DNS servers that resolve differently from what the domains are registered. I makes my job hard when I have to tell somebody that they won't be able to email from home with their work address cause their ISP won't let them and won't provide a server that they could use. COX is one of these companies that does many of those depending on market (or more likely, depending on local law).

One of these years I hope that there will be more than 1 or 2 choices (and many times, none) for broadband in Orange county. I hear that in some places in this country that there are 3 or 4 choices, but those are myths.

[philxyz]

The net has never been neutral. If a law were to pass that regulates the internet, that's one more thing the US goverment gains territorial control over.

At the moment, the internet is a little like a BSD license. Everything is fair game, no Government involvement


Net neutrality is almost like the GPL, except the US get to decide what constitutes freedom online.

Frankly, I'd rather things stay as they are now... people get very confused about "net neutrality" but remember it has never been neutral. Someone just came up with the idea of making it less free and others said "we've got to prevent that!"

But once you switch from "negative freedom" to "positive freedom", you enter dictatorship.

[-=Fox=-]

Nobody here heard of FreeNet?

http://freenetproject.org/

Even if the ISP watches your every move, there is a way so that they just see junk, and can't see what your doing and therefore cannot censor you.

Also... if the ISPs service become too restrictive or not providing the content people want, nobody will want the ISP anyways, they'd lose money...

[kymagic]

For those of us in the UK, there is an ePetition on the Downing Street website on te subject, seeings as we cant contact congress:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Netneutrality/

[Obsidian]

Omfg my stomach dropped watching that I swear if anything like that were to happen...idk right now I can't much until I move out, but when I do...

[-orb-]

Don't think freedom of speech will save you.

GWB has already been rewriting the consititution.

There are already many laws that directly violate our freedom of speech.

[TheApathetic]

Don't think freedom of speech will save you.

GWB has already been rewriting the consititution.

There are already many laws that directly violate our freedom of speech.[/b]

Nah, politicians have been mucking around with the Constitution from the beginning. Case in point, the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.

Sadly, I think most Americans haven't read (at least fully) either the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, let alone understand them.

On Net Neutrality: I'm quite wary of letting the government interfere with the internet. The thought of it bugs me even more because the US government is (at this point) very centralized, while the internet is meant to be the exact opposite.

I remember reading somewhere about the desire of some members of the so-called "Establishment" in putting up what are essentially "gatekeepers" to the internet. Given the power (both current and potential) of the internet in allowing people to organize and speak out about important issues, and potentially support non-mainstream candidates (e.g. Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul), it makes sense that those in power would want to restrict the internet in some manner. I doubt they would pull something like what China is doing now (at least not openly or without some disaster to "justify" it), but then again I'm not certain if I can put anything past the current crop of politicians .

[-orb-]

You want something scary?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20...20070717-3.html

straight from whitehouse.gov, definitely legit.

the basic gist is that if you speak out against the iraq war or the government's intentions, the government can bypass judicial order and seize all your assets without a trial or explanation.

no more freedom of speech for us.