2017
https://www.themarysue.com/august-30-fcc-net-neutrality/
Back in mid-August, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) extended the open comments period for its proposed changes to net neutrality from August 16 until August 30. Advocates and activists had initially requested a month-long extension, but they got the two weeks. So let’s make good use of them!
FCC Chair Ajit Pai has proposed ending or reinterpreting the Title II classification of broadband internet services as “telecommunications services” and returning them to being “information services” – so that he can gut net neutrality rules. Back in 2002, the FCC initially classified broadband internet as “information services,” and the results were terrible for consumers. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) summarized, “the rules that we need to preserve the open internet — such as forbidding discrimination against certain applications — require the FCC to treat access providers like ‘common carriers,’ treatment that can only be applied to telecommunications services.”
The American people fought back, and in 2014 and 2015, citizens successfully pushed for the creation of net neutrality rules and the Title II reclassification of broadband internet as a “telecommunications service.” They sent more than 3.7. million comments to the FCC during that campaign. This year, FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s proposal to end those protections already has more than 18 million comments, making it the most-commented-on item in the commission’s 83-year history.
If you’re already on of those 18 million respondents, thank you. And if you thought you missed your chance to be part of something historic, now’s your chance to participate!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has made it easy to send a comment to the FCC with their Dear FCC tool, and so has Battle for the Net. As it says at the links, please keep in mind that these comments will be publicly searchable – so nothing you wouldn’t want your grandma or your future political opponents seeing.
(Via Ars Technica, The Verge and The Electronic Frontier Foundation; image via jeremy brooks on flickr)
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—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
Back in mid-August, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) extended the open comments period for its proposed changes to net neutrality from August 16 until August 30. Advocates and activists had initially requested a month-long extension, but they got the two weeks. So let’s make good use of them!
FCC Chair Ajit Pai has proposed ending or reinterpreting the Title II classification of broadband internet services as “telecommunications services” and returning them to being “information services” – so that he can gut net neutrality rules. Back in 2002, the FCC initially classified broadband internet as “information services,” and the results were terrible for consumers. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) summarized, “the rules that we need to preserve the open internet — such as forbidding discrimination against certain applications — require the FCC to treat access providers like ‘common carriers,’ treatment that can only be applied to telecommunications services.”
The American people fought back, and in 2014 and 2015, citizens successfully pushed for the creation of net neutrality rules and the Title II reclassification of broadband internet as a “telecommunications service.” They sent more than 3.7. million comments to the FCC during that campaign. This year, FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s proposal to end those protections already has more than 18 million comments, making it the most-commented-on item in the commission’s 83-year history.
If you’re already on of those 18 million respondents, thank you. And if you thought you missed your chance to be part of something historic, now’s your chance to participate!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has made it easy to send a comment to the FCC with their Dear FCC tool, and so has Battle for the Net. As it says at the links, please keep in mind that these comments will be publicly searchable – so nothing you wouldn’t want your grandma or your future political opponents seeing.
(Via Ars Technica, The Verge and The Electronic Frontier Foundation; image via jeremy brooks on flickr)
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—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
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Donald Trump announced that he and his wife Melania won’t be attending The Kennedy Center Honors – which will be held on December 3 – because they want to allow the “artists to celebrate without any political distraction.” Two of the five honorees – television producer Norman Lear and dancer/choreographer Carmen de Lavallade – had already indicated that they would refuse a White House reception with Trump.
The Kennedy Center chairman and president issued the shadiest statement in response.
A Statement from Chairman David M. Rubenstein & President Deborah F. Rutter Regarding the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors pic.twitter.com/YdkyryF3s7
— The Kennedy Center (@kencen) August 19, 2017
“In choosing not to participate in this year’s Honors activities,” reads the statement, “the Administration has graciously signaled its respect for the Kennedy Center and ensures the Honors gala remains a deservingly special moment for the Honorees. We are grateful for this gesture.”
I know the Kennedy Center was trying to keep it classy and frame Trump’s months-early snub as a decision they could respond to graciously. But this is pretty much a sly acknowledgement that Trump degrades any tradition he takes part in, from the Boy Scout Jamboree to space exploration. Not attending is the only way he can “signal…respect” for any event, because his very presence is an insult to the dignity, decency, and honor of an organization.
Plus, the Kennedy Center is entirely right. Trump’s absence will ensure a better night for everyone involved. The honorees – dancer/choreographer Carmen de Lavallade, TV producer Norman Lear, rapper LL Cool J, singer Gloria Estefan, and singer Lionel Richie – did not deserve to have their shining night tarnished by a photo op with some misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic white supremacist sympathizer. Now they can celebrate their accomplishments without enduring a man who, given the ethnic makeup of this group, probably hates them.
Trump is no friend to the arts, having proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and driven his entire Presidential Committee on the Arts and Humanities to resign with a badass letter. Skipping the Kennedy Center Honors is only his latest – and, surely, not his last – conflict with the arts community.
(Via NPR; image via Shutterstock)
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Most pipes are made of glass or other fragile material — weirdly, I accidentally stepped on one my cat knocked over just a couple days ago and bled… well, a lot. If your […]
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