Net Neutrality Has Been In Effect For One Month. Are You Dead Yet?

dailywire
ByMichael J. Knowles
July 20, 2018

Or did the tax cuts already kill you?

 

It’s been just over one month since “net neutrality” regulations officially ended, flinging civilization back into the Paleolithic hellscape of 2015. In those waning days of the Obama administration, government bureaucrats took control over the Internet by classifying it as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the Federal Communications Commission sweeping power to regulate Internet service providers as if the three dozen some-odd ISPs in the United States were the second coming of the Ma Bell telephone monopoly.

After just three short, halcyon years, President Trump’s FCC chairman Ajit Pai repealed the burdensome regulations on December 14, 2017. Hollywood celebrities leapt to the defense of their countrymen not already dead from tax cuts and declared the Internet over. Some insisted the rule change would lead Twitter to charge users per tweet. The ACLU warned the repeal could lead to “erosion of the biggest free speech platform the world has ever known.”

Bye, Internet! You had your moments. #NetNeutrality — Martha Plimpton (@MarthaPlimpton) December 14, 2017

On July 19, Democrat politicians across the country made one final push to stop the “net neutrality” repeal before it was too late. Congressman Adam Smith tweeted, “The Trump FCC’s repeal of #NetNeutrality starts today. I’m calling for a vote in the People’s House to #SaveTheInternet.” Democrat House colleagues Barbara Lee and Nita Lowey, among others, posted similar warnings and calls-to-action. Unfortunately for the digital doomsday prophets, the new policy had already gone into effect more than a month earlier on June 11. The skies did not darken; the earth did not quake. The repeal date came and went last month with little fanfare. The Internet survived. Twitter didn’t start charging per tweet. The World Wide Web persists un-eroded.

Despite overwhelming public support, the Trump @FCC’s repeal of #NetNeutrality starts today. I support a vote to #SaveTheInternet! pic.twitter.com/diViaOb08g — Nita Lowey (@NitaLowey) July 19, 2018

The Democrats’ “net neutrality” narrative never made any sense. The “net neutrality” regulations made the Internet less free. Moreover, they were an aberration without which the Internet expanded and developed marvelously for decades. If Democrats wanted to keep the Internet the way it had always been, they would have campaigned to repeal the regulations. But the Democrat hysteria over “net neutrality” was never about preserving the Internet we all knew and loved; it was about grabbing ever more power.

Catastrophe is always imminent, according to the Left. They warn of disaster but promise to save us if we’ll only give them a bit more power and a bit more money. In his 1956 book When Prophecy Fails, psychologist Leon Festinger found that doomsday cultists wake up the morning after Armageddon, not in disbelief, but even firmer in their convictions. The reason is that the end of the world is never averted; it’s only ever postponed. A failed prediction or two will not suffice to disband the cult. In order to leave, one must first recognize the flaws in the belief system itself.

The Democrat Party will continue to peddle the same old Kool-Aid, through the midterm elections and beyond. Armageddons will come and go, the cultists will remain, and those fortunate few who recognize the internal illogic of their own ideologies will walk away.

Read More: Democratic Party Internet Trump Administration


Thank You Mr Knowles and DailyWire. 

FCC Kills Net Neutrality

Huge win for Free Speech and a return to the Constitution!

freebeacon
Elizabeth Harrington
December 14, 2017 2:40 pm

The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules that imposed greater regulation over the internet.

On a party line vote, the FCC approved Chairman Ajit Pai's Restoring Internet Freedom proposal, which repeals the 2015 Title II rules. Net neutrality, for the first time in history, classified internet service providers as utilities, rather than information services.

"Following detailed legal and economic analysis, as well as extensive examination of comments from consumers and stakeholders, the Commission reversed the FCC's 2015 heavy-handed utility-style regulation of broadband internet access service, which imposed substantial costs on the entire internet ecosystem," the FCC said. "In place of that heavy-handed framework, the FCC is returning to the traditional light-touch framework that was in place until 2015."

The vote was briefly halted when the FCC meeting room had to be evacuated due to a security threat. Net neutrality supporters have engaged in a heated campaign against Pai since he announced intentions to roll back the rules earlier this year.

A man was arrested for making a death threat against Republican congressman John Katko over the net neutrality issue. Pai and his family received numerous threats, and alt-left groups involved in the violent riots during the inauguration targeted Pai's neighborhood.

The FCC said ISPs will again be classified as an "information service" under Title I of the Communications Act, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2005. Mobile broadband internet services will also be reinstated as private mobile services by the FCC.

Net neutrality led to regulatory uncertainty, less investment in broadband, and hampered innovation among smaller ISPs in rural areas, the FCC said. Capital expenditure in broadband declined by 5.6 percent since Title II was adopted two years ago, which amounted to over $3.6 billion in lost investment.

Pai's Restoring Internet Freedom will still require ISPs to disclose to their consumers if they block or throttle traffic over their networks.

"The FCC's action today has restored the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission to act when broadband providers engage in anticompetitive, unfair, or deceptive acts or practices," the FCC said.

Republican FCC commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Brendan Carr joined Pai in voting for repeal. Democratic commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel dissented.

The vote came three weeks after Pai released his proposal to the public, a contrast from the previous administration. The vote to put net neutrality in place was shrouded in secrecy, as former chairman Tom Wheeler did not release the text of the nearly 400-page rule until two weeks after the FCC voted to approve it.

Republicans offered widespread praise for the FCC vote, including House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

"I support an open internet, but there is a better way to ensure consumer protections without disrupting the free flow of information and innovation that has made it a cornerstone of the 21st Century economy," Rogers said. "The heavy-handed rules from the Obama administration stifled investment in rural communities, like those in Eastern Washington, and created uncertainty for ISPs in meeting the requirements of those rules."

"What I want is for everyone to come to the table to find a bipartisan, legislative solution that will protect consumers while not harming investment, innovation, and free-market principles," she said. 

This entry was posted in Issues and tagged Net Neutrality. Bookmark the permalink.

Thank You Ms Harrington and Free Beacon.

The Net Neutrality Noise Machine Turns Violent

townhall
Phil Kerpen
Posted: Dec 06, 2017 12:01 AM

The perpetual outrage mob on the left has adopted an unlikely target of late – the brainy, affable head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai is now flanked by a Homeland Security protective detail everywhere he goes because of a deluge of specific, credible threats of violence toward him and his young children. He's also facing an onslaught of racist smears and attacks too obscene to quote – including an image asserting that Pai is Osama bin Laden after shaving his beard.

Members of Congress are coming under similar attack for supporting Pai's signature proposal. The most outrageous example resulted in a criminal indictment after Congressman John Katko received a message threatening: "I will find you and your family and I will kill you all. Do you understand? I will literally find all of you and your progeny and just wipe you from the face of the earth."

So what is the apocalyptic, world-changing Pai proposal that is inspiring violent, unhinged attacks from the left? He wants to rescind Obama Internet regulations that have only been in place for two years and return to the approach that was in effect since the Internet was privatized in the mid-1990s until 2015, treating net neutrality as a consumer protection and antitrust issue.

Personally, I recall the Internet improving pretty dramatically over those two decades, but the consensus on the left is that it was a hellscape.

How did that happen? How did so many people become passionately convinced of the plainly illogical proposition that the Internet would be destroyed if we went back to the light-touch regulatory approach that was in place for nearly all the Internet's commercial history until just two years ago?

For over a decade, professional liberal organizers told the bizarre scare story that without heavy-handed government regulation, Internet service providers (ISPs) will start blocking what websites you can go to and impede free speech on the Internet. No such thing happened. To the contrary, robust competition between phone and cable companies – and later wireless companies – drove speeds dramatically higher and consumers benefited from an Internet that innovated beyond our wildest dreams.


Nonetheless, in 2015, ultraliberal advocacy groups (fueled by $196 million from the Soros and Ford Foundations) and Silicon Valley giants like Google (which cycled a shocking 250 personnel through the Obama administration and saw regulating ISPs as a way to guarantee themselves access to below-market-rate downstream bandwidth) succeeded in getting the FCC to reclassify ISPs as regulated public utilities.

This was done under a Depression-era law designed for the old Ma Bell telephone monopoly. Thousands of requests to micromanage every aspect of the Internet piled up at the FCC Enforcement Bureau and the commission was set to adopt a sweeping new broadband tax to replace the private investment it scared off – with strings attached of course – during a Hillary Clinton administration.


The liberal organizers of the phony scare campaign had even bigger plans; Robert McChesney, the founder of Free Press – the group that was cited 46 times in the Obama net neutrality order – openly bragged: "At the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies. We are not at that point yet. But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control."

It wasn't meant to be.

The American people elected President Trump who in turn elevated free-market champion Ajit Pai to undo the mischief of the Obama FCC.


Of course, the noise machine won't go down without doing what noise machines do, so the hysterical claims from the left are proliferating.

One puzzler is an image of deeply discounted limited data plans offered by a mobile carrier in Portugal. People sharing the image fail to note the same carrier also offers unlimited plans, and that limited data plans are legal here even under the Obama regulations. But those simple facts aside – would banning six-dollar limited data plans for people who can't afford unlimited offerings be a good idea? It's hard to see why it would be, but if you say that publicly you could face threats of violence.

Liberal money to demonize and attack Chairman Pai and his allies is flowing like water. Gigi Sohn, a top adviser to the Obama FCC, is now on the payroll of George Soros's foundation, no doubt helping shovel head-spinning amounts of money to liberal advocacy groups out of the $18 billion Soros recently donated in one of the largest tax dodges in history.

Let's just hope sanity can prevail before somebody gets killed, and the Internet can go back to innovating and improving without micromanagement from bureaucrats in Washington.

Thank You Mr Kerpen, Townhall, and Commissioner Pai.

FCC Moves Forward With Restoring Internet Freedom

redstate
Posted at 1:15 pm on May 18, 2017 by Neil Stevens

Under Barack Obama, the Federal Communications Commission imposed federal regulation of the Internet. Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the commission, has started the process of reversing that, and today’s 2-1 vote gets things going. Here’s what happens next.

Technically what the FCC did today is give notice of proposed rule making (NPRM). They’ve officially given notice of plans to implement Ajit Pai’s plan to undo the Obama-era power grab, and restore the Internet to a light touch.

What happens next is that the FCC will open up for public comment on the proposed rules. Naturally John Oliver and friends will rabble rouse a combination of racist and spam comments sent to the FCC, claiming that Ajit Pai is a pedophile because he’s Indian, and that he’s not a real American.

Once the public comment period is done, the FCC will consider the comments, make adjustments to the rules, and then move toward a final vote. I expect the plan will survive the comment period largely intact, just as the original Open Internet Order did.

And then we can get back to rolling out home fiber optic Internet, just as we were doing when Obama’s regulations froze that investment. Better speeds for more people.

Thank You Commissioner Pai, Mr Stevens and Redstate.

Trump Picks New FCC Chairman, WhistleBlower Ajit Pai

townhall

Great! Maybe we can see Mr. Pai get control of the internet back to America where it belongs.
 

Cortney O'Brien

|Posted: Jan 23, 2017 9:00 PM

 

President Trump announced another new member of his administration on Monday evening. Ajit Pai will be the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. As a member of the FCC, Pai strongly opposed net neutrality. Many conservative fans on Twitter heralded the new appointment as a win for freedom. 

Change is here! @AjitPaiFCC firing up his regulatory weed whacker==> https://t.co/9hm5MOgAoN

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) January 24, 2017

"I am deeply grateful to the President of the United States for designating me the 34th Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission," Pai said in a statement. "I look forward to working with the new Administration, my colleagues at the Commission, members of Congress, and the American public to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans."
 

 

Thank You Ms O'Brien and Townhall.

 

FCC Commissioner: Obama's Plan To Control The Internet

The FCC Is Just Another Dishonest, Authoritarian Arm Of The Obama Administration

Lawful Authority? We don't got to show you no stinking Lawful Authority.

redstate
By: Seton Motley (Diary)  |  April 18th, 2016 at 09:08 AM  | 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) describes itself thus: “An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.” Under the Barack Obama Administration, it has been none of these things.

Independent?

Regulating the Internet: How the White House Bowled Over FCC Independence

FCC Chairman (Tom Wheeler) Denies Receiving ‘Secret Instructions from the White House’ About Internet Rules

Sure – the instructions were actually quite overt.

White House Calls On FCC To Reclassify Broadband Under Title II, Protect Net Neutrality

White House Calls on the FCC to Shake Up the Cable Box Business

White House Calls For More Municipal (Government) Broadband Networks, Urges FCC To Override State Laws Blocking Them

And Chairman Wheeler has been a dutiful waiter – taking orders like a pro, and delivering them exactly as asked.

Net Neutrality: FCC Reclassifies Broadband Internet

FCC Approves Rules Process for Set-Top-Boxes

FCC Overturns State Laws Limiting Municipal Broadband

Authoritarian? Again, the FCC page describes itself as: “an independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.” The FCC is in fact a creation and a creature of Congress – and thus can not do anything unless and until Congress first writes a law that says “Yo, FCC – do this.”

Congress never passed anything telling the FCC to do any of this. (And the President calling for it carries zero legislative weight – as we know from so many other of hisunilateral, illegal executive branch actions.)

So as the power grabs pile up, the private sector is forced to grab whips and chairs to fend off the government – i.e., they call the lawyers.

(Add A)nother Lawsuit to the Net Neutrality Pile-On

Cue the Lawsuits: FCC Moving to Block State Broadband Laws

And you know there will have to be even more lawsuits filed when the FCC finishes cramming through its set-top-box power grab.

Dishonest? FCC Chairman Wheeler said many of these power grabs would never happen. Then he made them happen.

FCC ‘Net Neutrality’ Plan Calls for More Power Over Broadband: “The main advantage of (Chairman Wheeler’s) hybrid proposal, as opposed to full reclassification, is that it wouldn’t require the FCC to reverse earlier decisions to deregulate broadband providers, which were made in the hopes of encouraging the adoption and deployment of high-speed broadband.”

But that plan wasn’t good enough for the White House: “In response to news of Mr. Wheeler’s plan, a senior White House official said Thursday that ‘the president has made it abundantly clear that any outcome must protect net neutrality and ban paid prioritization—and has called for all necessary steps to safeguard an open Internet.’”

So Chairman Wheeler began the bow to his master’s call for full-on power grab reclassification.

FCC Chairman Wheeler: Broadband Reclassification ‘Very Much on the Table’

FCC Boss Now Making The Case For Reclassification, Rather Than Against It

Care for some more dishonesty? There’s plenty, you know.

FCC Kept ‘Obamaphone’ Fraud Under Wraps Until After It Expanded Program

FCC Chairman Wheeler Flip-Flops on Rate Regulation

FCC Chairman Wheeler: There’s the Internet, Then There’s Interconnection: “Wheeler added, ‘I think one of the things that I have said along the way is that peering (interconnection) is not a net neutrality issue. We haven’t seen peering as a net neutrality issue. There is a matter of the ‘open Internet,’ and then there is a matter of interconnection among the various, disparate pathways that become the Internet.’”

Except…

Wheeler Steps in on Verizon/Netflix Dispute over Internet Interconnection

AT&T-DirecTV Deal Gets Nod from Wheeler, with Conditions to Expand…Interconnection

Wheeler: No Going Back on FCC Internet Interconnection Oversight

The FCC is supposed to be an independent, expert agency – delivering decisions devoid of politics, based solely on the facts.

THIS FCC is none of this. It is just another partisan, hack member of this partisan, hack administration.

Congress should stop pretending its the former – and start seriously reining in the latter.

Thank You Mr Motley and Redstate.

College Campuses Too Politically Correct Even For The FCC

You wonder how the thought and mood Gestapo remain cloaked in their fiction of legitimacy. Remember this is the FCC that feels there's too Much freedom of speech on the internet.

campusreform

Anthony GockowskiInvestigative Reporter@AGockowskiToday at 2:49 PM EDTFCC Commissioner Ajit Pai says that majorities on campus feel they have the right to silence minority views.

Members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are stepping up to defend free-speech on college campuses at a time when unfashionable views are berated as offensive and racist.

“I think that poses a special danger to a country that cherishes First Amendment speech, freedom of expression, even freedom of association,” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai told The Washington Examiner. “I think it’s dangerous, frankly, that we don’t see more often people espousing the First Amendment view that we should have a robust marketplace of ideas where everybody should be willing and able to participate.”

"[W]e don’t see...people espousing the First Amendment view that we should have a robust marketplace of ideas[.]"    Tweet This

Most of Pai’s work, as a member of the FCC, focuses on determining what sorts of materials are acceptable to broadcast on American television. The FCC itself is responsible for censoring content that may be too “obscene,” “indecent,” or “profane.” But according to Pai, the only thing more obscene than Family Guy is the American college campus.

“Largely, what we’re seeing, especially on college campuses, is that if my view is in the majority and I don’t agree with your view, then I have the right to shout you down, disrupt your events, or otherwise suppress your ability to get your voice heard,” he said, condemning the obstruction to freedom of speech found on many college campuses.

Many college administrations have even put speech codes in place in order to ban language that may be offensive or inappropriate on campus. According to a 2015 report put out by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), 55 percent of America’s top academic institutions were worthy of FIRE’s “red label” for having “at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.” Only 18 of the surveyed universities received a “green light” rating, meaning the school’s written policies do not pose a serious threat to free speech.

Other universities are considering enforcing a ban on Yik Yak, an anonymous social media platform used to stir-up conversation in targeted communities. Some students, however, have abused the application by using it to send anonymous death threats to other students on campus. A ban on applications like Yik Yak, according to Pai, would pose a serious threat to promoting public discourse.

“The proverbial street corner of the 21st century, where people can gather to debate issues is increasingly social media, which serves as a platform for public discourse,” he said. “I hope that everybody embraces the idea of the marketplace of ideas.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski

Thank You Mr Gockowski and campusreform.

FCC: 'We Are Going To Be Sued.' Don't Execute HUGE Power Grabs - And You Won't

redstate
By: Seton Motley (Diary)  |  December 7th, 2015 at 09:36 AM  
|

The Barack Obama Administration has almost inarguably executed more unilateral sweeping power grabs than any previous presidency ever. Administration defenders lamely point to the number of Executive Orders issued: “GOP Slams ‘Imperial’ Obama After Fewest Executive Orders In 100 Years (CHART).” Which is technically true – but totally irrelevant.

A minor point: Not every single Executive Order grabs additional unilateral power (though many do). A MAJOR point: What matters most is total Grabs-by-Regulations – not specifically Executive Orders. New regs issued by the multitudinous Executive Branch departments, agencies, commissions and boards – that exceed the power granted them by Congressional legislation.

As but one example: “Obama EPA Issues Coal-Killing Rules To Cut Carbon Emissions 30 Percent.” Tally-wise – that’s just one power grab. But it is a HUGE power grab. President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is mandating that we cut our energy output by nearly one-third.

I don’t recall our elected Congressional representatives debating the merits and demerits of such a sweeping reduction in national productivity. Then deciding that the benefits outweigh the costs – and passing the requisite legislation authorizing the EPA to impose these draconian restrictions.

Neither do any of you – because it never happened. Unelected Obama bureaucrats just decided to do it. Just one power grab – but with HUGE power grabbed.

This Executive Branch unilateralism forces everyone else to respond – to defend the rule of law. One of the few ways they can? “Twelve States Sue the EPA Over Proposed Power Plant Regulations.” Conservatives don’t particularly like lawsuits – but we don’t dislike all of them. When the Feds are this out of control – file away. These suits are the legal equivalent of trying to fend them off with a whip and a chair.

Far too often these bureaucrats are appointed with just this sort of unilateralism in mind. Chosen for their willingness to exceed the law – and/or remarkably un-self-aware of how far beyond their legal bounds they go.

To wit: Obama Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler. Who in February joined with his two fellow unelected Democrat FCC bureaucrats to fundamentally transform how the government regulates every aspect of the entire Internet and its multi-billon dollar economy. Which is a HUGE new overreach.

In 1996, our duly elected Congressional representatives passed in bipartisan fashion the Telecommunications Act. Which was signed by the then-President – Democrat Bill Clinton. The Act barely references the Internet – and then only to basically tell government to leave it alone. As nigh always happens when government leaves something alone – the Internet became a free speech-free market Xanadu.

Flash forward to this past February. Chairman Wheeler and his two fellow unelected Democrat FCC bureaucrats saw how the 1996 Act restricted what they could do to the Web – and it vexed them. So they unilaterally decided that they would shove the Internet under the 1934 Telecommunications Act – and regulate it as a telephone, under telephone law.

Because I’m sure the 1934 legislators had in mind regulating the decades-away World Wide Web when writing their now-eighty-year-old phone law. In a two-term administration chock full of power grabs – this may well be the most absurd.

Of course this kind of government overreach is going to result in push back. To wit: Nearly a dozen separate litigants have filed lawsuits to try to rein in the Feds and their outrageous action. Because it’s just that HUGE. Oral arguments therefore started at the D.C. Circuit Court on Friday.

How un-self-aware is FCC Chairman Wheeler? This un-self-aware:

“We are going to be sued. That’s the history. Every time in this whole discussion any time the commission has moved to do something, one of the big dogs has gone to sue…. We don’t want to ignore history.”

Actually, nearly a dozen dogs – of all sizes – are suing you. Oh – and the FCC has tens if not hundreds of votes in any given year. Most of them aren’t sued – because most of them are the FCC acting within its legal bounds. When you insist on grossly exceeding your legal authority, Mr. Chairman – expect some legal reaction. 

And here’s some history, Mr. Chairman, which you appear to be entirely ignoring.

The Internet became a free speech-free market Xanadu – without the government regulating in any significant way. Let alone in so obnoxious a fashion as you have just slammed down upon it. The Web is the greatest example of human endeavor and expansion in our species’ history. “If it ain’t broke – don’t fix it” – was never more aptly applied.

And here’s some more history: The FCC has twice already tried to similarly regulate the Internet. And far less egregiously than this. The Commission then at least tried to do so under the 1996 law – passed when there actually was an Internet.

The results? Both times, this very same D.C. Circuit Court rejected the overreaches – as overreaches.

And this Internet power grab is WAY huger than those two. It’s as if the Court twice said “You can’t have a piece of pie” – and the FCC said “Fine, we’re taking the whole bakery.”

That’s an awful lot of history you’re ignoring, Mr. Chairman.

Getting sued isn’t a fait d’accompli. It’s in fact quite avoidable – as demonstrated by dozens of reasonable FCC votes each and every year.

If you want to avoid the lawsuits – simply remain within the bounds of the law. Rather than pole-vaulting over them.

Thank You Mr Motley and Redstate.

Govt. Owning Your Internet: FCC Chair Plans To Expand "Obama Phone" Program To Internet

weaselzippers;

After seeing how well it's working with Govt. seizing your Healthcare to give you Free Stuff, . . .

Oh, how nice…

Via CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler announced on Thursday that he intends to expand Lifeline, popularly known as the “Obama Phone” program, to the Internet. 

“I am circulating new proposals to “reboot” Lifeline for the Internet age,” Wheeler wrote in a blog post on the FCC’s Website. He said the reboot would include “establishing minimum standards of service for voice and broadband,” in addition to subsidies for low-income consumers. 

Lifeline is a government benefit program that provides a monthly subsidy of $9.95 on telephone service for those at or below 135 percent of the poverty line so they can connect to the nation’s communications networks, find jobs, access health care services, connect with family and their children’s schools, and call for help in an emergency. 

The money comes out of the Universal Service Fund (USF), which is funded through fees paid by consumers on telephone service. The fee is generally itemized on customers’ monthly telephone bills and is currently assessed at a rate of 16.1 percent of the bill. 

The size of the Lifeline program has doubled since 2008, increasing from $819 million to $1.6 billion in 2014. It reached a high of $2.19 billion in 2012 amid allegations of fraud and abuse.

The USF, meanwhile, has increased from $7.2 billion in 2008 to $10.34 billion in 2014, with Chairman Wheeler’s staff estimating a level of $12.1 billion in 2016. However, that estimate does not account for prospective Internet subsidies. 

In his post, Wheeler said, “30 percent of Americans still haven’t adopted broadband at home…. While more than 95 percent of households with incomes over $150,000 have broadband, only 48 percent of those making less than $25,000 have service at home.”

Keep Reading…

Thank You CNS and Mr Stone.

Snookered Again: FCC Approves Net Neutrality

For anyone thinking this is somehow going to improve service or lower the price of delivering Hollywood, just wait six months.

weaselzippers;

Wonderful.

Via Politico:

The Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines Thursday to approve sweeping changes to how it regulates the Internet, capping more than a year of noisy debate that sparked millions of public comments and drew the attention of President Barack Obama and congressional leaders.

The agency’s three Democrats voted to approve Chairman Tom Wheeler’s net neutrality order, which would treat broadband like a utility to ensure all Web traffic is treated equally. The commission’s two GOP members, Republican lawmakers and the nation’s telecom giants oppose the rules, saying they will dampen innovation and investment. AT&T has already threatened a legal challenge.

“The Internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet. It’s simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field,” Wheeler said at Thursday’s FCC’s meeting. “Today is a red-letter day for Internet freedom, for consumers who want to use the Internet on their terms, for innovators who want to reach consumers without the control of gatekeepers.”

In a separate decision Thursday, the FCC’s Democratic majority voted to override state laws that prevent community-run broadband networks in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Wilson, North Carolina from expanding their geographic reach. The move will help such locally managed networks compete with incumbent cable and telecom companies.

Thank You Politico and Zip.

Hilarious: Net Neutrality Signs Pop Up In DC Calling FCC Chair Tom Wheeler "Obama's B*tch"

weaselzippers;

Gold.

Via Truth Revolt:

Posters and signs appeared early Wednesday morning around the nation’s capital and the upscale Georgetown neighborhood where embattled Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler lives. The posters read “Boot Licker” with Wheeler’s face printed over a repeating series of “Obama’s Bitch” in the background in an apparent indication that the commissioner is kowtowing to President Obama.

Wheeler has stated in the past that he’s not bound by the direction of the president.

Stop signs in the Georgetown neighborhood, directly in front of Wheeler’s house, were amended to say, “Stop Wheeler — Don’t Brake the Internet’ [sic].

Keep Reading

Thank You Truth Revolt and Mr Stone.