Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: The government is the freaking dragon. (Read 33645 times)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #75 –
I have T-mobile myself and have the "binge-on" feature activated, but rarely use it (at home, just use wifi and the streaming service eats battery for lunch where it would be more useful.) They don't seem to reduce bandwidth services just as Youtube that aren't part of the program. Further, I can just use the provider's app to opt of the program and was told of this when I purchased the phone. So I don't see a problem with what they're doing, as long as it stays this way.

Now onto the tax. First here's the correct url. There might indeed be a new national broadtax, but it seems unrelated to net neutrality. It's because FCC Might Give All Low-Income Households An Internet Subsidy . The key word was "might' the La Times notes the total fees/taxes could the same.
“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #76 –
The "unintended consequences" of arbitrary regulation are already occurring… But, of course, as long as you're alright — it's all good! :)
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #77 –
You missed the point, as usual. The reason for the possible increase in fees appears to have nothing to do with net neutrality, but is because of trying to provide low income people internet access and at this point we don't even if the total fees users pay will actually increase. You didn't tell us anything except that a Republican FCC guy is spreading bullshit to right-wing blogs and every other news source in the world with an once of journalistic integrity knows better. Even Breitbart didn't jump to the conclusion that PJ Media did. It's not like I don't get it; they changed the classification of ISPs (including mobile providers). However, even within the old classification if they wanted to add a fee, they could. How many times I have told you to stop relying on rightwing blogs for your excuse for news? They're factually challenged at best, outright liars in probable reality.
“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #78 –
Time will tell, Sang… Your rhetoric won't.
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #79 –
Time has already told. The possible fee has been explained and the right wing media was wrong again. So you don't get confused again, this isn't about if there will be a fee or not but about the actual purpose, Nor does this mean I support the possible fee :rolleyes:
“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #80 –
Quote from: Frenzie on
(Not sure what it has to do with net neutrality, though. Wrong link, one assumes.)
Yup! Wrong link. The right one is here… Sorry 'bout that.
(Fixed earlier link, too. Thanks for pointing me to it, Frenzie.)
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #81 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
The FCC (the U.S. Federal Communications Commission) has approved -by a partisan majority of 3 to 2- the (presumably desirable) Net Neutrality rules (not yet released to the public…) to regulate ISPs -and, of course, other "players"– to ensure a free and open internet… (see here, for instance) by bureaucratic interference, based upon the rules meant to constrain the government-granted monopoly to AT&T in the late 30's.

Did Mr. Howie write this for you?

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #82 –
Quote from: Jimbro3738 on
Did Mr. Howie write this for you?
Did he read it for you? :)
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #83 –
Haha, nice one jimbro.

What Oakdale seems to practically overlook is that with the 2 corporate parties they are both in the same corner on this one i am afraid.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #84 –
Quote
The nation's largest internet service providers are undermining US open internet rules, threatening free speech, and disproportionately harming poor people by using a controversial industry practice called "zero-rating," a coalition of public interest groups wrote in a letter to federal regulators on Monday. Companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T use zero-rating, which refers to a variety of practices that exempt certain services from monthly data caps, to undercut "the spirit and the text" of federal rules designed to protect net neutrality, the principle that all content on the internet should be equally accessible, the groups wrote. Zero-rated plans "distort competition, thwart innovation, threaten free speech, and restrict consumer choice -- all harms the rules were meant to prevent," the groups wrote. "These harms tend to fall disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color, who tend to rely on mobile networks as their primary or exclusive means of access to the internet."
"We're from the government, and we're here to help…" The nine most frightening words you'll ever hear! :(
(The quote is from Slashdot.)

For those of you who won't click thru, here's an intriguing Orwellian take on the practice… :)

"Free" means "controlled by government bureaucrats…"! How silly of us to think otherwise…
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #85 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on

"Free" means "controlled by government bureaucrats…"! How silly of us to think otherwise…

And "restricted" means "open"? Did you know that the companies call their various zero-rating schemes "free"?

I should stop using "Oakdale" and "know" in the same sentence. The world will be a better place.

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #86 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
For those of you who won't click thru, here's an intriguing Orwellian take on the practice…  :)

Facebook's plan for India would have simply created a Facebook AOL. On the other hand, Binge-On offers free streaming of services such as Netflix and Hulu, but the cost is getting only 480p quality. What T-Mobile is actually trying to do is reduce data used by the streaming services. At the end of the day, providers are gonna have upgrade their infrastructure to handle today's internet and go eventually go back to unlimited plans (consumers are tiring of effectively having to pay a provider for LTE and another for one cable/dsl.) That means we'll need faster LTE speeds as well as unlimited data to tether the phones to the computer as well as obviously take them with us. We're not gonna take a 1990's style AOL "internet" with the content we're allowed being determined by the provider. Oh you thought this only government take-over or something stupid like that. No, it's about the free flow of information. But you and rightwing buddies won't recognize censorship if it bit you on the ass, as long as it's a corporation doing it.
“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #87 –
I'm sure Hillary or Bernie can give you the Internet you think you deserve… :) (They're both so very accomplished!)
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #88 –
No. Only one is.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #89 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
I'm sure Hillary or Bernie can give you the Internet you think you deserve…

To do that, all they would have to do is....wait for it...nothing. The part about only needing only one internet provider will come as natural evolution of the business model. What even begins to even begin to make you think I demand the government accomplish this? That just silly. Oh wait, it's you inventing positions for me that I never claimed to have yet again.
“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #90 –
The main reason that there is someone as way out as Trump and very radical like Sanders is in essence a feeling ny many that the system is not really working properly.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #91 –
Quote from: rjhowie on

The main reason that there is someone as way out as Trump and very radical like Sanders is in essence a feeling ny many that the system is not really working properly.

Sanders radical? Why, the man is our version of Jeremy Corbyn.

What about Sanders do you find radical?

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #92 –
An intelligent American is asking me that??

Compared to Clinton ad Trump who are well into the money set he is very much different and Corbyn is a sidetrack going nowhere here. Note too the amount of young people in the ex-colonies who respond to the senator. His stance is not the mainstream so makes him well, radical.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #93 –
Quote from: rjhowie on

His stance is not the mainstream so makes him well, radical.

And who is defining what should become mainstream?
If you are bitching about the USA, are you bitching about those who are not part of the guided mainstream?

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #94 –
Bitching? An attempt to cover the hard truthful fact that both the Republican and Democrat parties are in the money men corner and that is why there are outsiders doing so well because of the vast numbers who feel neither they or your country is getting on well. Yiur problem being a limited form of democracy and well controlled by the usual controllers.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #95 –
But that doesn't explain why you're hijacking a thread about net neutrality to do the same bitching you do in all other threads.
“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #96 –
You are unfortunately getting near the border of being unreservedly stupid now. Eevery thread on the old Operawas always morphed into something else and they were NOT all done by me. Indeed a way back in my early days there when I raised a drift in a thread it was jimbro who enlightened me that was the generalmway of things and that "tradition" HAS continued here. To dump that utter ignorance and put that label on me is the usual mind frame from you. If a direct challenge cannot be answered go into the knuckle-dragging stance. If you are a midnight raccoon your trainer has let you down.

It is one thing to have a strong opinion but being so glaringly incompetent is no constructive stance and neither in passing are the 2 parties who have mucked everything up. If everyone was of your mind I could understand but for the decent you are a stranger mind.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #97 –
I suspect that what Sang is saying is that you have no interest in the topic and -certainly!- no knowledge of it, but you had to vent your bile! Since this was an active thread, you did so here… That's what you do.

There's usually a reason for "digressions" in threads. You know, what used to be called "going off-topic". But you require none; never have.
Reason is not your strong suit! In fact, it's your bane: You only want to talk about one or two things, and some other people have wider interests… That frustrates you to no end.
Why -you wonder- should a man be expected to know anything about anything? :) After all, you've been interviewed by the BBC and been mentioned in a book! Your opinions surely matter…

Ask your neighbors who twice failed to elect you why they didn't vote for you — in your "wider" democracy.
But enough about you, Howie — which is all you really want to talk about anyway!
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
I've heard radio spots (from Kim Komando!) touting a "horrible" practice of Verison's and NetFlix: They throttle back the bits sent to cell phones…of movies. Had such movies been sent -in compliance with the strictures of "Net Neutrality" they'd have blown away most everyone's data plans with one movie! The "quality" of the video on cell phones wasn't impaired… But the government regulated "neutrality" was, undoubtedly.
I'd ask, Were the customers well-served?
That seems to be a question none of the (Democrat) regulators want to answer… :(

Regulators seem only to want to enforce regulations. The reasons for them quickly become beside the point; even unknowable…
—————————————————————————
Edited, to add the scare quotes around a word that -for anyone who's ever talked to me- should easily have been recognized as satyric… :)
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #98 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
I've heard radio spots (from Kim Komando!) touting a horrible practice of Verison's and NetFlix:

Is this what you mean? Her problem isn't necessarily that Netflix is doing this, but that they didn't tell the customers about it. She notes Netflix is is exploring options to let AT&T and Verizon customers choose their video quality.
“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Re: The government is the freaking dragon.

Reply #99 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on

I've heard radio spots (from Kim Komando!) touting a horrible practice of Verison's and NetFlix: They throttle back the bits sent to cell phones…of movies. Had such movies been sent -in compliance with the strictures of "Net Neutrality" they'd have blown away most everyone's data plans with one movie! The "quality" of the video on cell phones wasn't impaired…

Can you explain the last sentence? How was the quality of the video not impaired while they throttle their videos? As far as I have understood, "throttle the video" means precisely to send a lower-quality stream, even after there is a mutual agreement for better quality.