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FCC rules to regulate internet

So, now the internet is going to be regulated? On Feb. 26, the FCC passed their secret 332 page plan to regulate the internet in a so-called move to preserve net-neutrality. Amid controversy on the secretive practices in which the FCC has been withholding their plans and not allowing Americans and even members of Congress to see the regulations before being voted on, they still passed. The document still has not been released and some reports say it could be weeks or months before they can be scrutinized.

FCC commissioner Ajit Pai has been warning Americans for several months about the move to install FCC control over regulating the internet with so-called net-neutrality rules. According to Pai, the FCC move is unwarranted and unprecedented and allows them to regulate something in which fairness and neutrality already exist. He says that the government is turning the internet into a place where, through their definition of it as a public utility, ushers in further control that will only have negative affects. Pai says that “[net neutrality is] a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” It is a plan to takeover something in which they claim needs fixed or controlled when in reality the internet is the freest form of informational access, expression and borderless business. He continued: “Read my lips. More Internet taxes are coming. It’s just a matter of when.”

Ajit Pai, along with fellow FCC commissioner Mike O’Rielly, are warning that because the internet will now fall under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act in which instead of the internet retaining its classification as an information service, it would now be considered a telecommunications service or “common carrier”.

According to the Associated Press, this will “dramatically expand regulators’ power over the industry by requiring internet service providers (ISP’s) to act in the public interest and enable the FCC to fine companies found to be employing “unreasonable” business practices.” However, as the AP article notes, that for all the years that the internet has been widely used and distributed (controlled, regulated) by ISP’s, providers have generally accepted an industry-wide practice of not picking winners or losers or meddling with compromising service to many at the behest of a few with deep pockets.

The oft cited claim for new “net-neutrality” rules stem from the idea that a premium service like Netflix might ask an ISP to open more bandwidth for the providing of their service while slowing down and limiting the bandwidth allowed by other websites that are not priority. While this technically can happen, and conjecture has been thrown around about using such power, ISP’s have so far maintained a level playing field in which all consumers have equal access to all content online.

All this without government interference or regulation, yet the U.S. government wants its hand in the pie anyway. It makes you wonder, why?

Perhaps it is so that the government will now have regulatory authority to go after businesses, media outlets and other websites which “don’t fit in” with a broader agenda. After all, China and their “Great Firewall” is abstract of the view that government must regulate the free and open internet, not because there is anything wrong, but to further the control mechanisms in an arena which otherwise is the last bastion of free speech and free economic diversity.

As such, it is not a stretch to see how regulating something so vast and borderless would be the target of a government which is always looking to punish more people and make more money by extortion in any manner possible.

It starts out as regulation, then taxation, then restrictions, then the blocking of “illegal” websites that fall into certain categories (i.e., extremist, patriotic, militia, anti-goverment, hacktivism, fringe media, drug support, anti-vax, etc.) and then finally a full firewall complete with kill switch rolls out within 15 years or less.

Who better to start the regulation by executive fiat? The FCC of course. That’s why any government would want to assert control on something as big as access to the internet. Ron Paul writes: “The adoption of these FCC rules on the Internet represents the largest regulatory power grab in recent history. The FCC’s newly adopted rule takes the most dynamic means of communication and imposes the regulatory structure designed for public utilities. Federal regulation could also open the door to de facto censorship of ideas perceived as threatening to the political class – ideas like the troops should be brought home, the PATRIOT Act should be repealed, military spending and corporate welfare should be cut, and the Federal Reserve should be audited and ended.”

Not only has it been proven that the government has been spying on all of our digital lives through innumerable and unconstitutional means, but now they have shown that they want the framework to control our access to the internet.

So, why do we need “net-neutrality”? We don’t. Because net neutrality has already existed ever since the free and open internet became used by billions of people. The argument that somehow we magically need a set of regulations right now to define so-called net neutrality rules and delegate the internet as a public utility akin to phone lines, gas, power or radio, is a fallacy. Even to those of you who don’t use or care about the internet should be concerned, because if it weren’t for the internet, none of us would be writing or reading anything like this article today.

The internet, while chaotic, sometimes frustrating, filled with ads and subversive paraphernalia and suggestive and perhaps brain deadening content, is still one of the beautiful inventions that embraces the idea of decentralization. It embodies the ability to speak freely, organize, buy, sell, trade, seek, inform, write, criticize, overthrow, come together, learn, build, enterprise and grow. Nothing can ever replace humans, but to have such a powerful tool is important to hold on to.

Of course, for this reason, it is a dangerous tool which governments have now understood to be one of the last strongholds which allows the fundamental values to free speech and assembly to flourish without their consent. As Ron Paul continues: “The one bright spot in this otherwise disastrous move is that federal regulations making it more difficult to use the Internet will cause more Americans to join our movement for liberty, peace, and prosperity. The federal government should keep its hands off of the Internet!”

It’s amazing to see what our government is capable of; Yet, I’d like to see what 300 million Americans are capable of. Keep the Internet free and open. That is true net neutrality. Government regulation is not neutral. Stop and think.

Sam Ludtman lives in Reno.

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