More Threats to Internet Freedom

[A_Wanderer]

As if it's not enough with the UN trying to wrest control and both tax and censor it

Congress wants to change the Internet.

This is news to most people because the major news media have not actively pursued the story. Yet both the House and Senate commerce committees are promoting new rules governing the manner by which most Americans receive the Web. Congressional passage of new rules is widely anticipated, as is President Bush’s signature. Once this happens, the Internet will change before your eyes.

The proposed House legislation, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE), offers no protections for “network neutrality.”

Currently, your Internet provider does not voluntarily censor the Web as it enters your home. This levels the playing field between the tiniest blog and the most popular Web site.

Yet the big telecom companies want to alter this dynamic. AT&T and Verizon have publicly discussed their plans to divide the information superhighway into separate fast and slow lanes. Web sites and services willing to pay a toll will be channeled through the fast lane, while all others will be bottled up in the slower lanes. COPE, and similar telecom legislation offered in the Senate, does nothing to protect the consumer from this transformation of the Internet.

The telecoms are frustrated that commercial Web sites reap unlimited profits while those providing entry to your home for these companies are prevented from fully cashing in. If the new telecom regulations pass without safeguarding net neutrality, the big telecom companies will be able to prioritize the Web for you. They will be free to decide which Web sites get to your computer faster and which ones may take longer - or may not even show up at all.

link

 

[BVS]

Is this really about freedom of speech or $$$?


And what is the issue with the UN?

 

[nbcrusader]

Why should we expect continued access to high speed data networks at no cost?

 

[A_Wanderer]

Is this really about freedom of speech or $$$?


And what is the issue with the UN?

The push by the EU and a lot of boghole states to get the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance to take over from ICANN.

 

[melon]

Why should we expect continued access to high speed data networks at no cost?

No cost? That's what your monthly internet bill is for, and on the dot-com end, they have paid for their entry into the internet somehow.

What AT&T and Verizon want harkens back to an earlier, noncompetitive era when AT&T controlled everything. Even buying third-party phone accessories was illegal prior to a 1950s-era Supreme Court ruling.

As usual, we see where the loyalties of the GOP really are.

Melon

 

[hiphop]

fuck AT&T
i fully agree with melon on this one
i pay 40$ per month for highspeed internet access - what do i pay these for?

nbcrusader, take a look at this

Government Moves to Intervene in AT&T Surveillance Case
DOJ Will Assert Military and State Secrets Privilege and Request Dismissal of Lawsuit

San Francisco - The United States government filed a "Statement of Interest" Friday in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against AT&T, announcing that the government would "assert the military and state secrets privilege" and "intervene to seek dismissal" of the case.

EFF's lawsuit accuses AT&T of collaborating with the National Security Agency in its massive surveillance program. EFF's evidence regarding AT&T's dragnet surveillance of its networks, currently filed under seal, includes a declaration by Mark Klein, a retired AT&T telecommunications technician, and several internal AT&T documents. This evidence was bolstered and explained by the expert opinion of J. Scott Marcus, who served as Senior Advisor for Internet Technology to the Federal Communications Commission from July 2001 until July 2005

Much of the evidence in the case is currently under seal, as AT&T claims public release of the documents would expose trade secrets. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for May 17th.

For the full Statement of Interest:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/USA_statement_of_interest.pdf

For more on EFF's suit:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/

 

[nbcrusader]

Hiphop,

The original article addresses a new pricing format for internet use, which looks similar to the price structure used by the postal system.

You raise a more interesting, yet separate, issue regarding the internet. There should be plenty of news articles in the next couple of days further explaining this situation.

As for disclosure of records - while it can be painted as an incredible invasion of privacy, it is quite similar to invasions of privacy we currently accept on a regular basis. For example, when you travelled to the Americas, you were search by multiple governments with absolutely no personal basis for conducting the search. The overall balance between privacy and security must be re-thought.

 

[financeguy]

As for disclosure of records - while it can be painted as an incredible invasion of privacy, it is quite similar to invasions of privacy we currently accept on a regular basis.

Well, yes. It reminds me of the old frog-boiling analogy.

 

[wizard2c]

reply

Ah.....makes me ponder one of my earlier poems.......I wrote it a few years ago {but I always walk paces ahead of time}... it begins...

Come into my Web...
said the Spider to the Man..

{of course, I wouldn't want to bore you all with the rest of it....the details....}

That's why I normally try to catch a wave here and there. {pay no attention to me, I've had a bad day...it all started at the book store last night.......}

 

[Zoomerang96]

thanks again, wizard. that was great.

at+t 7ust want their fair share of the internet, guys. without them, we'd have no internet at all since they own the exclusive rights to it.

let's 7ust sit back, open our wallets and let them do what what they want. it's there's, this "internet" thing or whatever. i don't see THEM complaining about stuff you own.

so yeah. YEAH.

 

[nbcrusader]

Just to be clear, what do you feel entitled to with respect to the internet?

 

[ntalwar]

Why should we expect continued access to high speed data networks at no cost?

Perhaps because we are bombarded with ads and purchase items over the internet?

 

[bonsai]

I suppose this legislation will not protect those who are exploited (ie: children, those in the sex and porno industry)

Neither will it prevent virus, hackers or con-merchants on our network