FCC Will Tame the Internet - Or Kill It

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   JWestCattleposted 13 years ago

   FCC Will Tame the Internet -- Or Kill It
   http://www.cnbc.com/id/37779304?__source
   
   Published: Friday, 18 Jun 2010 | 12:07 PM ET  by: Dennis Kneale
   
   "For almost two decades the U.S. government has kept its meddlesome mudhooks off the Internet, freeing it to spread its kudzu-like tendrils into the global economy. And it worked.
   
   . . . The FCC took a big step this week to end all of that. For the first time, the Federal Communications Commission proposes using a set of 75-year-old phone regulations to oversee the Net of the 21st century. . .
   
   . . . This time around, the agency push is in direct contradiction to a ruling in April from the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. . .
   
   . . . Two months ago the DC appeals court unanimously agreed: the FCC had no such authority.  What to do? Make it up!
   
   . . . To do that, the FCC proposes a nifty little change in definitions. It wants to re-classify the Internet and say it no longer is an information service which gets a light hand. Now the Net shall be called a telecommunications service, a phone service, basically, that gets subjected (and subjugated) to a lot more government oversight. . .
   
   . . . The Obama Adminstration FCC, backing off an opportunity to expand its regulatory hegemony over a trillion-dollar industry? Why would we ever believe this FCC is capable of doing a wise thing like that?"

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   They will not be able to tame the Internet without infringe on privacy rights.

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   ryankettposted 13 years ago

   Their "75-year-old phone regulations" will not be applicable to other global economies, so unless they want to lose their most important blue chip companies to other countries, such as the UK, then I am sure that you can consider yourself safe.
   
   The logic behind this is a bit strange. A country builds up its economy on innovation, mainly computer and internet led, and then kills its primary industry? Some of your biggest exports are internet driven, Google for a start.
   
   It would make no sense for you government to want to destroy the country that it is elected to serve. For that reason I put the chances of this happening at precisely 0%.
   
   So your government cannot 'kill' the internet. It can only kill its own corporations and hand over trillions of dollars of industry to other companies. America is the largest single technology market. It is also, however, just a small drop in the ocean. Ask the Japanese how much of a reliance they have on American internet companies. The answer is none whatsoever, they will remain entirely unaffected.
   
   The reality of course is that this change will simply result in Americans paying more money for their internet, with the government having some means of making a bit more money out of you. It is just a way of taxing your pleasure. And so many Americans are hooked on, or rely on, the internet.... that you will pay it. It may not be a bad thing for your economy if the government was to use the money to reduce their deficits or national debt levels. The reality is that they would probably use waste it on a pointless war again instead, as some sort of justification for having a military which is 5 times larger than it needs to be.
   
   It would be bad news for Hubbers of course.

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   MikeNVposted 13 years ago

   
   
   Sad... Google is going to kill their own revenue by manipulating the Government to stifle the carriers infrastructure investment.
   
   What's next... back to charging by the megabyte?  The communication companies are not going to cave to Google.  Seems like kind of a dumb move by them to support more Government Intervention.
   
   South Korea has blazing fast internet... but it's subsidized. Seems a better approach if the Government wants to thow money at something useful.

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