INTERNET NEWS
Liberals shocked to learn Obamanet steals their freedoms, too
Supporters suddenly changing tune
Published: 15 hours ago
Cheryl Chumley About | Email | Archive
Cheryl K. Chumley is the author of "Police State USA: How Orwell's Nightmare is Becoming our Reality." She is a full-time writer with The Washington Times. Chumley writes about politics and government for various newspapers, Internet news sites and think tanks. She is a journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation, a prestigious conservative organization in Washington, D.C., where she spent a year researching and writing about private property rights.
Liberals and progressives supporting the Federal Communications Commission’s 3-2 approval of “Net neutrality,” the U.S. government’s game plan for an open and fair Internet atmosphere, now suddenly find themselves on the other side of the fence, upset at learning: Hey, this deal isn’t so advanced after all.
In short: Net neutrality advocates said they envisioned an Internet world free of discrimination. But what’s been revealed with this just-passed plan is a general conduct rule that critics say will stifle free expression by giving the bureaucratic FCC the right to decide the standards and even content.
What’s ever more interesting, though, is that many who supported Net neutrality just days ago are now finding the rule unpalatable.
The Progressive Policy Institute, for instance, said in a statement reported by the Wall Street Journal: “There is nothing progressive about the FCC backsliding to common carrier rules dating back to the 1930s.”
And the Internet Society, an organization that staunchly supported the idea behind Net neutrality, expressed opposition to the emerging plan details with even blunter language.
“We are concerned with the FCC’s decision to base new rules for the modern Internet on decades-old telephone regulations designed for a very different technological era.”
Apparently, the administration has turned a deaf ear to dissension, though.
When Google chief Eric Schmidt contacted the White House to object to the regulation of the Internet as a utility, he was largely ignored. The Wall Street Journal reported he was distressed to learn the Net neutrality idea he thought he had campaigned for had actually been passed in a form that would micromanage the Internet.
The big objection?
“A ‘general conduct rule,’ applied on a case-by-case basis” by the FCC “may lead to years of expensive litigation to determine the meaning of ‘harm,’” the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote. The EFF also warned: Those who do object to the FCC’s finding of “harm” for Internet use and access better be prepared for a costly legal battle.
The provision, formally called the Open Internet Order, was aimed at requiring service providers to handle all types of Internet traffic the same way, and for the same cost.
One of the Republican members of the FCC, Ajut Pai, accused his fellow commissioners who voted for the measure of “turning [their] back
on Internet freedom,” NPR reported.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/liberals-shocked-to-learn-obamanet-steals-their-freedoms-too/#xLKLrA3qtGsKtJdT.99
