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MOVIEBOT
Lurker
Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 229
Location: Poland
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 Posted: Apr 23, 2006 8:23am Post subject: New United States Congress Bill!!! BE WARNED!! |
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For You Americans
congress is about to sell out the Internet by letting big phone and cable companies set up toll booths along the information superhighway.
Companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending tens of millions in Washington to kill "network neutrality" -- a principle that keeps the Internet open to all.
A bill moving quickly through Congress would let these companies become Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow -- and which won't load at all -- based on who pays them more. The rest of us will be detoured to the "slow lane," clicking furiously and waiting for our favorite sites to download. Even if you have a fast web connection or not!!
Don't let Congress ruin the Internet:
tell congress to save internet neutrality now!!!!!
| Code: | | http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet/i7xubbn4fjnx8jd? |
Our elected representatives are trading favors for campaign donations from phone and cable companies. They're being wooed by people like AT&T's CEO, who says "the Internet can't be free" and wants to decide what you do, where you go and what you watch online.
The best ideas never come from those with the deepest pockets.
It comes from people like us!!!! the poor or low income net inovators... If the phone and cable companies get their way, the free and open Internet could soon be fenced in by large corporations. If Congress turns the Internet over to giants like AT&T, everyone who uses the Internet will suffer:
* Google users -- Another search engine could pay AT&T to guarantee that it opens faster than Google on your computer.
* iPod listeners -- Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that paid for the privilege.
* Work-at-home parents -- Connecting to your office could take longer if you don't purchase your carrier's preferred applications. Sending family photos and videos could slow to a crawl.
* Retirees -- Web pages you always use for online banking, access to health care information, planning a trip or communicating with friends and family could fall victim to Verizon's pay-for-speed schemes.
* Bloggers -- Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips -- silencing citizen journalists and amplifying the mainstream media.
* Online activists -- Political organizing could be slowed by the handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay a fee to join the "fast lane."
* Small businesses -- When AT&T favors their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, and Internet phone calls.
* Innovators with the "next big idea" -- Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web.
We can't let Congress ruin the free and open Internet.
We must act now or lose the Internet as we know it.
We must act now or lose the Internet as we know it.
visit | Code: | | http://www.savetheinternet.com/ |
to contact your representative, learn more about this issue, and discuss this campaign with other activists.
tell your friends who live in the US about this campain
| Code: | | http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet/forward |
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people tell others !!! |
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FBI
Guru
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 1494
Location: Federation Of Bored IRC'ers
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 12:39pm Post subject: |
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Dude you can't control the internet....
They can try but I don't think they can |
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katsklaw
Guru
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 1065
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 1:22pm Post subject: |
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| FBI wrote: | Dude you can't control the internet....
They can try but I don't think they can |
They can do what they like with data that passes through their network so long as it's legal ... including but not limited to nullrouting it. However, that's an ability that they already have. |
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Jason
SearchIRC Developer
Joined: 03 May 2003
Posts: 1162
Location: Tampa, FL
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 1:28pm Post subject: |
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| I would switch providers rather rapidly if that happened to my connection. |
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katsklaw
Guru
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 1065
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 1:49pm Post subject: |
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| Jason wrote: | | I would switch providers rather rapidly if that happened to my connection. |
I would too .. but if it become a common practice like many other things have become .. then it will get harder and harder to find a provider that doesn't.
Just like it's getting harder and harder to find datacenters that allow IRC related activities on their bandwidth. Sure they are still easy to find at this point in the trend .. but who knows .. some day there may not be any.  |
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mjd
none
Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 38
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 2:21pm Post subject: |
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Just my opinion, but I think as long as there is something to sell, someone will sell it. There are lots of people out there these days who will do ANYTHING for a buck. That includes selling dedicated servers that allow IRC related programs.
As far as the other thing goes, the companies will have to think about what's best for their business. I'm sure they'll also consider the substantial amount of customers they'd lose if this were to happen. |
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ARcanUSNUMquam
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Joined: 25 Mar 2006
Posts: 42
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 2:58pm Post subject: |
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mjd: The thing about your viewpoint is that it doesn't work when something is a neccessity (the Internet), every company that provides access is in cahoots, and the infrastructure setup costs are prohibitively high.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of free market systems, like the one you are advocating, but sometimes, the free market fails, and this is one of those times.
Every BACKBONE provider out there wants to kill network neutrality (NN). That means there is no choice for the consumers. Since the Internet is a neccessity, the consumers will be forced to go to these people that kill NN, and the backbone providers will have no incentive to keep NN. Nobody can start up their own Internet infrastructure because of two things.
1) It costs hella. Try putting huge fiber lines all accross the world. Pretty damn hard and costly.
2) Consumers on the new infrastructure will still need to deal with the NN schemes of the old infrastructure. As a result, while the stuff in the new infrastrcuture will be fast, the stuff on the old will be slow. What is on the old? Websites that everybody visits like Google, Ebay, Yahoo, Myspace, Wikipedia, and SearchIRC. There is no good reason for the consumers to go to the new infrastructure becuase there is nothing good there.
As a free market die-hard and freedom lover, I'm torn on this issue. I recognize the freedom that companies have when dealing with their own networks. I also see how the free market can't solve this problem to my liking, as it can with many other issues. I see how the Internet will be fundamentally changed if this bill goes through, and as an Internet lover too, it's a hard decision for me. |
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FBI
Guru
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 1494
Location: Federation Of Bored IRC'ers
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 3:02pm Post subject: |
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It'll take years for the bills to pass if theres people who were against it...
Thanks to our Bill Of Rights we can sue and delay the bill 
Also our president have the power to VETO the bill if hes smart enough  |
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PingBad
Guru
Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 2012
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 3:57pm Post subject: |
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And this is why I'm proud to be a New Zealander (not saying we don't have our own internet connectively problems... TELECON!).
In my opinion, the bill will fail. Consider:- Bill passes
- Public outrage
- Everyone switches to cheaper, more reliable providers
- Big wigs soon become nothing more than writings in a history book
- Bill gets revoked from US legislation
The Internet is not some commodity that only America controls, so all they're doing is hurting themselves. The rest of the world will keep surfing merrily away while AT&T, AOL, and the other big'uns duke it out |
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FBI
Guru
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 1494
Location: Federation Of Bored IRC'ers
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| Posted: Apr 23, 2006 4:01pm Post subject: |
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They'll go bankrupt....
Since everyone switches...lol |
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ab0rted
Lurker
Joined: 10 Nov 2005
Posts: 208
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| Posted: Apr 24, 2006 3:48pm Post subject: |
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| switch |
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Jason
SearchIRC Developer
Joined: 03 May 2003
Posts: 1162
Location: Tampa, FL
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| Posted: Apr 24, 2006 4:45pm Post subject: |
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| ARcanUSNUMquam wrote: | | Every BACKBONE provider out there wants to kill network neutrality (NN). |
It's really only the telecos that want it. They are losing money on all the voip activity, and without phone service, their roles are greatly diminished.
Disclaimer: I work for Verizon. |
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ARcanUSNUMquam
none
Joined: 25 Mar 2006
Posts: 42
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| Posted: Apr 24, 2006 7:19pm Post subject: |
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| Jason wrote: | | ARcanUSNUMquam wrote: | | Every BACKBONE provider out there wants to kill network neutrality (NN). |
It's really only the telecos that want it. They are losing money on all the voip activity, and without phone service, their roles are greatly diminished.
Disclaimer: I work for Verizon. |
You work for Verizon? Maybe you can get them to bring FIOS to my area. Drool
On a more serious note, what about all those ISPs and people crapping their pants about bandwidth issues? I admit, all the sources I've been reading from are pretty biased about this issue, so I may have gotten the wrong impression.
Further reading from Wikipedia: (God the article on NN is horrible) says that its mainly the Baby bells that want it. Anybody know of any good, unbiased (as possible) sources where we can read about this from? |
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Jason
SearchIRC Developer
Joined: 03 May 2003
Posts: 1162
Location: Tampa, FL
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| Posted: Apr 24, 2006 9:41pm Post subject: |
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hehe. This site runs on Fios :)
I hear rumors about us offering 100mbs down, 20mbps up by the end of the year.
we're doing less than 2 mill homes a year, so unless you live in some areas in FL or TX, your chances are kinda slim. |
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PingBad
Guru
Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 2012
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Apr 24, 2006 10:01pm Post subject: |
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| *moves into Jason's pad so he too can enjoy FIOS* (it sounds sexeh, aight?) |
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