Obama calls on FCC to keep Internet 'free and open'

Posted by $ Your_Name_Goes_Here 9 years, 6 months ago to Politics
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He didn't build that... Somebody else built that.

Did our Dear Leader just act unilaterally by executive fiat yet again? It's been less than one week since the voters of this great country sent him an overwhelming NO to this type of behavior, and he's back at it. It is going to be an interesting two remaining years of our Dear Leader, The One, Barack Hussein Obama's (mmm, mmm, mmm) term.

All Comments

  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 6 months ago
    The low information voters will only hear he wants to keep the internet "free and open." Why does everything coming out of his mouth mean something else?
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  • Posted by $ Your_Name_Goes_Here 9 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I hope that you are right, but I recall that the Infernal Revenue Service didn't blink an eye before complying with our Dear Leader.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 6 months ago
    20 years ago I remember reading a debate (probably on FidoNet) about deregulating communications technology tended to believe the argument that deregulation was just a way to make phone calls and cable TV more expensive. That was completely wrong. All communication got better and cheaper.

    I don't know if this is the same, but I suspect it is. The difference is the Internet has removed gatekeepers to publishing and made it possible to produce content down the long tail. I'm sure the gatekeepers would love to go back to the old days. When I hear about NetNeutrality, it sounds like avoiding a return to gatekeepers and content only geared to a broad audience. Going back to the old days, though, is impossible. I don't think it takes gov't action to avoid.

    I think it's similar to the complain people make about the old Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS). It provided everyone from 911 dispatch in an urban area to a house in the countryside the same reliability and cost. We've given that up. Now you pay for reliability. But you can get amazing mostly-reliable services at a low cost. Enough people have voluntarily moved to mobile phone and VoIP that the POTS is untenable and going away within a few years.
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  • Posted by Technocracy 9 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The FCC realizes, even if the dear leader doesn't, that pissing off all the internet users in this country would be disastrous for them.

    Talk about bury the politicians in the senate and house under emails and phone calls....
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  • Posted by $ Mimi 9 years, 6 months ago
    Maybe it’s just me...but it does seem the FCC is dragging their feet to jump to His Highness’ wishes. They even asked for public comments several months ago. I think they are passively resisting action for fear of how the public will respond.
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  • Posted by flanap 9 years, 6 months ago
    By the government declaring they will control it in order to keep it free, by default, it isn't free. Let's not be fooled here.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 9 years, 6 months ago
    So the government sets up the "independent" FCC to regulate communications and the most progressive President in history asks them not to regulate communications. I would have been impressed if he said the FCC has outlasted it's usefulness.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 6 months ago
    Either Oprahma forgot that the election was last week, or the proposed law has some anti-liberty language that should be removed before implementation.
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