FCC votes to end internet neutrality. Think your cable TV bill is bad? Get ready to bend forward some more.
FCC votes to end net neutrality
Tag: FCC
Obama ignores Law of Unintended Consequences, may cause destruction of America’s GPS system
They say there are two things that are certain: death and taxes. Let’s add one more: The certainty that the government will take those taxes and do something inconceivably stupid with them.
They say there are two things that are certain: death and taxes. Let’s add one more: The certainty that the government will take those taxes and do something inconceivably stupid with them.
We give you exhibit A.
The federal government is allowing a company called LightSquared to build a ultrafast broadband network.
Well, you say, an ultrafast broadband network sounds pretty cool. And it is. Except for one thing.
The broadcast frequency used by the LightSquared system just happens to be right next to the existing Global Positioning System band. Tests conducted by Garmin, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of consumer GPS products, indicate that the overwhelming power of the broadband network is likely to cause major problems for all existing GPS products.
Perhaps the folks at the FCC aren’t aware of this, but GPS is kind of a big deal. It’s used by millions of American to navigate around the country’s rapidly deteriorating highway system that our tax money should be spent repairing. And let’s not forget military, civilian aircraft and emergency users.
Here’s what’s at risk:
“The potential impact of GPS interference is so vast, it’s hard to get your head around,” said Jim Kirkland, vice president and general counsel of Trimble Navigation Ltd., which makes GPS systems. “Think 40,000 GPS dead spots covering millions of square miles in cities and towns throughout the U.S.”
Don’t worry, though. The federal government always has multi-billion dollar solutions for the problems it causes. In this case, LightSquared suggests that current GPS users retrofit their systems, adding filtering capabilities to counteract the interference they cause.
Unfortunately, no one knows who is going to pay to retrofit more than a billion current GPS systems. Certainly, LightSquared isn’t offering to pony up the money.
We have a sneaking suspicion that the people who end up paying for this – one way or another – will be those poor suckers known as the American taxpayers.
– Written by Sven Waring at DotPenn.com
Source: APF
FCC commissioner says free internet is a civil right for “every nappy-headed child”
“I can’t think of a more significant overarching civil rights issue than this,” Clyburn said, “that every nappy-headed child have the ability to connect worldwide.” We’re just not sure which part of this statement surprises us most…
Congratulations to Obama-appointed FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Preparing IHateTheMedia.com requires us to read a lot of crap in the course of a day and it takes a lot to surprise us anymore, but she’s done it.
“I can’t think of a more significant overarching civil rights issue than this,” Clyburn said, “that every nappy-headed child have the ability to connect worldwide.”
We’re just not sure which part of this statement surprises us most: the fact that she thinks free internet is a civil right or that she used the phrase “nappy-headed child.”
Oh, Ms. Clyburn, Don Imus on line three.
H/T: WeaselZippers.us
How to get free Internet and screw the American taxpayer
If you liked the government’s “free cell phones for the poor scam,” you’re going to love the new “free high-speed internet access for the poor” program.
If you liked the government’s “free Safelink cell phones for the poor scam,” you’re going to love the new “free high-speed internet access for the poor” program. Or as we like to call it, the precursor to free internet radio, free internet TV, and free internet movies for all.
Unfortunately, that free internet service isn’t coming from companies like NetZero.com or Google TiSP. It’s coming from the government. Which means you, the American taxpayer, will be paying for someone else’s free internet.
Arstechnica.com tells the tale of our new free broadband Big Brother:
Former FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate is back with a vague plan to get Big Government away from “dictating what Americans ‘should’ get or what is ‘best for them'” when it comes to broadband. Forget setting mediocre targets, like the “4Mbps for all Americans by 2010” goal of the National Broadband Plan. Instead, just give people vouchers for really crappy broadband service and the problem will take care of itself.”
Tate actually thinks it’s good sales technique to describe the program as food stamps for broadband or “broadband stamps.” Great.
Continue reading “How to get free Internet and screw the American taxpayer”
FCC adviser wants “public media” to become “filter” and “megaphone” for government-funded journalism
Wave goodbye to another pile of your tax dollars and a few more of your freedoms. An adviser to the FCC wants to create a “public media” that can “filter” the news and be used as a “megaphone” by a vast network of government-funded journalists.
Wave goodbye to another pile of your tax dollars and a few more of your freedoms. An adviser to the FCC wants to create a “public media” that can “filter” the news and be used as a “megaphone” by a vast network of government-funded journalists.
Sounds like a great idea. What could go wrong?
Ellen Goodman, a Rutgers University law professor and distinguished visiting scholar with the FCC’s Future of Media Project, has a frightening plan to reshape the federal government’s communications policy…
“Information gaps are especially keen in the areas of investigative journalism, effective teaching materials, and content directed to underserved, minority, and poor populations…” according to Goodman and co-author Anne Chen.
“We have identified three core functions of digital public media, based on the directives of the Public Broadcasting Act and research on best practices in the field,” she says. “These functions are (1) to create content – particularly narratives in the form of journalism, long-form documentaries, oral histories, and cultural exploration – that markets will not and that is important to individual and social flourishing; (2) to curate content, serving as both a filter to reduce information overload and a megaphone to give voice to the unheard; and (3) to connect individuals to information and to each other in service of important public purposes.”
Of course, this is all necessary Goodman says, because while information is abundant, “wisdom and knowledge remain hard won.”
Absolutely. Certainly. For sure. And as we know, the government is the ultimate source of all wisdom.
Don’t know about you, but we really don’t want the government determining what gets filtered and who gets the megaphone. Especially this government.
Source: CNSNews.com
“White people” should be forced to “step down…so someone else can have power”
FCC Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd: “White people” should be forced to “step down…so someone else can have power.” His opinions on the First Amendment, race, power and the American system make Van Jones’ opinions seem positively mainstream.
That’s a quote from Mark Lloyd, the Federal Communications Commission’s new Chief Diversity Officer. His opinions on the First Amendment, race, power and the American system make Van Jones’ opinions seem positively mainstream.
“It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.
“…the purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance.”
Of course, Lloyd loves Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’ “incredible … democratic revolution.” He also admires the way “Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country.” Translation: Chavez closed down any media outlets that deigned to oppose him.
What’s baffling is that any president ever appointed anyone with these fringe, extreme leftist beliefs to any position in the American government.
Of course, we’ve never had a President like Barack Obama before.
Source: Brietbart.tv
The FCC’s Chief Diversity Officer scares the hell out of Glenn Beck. And us.
Mark Lloyd, the FCC’s new Chief Diversity Officer (whatever the hell that is) is one of Barack Obama’s more frightening revolutionary pals. In this clip, Glenn Beck exposes what he is, what he does, what he wants.
Mark Lloyd, the FCC’s new Chief Diversity Officer (whatever the hell that is) is one of Barack Obama’s more frightening revolutionary pals.
In this clip, Glenn Beck exposes what he is, what he does, what he wants.
Here one quote from Lloyd:
“It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.”
Here’s another:
“What I do, to make is simple, I’m basically a community organizer inside the federal family.”
We thought we already had one of those.
Source: LiveLink.com
When do religious broadcasters want the Fairness Doctrine? When hell freezes over.
Chalk up another vote against the Fairness Doctrine – this one from religious broadcasters.
“If I happen to say declaratively that the Bible tells me that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and nobody comes to the Father but by Him,” said Christian talk show host Janet Parshall, “I am not interested in giving equal time to Buddha, Hinduism, or L. Ron Hubbard.”
We generally think political speech is the target of the Fairness Doctrine, but the only broadcast license that’s ever been revoked belonged to a Christian station. In 1964, a Pennsylvania Christian station carried a program on which the Reverend Billy James Hargis criticized author Fred Cook. When Cook was refused a chance to respond, he reported the station to the FCC. The station’s license was eventually revoked.
Can’t wait to hear Teddy Kennedy’s response to the Ten Commandments.
FCC commissioner warns against Fairness Doctrine
We feel a chill wind blowing. And we’re not alone. FCC commissioner Robert McDowell has issued a stern warning about the dangers of re-imposing the fairness doctrine.
McDowell warned that when the doctrine’s supporters finally bring it out of the shadows, it may not “wear the same label. That’s just Marketing 101: if your brand is controversial, make a new brand.” He suggested that it could be disguised with names like localism, diversity or network neutrality.
If it’s an alias they want, there’s one obvious one: The Hush Rush Doctrine.
