After Comcast won a court case against the FCC, and after a few leaks earlier this week indicating that the FCC might roll over, it looks like that agency is going to use some of its powers to enforce net neutrality. Reports say the FCC is going to try to re-classify Internet providers as “common carriers”, so they can use some of their more sweeping powers, an approach endorsed by Jay Rockefeller and Henry Waxman.
This comes on the heels of Comcast being awarded Consumerist’s “Golden Poo” as the worst company in America.
WereBear
This is good news. If you believe, as I do, that the only hope of crushing idiot mass media is to open the web as a more balanced and informative substitute.
arguingwithsignposts
Well, I started the morning on a good note with JC’s pet thread, and then I got off the boat to check out Zero Hedge and found this thread about expatriation. The comments made me so pissed. Fuckers need to wear the big boy pants and pay their fair share instead of running and hiding. Otherwise, give back all the money you made off the backs of the U.S.
MikeTheZ
Last night, I lost all Comcast service for a couple hours. They told me it was affecting the whole region, and that they had no idea when service would be back up. And its worth noting that the weather had nothing to do with it. But of course, my only choice in this region is Comcast.
Its Comcastic!
Sly
@arguingwithsignposts:
That guide was a hoot and a half. My favorite part:
While the “taxation without representation” meme is problematic on multiple levels, he misses the obvious point that his complaint about the U.S. system is that it taxes you to pay for things that you don’t use. “Taxation without representation” is, therefore, a red herring. U.S. expats can still vote in U.S. elections if they keep their citizenship.
There are certainly bureaucratic issues involved in the process, but there is no law that specifically strips a U.S. expat of their voting rights. Quite a few other countries, which coincidentally don’t tax expats, strip them of their voting rights after a specific period of time. These periods can range from pretty short (Australia is 3 years) to over a decade (UK I believe has the longest at 15 years). They still keep their citizenship, mind you.
So the general model is either “taxation with representation” or “no taxation and no representation.”
Linda Featheringill
Internet providers as “common carriers”:
Good. Down with internet access as a commodity and up with access as a public utility.
WearBear is correct. Open access, open communication, and open supply of information could take us to newer and better places.
c u n d gulag
Time Warner would be in the running with Comcast for the “Golden Poo” winner any, and every, day.
I left a high paying job there in late ’08, because I just couldn’t take the BS any longer. I was a trainer and expected to drum up support against, among other things, regulation, NN. And I was supposed to convince people to contribute to the cable TV PAC. THAT was the last step.
Management was once ok at TWC, then it became, well, Bush-like. Fuck all these media greedheads!
stuckinred
@c u n d gulag: Charter suck too.
geg6
Well, isn’t this delicious?
Fuck Comcast. I’m stuck with them and they suck donkey balls.
c u n d gulag
@stuckinred:
They all suck.
I could give two shits about cable tv. I watch Stewart and Colbert, and occasionally Ed, Keith and Rachel and, of course, my beloved NY Yankees on YES (yeah, as anti-corporate as I am, I’m a Yankee fan – thanks to Mickey Mantle, back when I was a kid – and I’m not apologizing NOW OR EVER for being a Mantle fan).
I could live without cable TV. But I couldn”t do without the internet.
Uhm, remind me again why HS internet access is not available unless it’s from some monopoly? Oh yeah, payoffs to Congressioanl whores. Sorry, how silly of me…
Third Eye Open
I can’t believe this! What a strike to the heart of our free-market(tm) economy. Next thing you moonbats are going to tell me is that I have to pay taxes to get all those welfare mothers, young bucks, and inner-city crack babies shiny new computers to go along with their federally subsidized internet.
/confused
R-Jud
@Sly:
Huh. It demands a RETURN from you wherever you live, and taxes if your foreign-earned income exceeds a certain level or if you have income derived from the US, but most expats who aren’t also super-rich aren’t paying taxes to the US. Especially not if they live in one of the many countries with a double-taxation protection treaty in place. They’re filing a return. Big whoop.
And yes, I have no trouble voting in US elections from abroad. And will never give up my US citizenship, thanks. Even though I haz a bit of a sad that I’m stuck sitting on my hands while Mr Jud gets to go out and vote today.
rachel
@Sly: I only wish I made so much money here so that I had to pay US taxes, too. So I have to file a return to tell the IRS that once again I don’t owe anything. It’s a small price to pay for being able to vote.
(BTW: US expats should look into getting Roth IRAs if they don’t already have them and if they qualify.)
someguy
@WereBear:
Indeed. The first thing they should do is look into licensing requirements for the corporate backed right wing media shills like PJ Media and Red State, and consider reviving and making applicable to the web the Fairness Doctrine for any corporate controlled media.
Persia
@stuckinred: For like ten minutes when they first got the cable Internet business, Charter was awesome, because they subcontracted it from this tiny little company in, IIRC, North Carolina who had the best customer service I’d ever had from a tech company.
Then they took it all in-house and it’s sucked ever since.
Catsy
Good. I hope this leads down the road of nationalizing broadband connectivity. Like it or not, we’re in an age where high-speed internet access is as essential a public service as a telephone–and time and time again internet providers like Comcast have demonstrated that they absolutely cannot be trusted to provide that service reliably or operate in good faith without abusing the tremendous power their market position gives them.
Fuck Comcast. Their Worst Company award is well-deserved. Let them and their ilk go back to providing shitty cable service, and make internet access a public utility available to all.
We need that national broadband initiative now kthx.
tony
Here in California we have COX cable , and in my opinion they too should be ripe for a massive class action lawsuit.
Terrible service generally , and really high prices for which they give you practically nothing.
I have to admit I really liked the dish network when I had that, but can’t get it at my present place.
Steeplejack
I am actually well satisfied with Cox Cable here in NoVa. I have absolutely the fastest Internet connection I’ve ever had (at home)–just clocked 25.7 Mbps down and 5.7 Mbps up on the Speakeasy speed test–and I haven’t had any problems with my cable TV (also Cox). But I am well aware that this is not due to the invisible hand of the market or the supremacy of the capitalist way of life but just to pure dumb luck.