Kelleigh posted: "Written by C. Mitchell Shaw for the New American
Magazine After the FCC made its "Net Neutrality" rules public late last
week, The New American began poring over the 400 pages of rules and
comments in the document, officially entitled "Report a" Respond to this
post by replying above this line
New post on *Fellowship of the Minds*
<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/kelleigh2/> A Look Inside the Net
Neutrality Rules: It’s Worse Than You Think!
<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2015/03/22/a-look-inside-the-net-neutrality-rules-its-worse-than-you-think/>
by
Kelleigh <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/kelleigh2/>
Written by C. Mitchell Shaw
<http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/itemlist/user/15241-cmitchellshaw>
for
the New American Magazine
<http://http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/item/20422-a-look-inside-the-net-neutrality-rules-it-s-worse-than-you-think>
[image: A Look Inside the Net Neutrality Rules: It's Worse Than You Think!]
<http://www.thenewamerican.com/media/k2/items/cache/77f86d1fd77aeceeb147429a32cb7671_XL.jpg>
After the FCC made its "Net Neutrality"
<http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0312/FCC-15-24A1.pdf>
rules public late last week, *The New American*
<http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/item/20387-fcc-releases-400-pages-of-net-neutrality-rules>
began poring over the 400 pages of rules and comments in the document,
officially entitled "Report and Order on Remand, Declaratory Ruling, and
Order" in an effort to inform our readers about what is actually in the
rules.
What we found affirms the statements by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai that the
rules are a threat to the future of the Internet and a danger to both
liberty and a free market.
The report put forth by the regulatory regime is broken down into several
parts. Before actually getting into the rules, the document spans 45 pages
laying down philosophical and legal arguments for both the FCC's
justification and authority for regulating the Internet in the first place.
Furthermore, the FCC document relies on and quotes from sources that have a
history of attempting to abolish the free market capitalist nature of the
Internet. As pernicious as those arguments and sources are, what's actually
in the rules is even worse.
The report repeatedly makes mention of the "bright-line rules" the FCC has
created to keep the Internet open and free. "Bright-line" refers to rules,
laws, or legal decisions that are clear and unambiguous. These are usually
created when a previous rule, law, or legal decision left room for multiple
interpretations. Cornell University Law School's legal dictionary
<https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/bright-line_rule> defines a bright-line
as: "An objective rule that resolves a legal issue in a straightforward,
predictable manner. A bright-line rule is easy to administer and produces
certain, though, arguably, not always equitable results." The USLegal
website <http://definitions.uslegal.com/b/bright-line-rule/> gives a
similar definition and explains, "For example, in American statutory rape
laws, the age of the victim and the age of the accused are the only
relevant factors determinative of guilt or innocence. Because it is a
bright-line rule, there is no balancing test to examine factors such as
mistake of the accused, the misrepresentation of age by the minor, or the
minor's consent to sexual intercourse."
So bright-line rules are clear, and do not allow anything other than the
rule to be considered when determining a case.
What exactly are the bright-line rules the FCC has created to regulate the
Internet?
*1. No Blocking*
*"A person engaged in the provision of broadband Internet access service,
insofar as such person is so engaged, shall not block lawful content,
applications, services, or non-harmful devices, subject to reasonable
network management."*
While this seems straightforward, the devil is in the details. The report
offers the following "clarification" to this rule; "The phrase 'content,
applications, and services' again refers to all traffic transmitted to or
from end users of a broadband Internet access service, including traffic
that may not fit clearly into any of these categories." One is left to
wonder why the categories are listed in the first place, if the definition
is broader than the categories.
The report's "clarification" goes on to explain, "Further, the no-blocking
rule adopted today again applies to transmissions of lawful content and
does not prevent or restrict a broadband provider from refusing to transmit
unlawful material, such as child pornography or copyright-infringing
materials." This opens up a whole new Pandora's Box of ISPs being put in a
position to determine what is "unlawful material." Might ISPs block traffic
to torrent sites that host "copyright-infringing materials" alongside
public domain materials?
Since the "No Blocking" rule bans ISPs from blocking "lawful content," what
are the ramifications for services such as American Family Online, which
offer filtered Internet access to customers who want to have pornography
and other materials blocked at the server level? Since such content is
lawful and the bright-line rule does not allow the fact that the customer
wants such materials to be blocked to be taken into account, one is left to
believe it would violate the rule.
Notice, too that the rule allows blocking for "reasonable network
management." One can imagine a new set of bright-line rules in the next
iteration of Net Neutrality to clarify what constitutes "reasonable network
management."
*2. No Throttling*
*"A person engaged in the provision of broadband Internet access service,
insofar as such person is so engaged, shall not impair or degrade lawful
Internet traffic on the basis of Internet content, application, or service,
or use of a non-harmful device, subject to reasonable network management."*
Again, the details of the rule demonstrate its problems. The report
explains, "With the no-throttling rule, we ban conduct that is not outright
blocking, but inhibits the delivery of particular content, applications, or
services, or particular classes of content, applications, or services.
Likewise, we prohibit conduct that impairs or degrades lawful traffic to a
non-harmful device or class of devices. We interpret this prohibition to
include, for example, any conduct by a broadband Internet access service
provider that impairs, degrades, slows down, or renders effectively
unusable particular content, services, applications, or devices, that is
not reasonable network management."
Again, there is an exemption for "reasonable network management" that will
undoubtedly need to be defined later.
The report continues, "For purposes of this rule, the meaning of 'content,
applications, and services' has the same as the meaning given to this
phrase in the no-blocking rule," meaning lawful content of any type whether
or not it fits any of the categories listed. As in the "No Blocking" rule,
"unlawful material" is neither protected nor clearly defined: "Further,
transfers of unlawful content or unlawful transfers of content are not
protected by the no-throttling rule."
Under the "No Throttling" rule, the commission is showing what it meant by
its commitment to "forbear" regulating rates and plans. According to the
continued explanation, "Because our no-throttling rule addresses instances
in which a broadband provider targets particular content, applications,
services, or non-harmful devices, it does not address a practice of slowing
down an end user's connection to the Internet based on a choice made by the
end user. For instance, a broadband provider may offer a data plan in which
a subscriber receives a set amount of data at one speed tier and any
remaining data at a lower tier." Sounds nice until the next line: "If the
Commission were concerned about the particulars of a data plan, it could
review it under the no-unreasonable interference/disadvantage standard." So
much for forbearance.
The "no-unreasonable interference/disadvantage standard" will be covered in
more detail later in this article. Spoiler alert: It's particularly nasty.
By application of the "no-unreasonable interference/disadvantage standard,"
the report seems to hint at regulating both rates and plans and much, much
more.
*3. No Paid Prioritization*
*"A person engaged in the provision of broadband Internet access service,
insofar as such person is so engaged, shall not engage in paid
prioritization. "Paid prioritization" refers to the management of a
broadband provider's network to directly or indirectly favor some traffic
over other traffic, including through use of techniques such as traffic
shaping, prioritization, resource reservation, or other forms of
preferential traffic management, either (a) in exchange for consideration
(monetary or otherwise) from a third party, or (b) to benefit an affiliated
entity."*
If it weren't for the "no-unreasonable interference/disadvantage standard,"
this would possibly be the most excrable rule of them all. "Paid
Prioritization" is a name given to the practice of ISPs striking deals with
content providers (often their own affiliates) to speed up traffic to and
from those services to make them more attractive and valuable to the end
user. The entire argument against the practice is that it is not "fair" to
services who can't or won't pay the price to have their traffic sped up.
The report's explanation for the adoption of this rule is that many of the
people who participated in the public comment period don't like this
practice and fear the results if it continues. According to the report,
"The record is rife with commenter concerns regarding preferential
treatment arrangements, with many advocating a flat ban on paid
prioritization. Commenters assert that permitting paid prioritization will
result in the bifurcation of the Internet into a 'fast' lane for those
willing and able to pay and a 'slow' lane for everyone else. As several
commenters observe, allowing for the purchase of priority treatment can
lead to degraded performance — in the form of higher latency, increased
risk of packet loss, or, in aggregate, lower bandwidth — for traffic that
is not covered by such an arrangement."
Commenters further argue that paid prioritization will introduce artificial
barriers to entry, distort the market, damage competition, harm consumers,
discourage innovation, undermine public safety and universal service, and
restrict free expression. Never mind that ISPs have expenses connected to
bandwidth, network maintenance, and equipment — all of which are more
costly for services that use higher bandwidth, particularly those that
stream large video files. It only makes good business sense to pass part of
that faster-connection cost along to the consumers they are trying to reach
with their content; however, because "commenters" were "concerned," the FCC
has banned the practice.
For a bright-line rule to mean anything, there can be no exceptions,
especially those that are handled on a case-by-case basis; however, that is
exactly what the FCC is doing with this rule. According to the report,
"Given the potential harms to the virtuous cycle, we believe it is more
appropriate to impose an ex ante ban on such practices, while entertaining
waiver requests under exceptional circumstances."
The report explains the waiver process: "Under our longstanding waiver
rule, the Commission may waive any rule 'in whole or in part, for good
cause shown.' General waiver of the Commission's rules is appropriate only
if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule, and
such a deviation will serve the public interest. In some cases, however,
the Commission adopts specific rules concerning the factors that will be
used to examine a waiver or exemption request. We believe that such
guidance is appropriate here to make clear the very limited circumstances
in which the Commission would be willing to allow paid prioritization.
Accordingly, we adopt a rule concerning waiver of the paid prioritization
ban that establishes a balancing test, as follows: The Commission may waive
the ban on paid prioritization only if the petitioner demonstrates that the
practice would provide some significant public interest benefit and would
not harm the open nature of the Internet."
So "No Paid Prioritization" really means that rather than the free market
deciding this practice, the FCC will decide it on a case-by-case basis. It
is a system wide open for favoritism.
After listing the bright-line rules which have dominated most of the
discussion of the Net Neutrality issue, the report addresses the rule that
is the vilest of all:
*Preventing Unreasonable Interference or Unreasonable Disadvantage that
Harms Consumers and Edge Providers.*
This is not a bright-line rule by even FCC Commission Chief Wheeler's
definition. He describes it in his commentary toward the beginning of the
report, referring to ISPs as "gatekeepers" because he claims they have the
ability and the motive to manipulate the Internet. He writes, "The
bright-line bans on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization will go a
long way to preserve the virtuous cycle. But not all the way. Gatekeeper
power can be exercised through a variety of technical and economic means,
and without a catch-all standard, it would be that, as Benjamin Franklin
said, 'a little neglect may breed great mischief.' Thus, the Order adopts
the following standard":
Any person engaged in the provision of broadband Internet access service,
insofar as such person is so engaged, shall not unreasonably interfere with
or unreasonably disadvantage (i) end users' ability to select, access, and
use broadband Internet access service or the lawful Internet content,
applications, services, or devices of their choice, or (ii) edge providers'
ability to make lawful content, applications, services, or devices
available to end users. Reasonable network management shall not be
considered a violation of this rule.
What does Wheeler mean when he writes, "Gatekeeper power can be exercised
through a variety of technical and economic means"? The body of the report
puts it this way, "We believe that there may exist other current or future
practices that cause the type of harms our rules are intended to address."
So now the report is attempting to protect end users from something that
has not even happened yet, and the architects of this rule are not even
trying to hide it.
How exactly will the regulatory regime go about enforcing a rule that
prohibits something as nebulous as "unreasonably interfer[ing] or
unreasonably disadvantag[ing]" the use of the Internet? On a case-by-case
basis. The report states, "For that reason, we adopt a rule setting forth a
no-unreasonable interference/disadvantage standard, under which the
Commission can prohibit, on a case-by-case basis, practices that
unreasonably interfere with or unreasonably disadvantage the ability of
consumers to reach the Internet content, services, and applications of
their choosing or of edge providers to access consumers using the Internet."
Here is the greatest danger of the whole scheme. This is total control of
the Internet. It is how digital freedom dies.
This rule allows the FCC to unilaterally decide everything from rates to
plans, from equipment to content, from the introduction of new technologies
to the number of ISPs in a region. Everything. On a case-by-case basis.
With only the conscience of the commissioners as their guide.
This is why concerned citizens must defeat Net Neutrality. Congress could
set it aside. The courts could overturn it.
Americans must act soon in order to save the greatest form of
communication, education, information, and innovation man has ever known.
AND THERE'S MORE:
*FCC Cites Soros-Funded, Neo-Marxist-Founded Group 46 TIMES In New Regs*
New internet regulations finally released by the Federal Communications
Commission make 46 references to a group funded by billionaire George Soros
and co-founded by a neo-Marxist.
The FCC released the 400-page document
<http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0312/FCC-15-24A1.pdf>
on Thursday, two weeks after it passed new regulations, which many fear
will turn the internet into a public commodity and thereby stifle
innovation.
“Leveling the playing field” in that way has been a clear goal of Free
Press, a group dedicated to net neutrality which was founded in 2003.
As Phil Kerpen, president of the free-market group American Commitment,
first noted, Free Press is mentioned repeatedly in the FCC document. Most
of the references are found in footnotes which cite comments by Free Press
activists supporting more internet regulation.
The term “Free Press” is mentioned 62 times in the regulations. Some are
redundant mentions referring to the same Free Press activists’ comments in
favor of more oversight. In total, the FCC cited Free Press’ pro-net
neutrality arguments 46 times.
And from Godfather Politics
<http://http://if.inboxfirst.com/ga/webviews/4-4681938-19-52515-66185-105817-c3966bc3cd>
:
Based on references in the regulations alone, it is clear that Barack *Obama's
takeover of the Internet was actually written - in large part - by radical
Marxist-leaning organizations; and it has also come to light that radical
socialist-leaning organizations funded by Billionaire Socialist George
Soros and others have spent approximately 200 MILLION DOLLARS
($200,000,000.00) to make Barack Obama's tyrannical and dictatorial
takeover of the Internet a reality.*
And we have only one hope of stopping this master plan to transform the
United States into a socialist utopia. As of this writing, Representative
Marsha Blackburn and 43 other Republicans have signed onto legislation *(H.R.
1212: The Internet Freedom Act)* that will totally reverse this dictatorial
Obama-FCC dictate... *but this legislation is stalled in committee because
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are in no rush to bring it to the floor of
the House and the Senate for a vote... and that needs to change right now.
<https://secure.freedomdonations.com/cfif/netneutralityiii/?a=1130-gt-dion2-cfif-np>*
*Kelleigh <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/kelleigh2/>* | March
22, 2015 at 9:29 am | Tags: FCC
<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=fcc>, George
Soros <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=george-soros>, Internet
<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=internet> | Categories: Obama
<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=376320> | URL: http://wp.me/pKuKY-u2B
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