ISPs: Net neutrality rules are illegal because Internet access uses computers

[jos]

ISP's filed a 95-page brief outlining their case that the FCC’s new net neutrality rules should be overturned. The ISPs argued that Internet access must be treated as a more lightly regulated “information service” because it involves “computer processing.”

 

“No matter how many computer-mediated features the FCC may sweep under the rug, the inescapable core of Internet access is a service that uses computer processing to enable consumers to ‘retrieve files from the World Wide Web, and browse their contents’ and, thus, ‘offers the ‘capability for... acquiring,... retrieving [and] utilizing... information.’ Under the straightforward statutory definition, an ‘offering’ of that ‘capability’ is an information service,"

"If broadband providers provided only pure transmission and not information processing, as the FCC now claims, the primitive and limited form of 'access' broadband customers would receive would be unrecognizable to consumers," “According to the [FCC’s Open Internet] Order, changes to consumer conduct and provider marketing establish that Internet access now consists of a ‘transmission link’ that is separate from information-service functions such as e-mail and cloud storage,”  “As the Order admits, broadband providers ‘still provide various Internet applications, including e-mail, online storage, and customized homepages, in addition to newer services such as music streaming and instant messaging. Even assuming, as the FCC alleges, that there has been a change in how consumers use those functions… those facts prove nothing about how consumers view what providers 'offer.'”.

 

 

These ISP's will try anything to stop net neutrality..

 

Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/isps-net-neutrality-rules-are-illegal-because-internet-access-uses-computers/

[AlwaysFSX]

This is so fucking stupid. Can we just take these idiots out with a shotgun already?

[blackadder]

This is so fucking stupid. Can we just take these idiots out with a shotgun already?

this is going to easily go on for 5 more years. There is more money to be burned. I see this lasting no longer than 10 though.

[captain cactus]

Good joke. I lol'd.

 

 

Oh wait they're actually serious aren't they. Lets set their headquarters on fire.

[TheGosuStandard]

Same issue with the television industry, they can't adept to changing times (netflix!!!!)

[NateGSR117]

This is out right ridiculous

[SurvivorNVL]

It was at this moment that I truly felt all the idiocy of the world crash against me.  I really just want Google to move to every sector of this damn country, and watch as Comcast, and the rest scramble to try and keep their customers.

[JAKEBAB]

Omg would they stop complaining, big woop there earning 5-10m less a year because of this, there still probs making a nice chunk of change

[mikeeginger]

SO People get a better deal 

ISP's complain  

[Suika]

"We're no longer able to make shady deals in the back so services like Netflix can clog our extremely out of date infrastructures that we refuse to update because we'd make an extra penny if we didn't."

 

I understand business and I understand making money, I despise most forms of government regulation, but the internet is an important tool for people and businesses alike, service providers absolutely require regulation to make sure companies and consumers aren't put into helpless positions. Their fighting is only placing them in a negative light.

[SurvivorNVL]

"We're no longer able to make shady deals in the back so services like Netflix can clog our extremely out of date infrastructures that we refuse to update because we'd make an extra penny if we didn't."

 

I understand business and I understand making money, I despise most forms of government regulation, but the internet is an important tool for people and businesses alike, service providers absolutely require regulation to make sure companies and consumers aren't put into helpless positions. Their fighting is only placing them in a negative light.

Not to mention it's made it so now the world over is calling for municipal networks.  Once every city in America is capable of creating their own network, and there're hundreds popping up since the ruling - they're going to shrink in to nothing because of their practices.  I aspire to see the day when these companies dissolve, because they were out-done by municipal networks.  

[Misanthrope]

Might as well say it should be illegal because it involves them making less money without their Netflix checks. That's all there fucking is to it: a big, long, expensive and pointless fucking continuous crying over Netflix existing and people actually using the motherfucking service they paid for instead of sitting in idle.

[Trik'Stari]

As I said in another thread.

 

Kill all the lawyers.

 

Also, to these lawyers, the definition of communication:

1. The imparting or exchanging of information or news.

2. Means of connection between people, or places, in particular.

 

Yeah.....Federal Communications Commission. They have every right to do what they've done, two judges have already said this, the ISP's need to just sit down, shut up, and take their punishment.

 

I swear to god, if congress sticks its stupid corrupt head into this mess and protects the ISP's, I'm moving to another country permanently.

 

Not to mention it's made it so now the world over is calling for municipal networks.  Once every city in America is capable of creating their own network, and there're hundreds popping up since the ruling - they're going to shrink in to nothing because of their practices.  I aspire to see the day when these companies dissolve, because they were out-done by municipal networks.  

Might as well say it should be illegal because it involves them making less money without their Netflix checks. That's all there fucking is to it: a big, long, expensive and pointless fucking continuous crying over Netflix existing and people actually using the motherfucking service they paid for instead of sitting in idle.

 

I forward the motion that once the last major private ISP dissolves into nothingness, we mark that day as a national holiday.

[Chicken]

Same issue with the television industry, they can't adept to changing times (netflix!!!!)

They literally can't adapt to the changing times. What most of you young folks won't understand is copyrights and licenses. As long as you don't understand those two core things, you'll all be going "WHY CAN'T THEY JUST RELEASE EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET FOR CHEAP AND NO ADS" like a bunch of idiots.

[Trik'Stari]

They literally can't adapt to the changing times. What most of you young folks won't understand is copyrights and licenses. As long as you don't understand those two core things, you'll all be going "WHY CAN'T THEY JUST RELEASE EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET FOR CHEAP AND NO ADS" like a bunch of idiots.

Oh we understand them, we just disagree with their existence because, most of the time, they are more beneficial to a company rather than benefiting society as a whole (talking about copyrights and licensing that is not related to entertainment).

 

As for entertainment related copyrights and licensing.....having more customers = more money. These companies just have an old way of thinking, and are more concerned with having as large a profit margin as possible with as little effort or investment as possible, rather than having good customer service and a wide reach to a large audience.

[Memphaestus]

They really are grasping at straws now aren't they?

Since this whole ruling, I've been seeing a lot more commercials from Cox trying to convince people that 10Mbps is enough for gaming, watching Netflix, streaming music, and downloading files all at the same time. But at the same time, another company (I forget the name) announced some sort of convention coming up soon that will demonstrate to consumers a Gigabit service, and how it will change how you view the internet.

I foresee some death throes from the ISPs in the near future, this is just the beginning.

[Trik'Stari]

They really are grasping at straws now aren't they?

Since this whole ruling, I've been seeing a lot more commercials from Cox trying to convince people that 10Mbps is enough for gaming, watching Netflix, streaming music, and downloading files all at the same time. But at the same time, another company (I forget the name) announced some sort of convention coming up soon that will demonstrate to consumers a Gigabit service, and how it will change how you view the internet.

I foresee some death throes from the ISPs in the near future, this is just the beginning.

Possibly. It's also possible that they are playing a waiting game. Draw out the argument until people stop paying attention, and congress can quietly pass a bill allowing the ISP's to continue eating and raping babies.

[Delusional Phil]

I applauded at the person who wrote that 95 page and managed to put nothing but utter bullshit on it ... The commiment and greed is unimaginable ... 

[Trik'Stari]

I applauded at the person who wrote that 95 page and managed to put nothing but utter bullshit on it ... The commiment and greed is unimaginable ... 

Makes you wonder how that person can sleep at night. Knowing full well that their job is to lie through their teeth, with the ultimate goal of harming consumers on a grand scale.

[Delusional Phil]

Makes you wonder how that person can sleep at night. Knowing full well that their job is to lie through their teeth, with the ultimate goal of harming consumers on a grand scale.

Probably in a sea of money... And probably don't care because their job is depending on it ... One thing is for certain though : When this all falls apart, that guy/girl is gonna take all the blame and get fired...

[Trik'Stari]

Probably in a sea of money... And probably don't care because their job is depending on it ... One thing is for certain though : When this all falls apart, that guy/girl is gonna take all the blame and get fired...

Well, with all that money they've made, they could always quit and go do something useful for a change.

 

Then again, I could say that about quite a few professions.

[Delusional Phil]

Well, with all that money they've made, they could always quit and go do something useful for a change.

 

Then again, I could say that about quite a few professions.

When all the pressure is on the ISPs, who are they going to blame ? The guy that wrote it. The company could sue him and froze all of his assets. 

 

Then again people are smart and can smell bullshit from miles away... So the ISPs are just gonna keep ... on ... digging ... 

 

The whole ISPs against Net Neutrality thing is stupid and should never have existed , who started all this ? Why is this even a quesiton for debate ?

[Trik'Stari]

When all the pressure is on the ISPs, who are they going to blame ? The guy that wrote it. The company could sue him and froze all of his assets. 

 

Then again people are smart and can smell bullshit from miles away... So the ISPs are just gonna keep ... on ... digging ... 

 

The whole ISPs against Net Neutrality thing is stupid and should never have existed , who started all this ? Why is this even a quesiton for debate ?

As I said earlier, I think they're playing a waiting game. Wait until the collective attention of the US population moves on to something else, then pay your buddies in congress to sneak through a bill basically saying "ISP's can do whatever the hell they want until the end of time", etc.

 

Congress already tried once to pass the "internet freedom act".....which actually makes the internet NOT free, and it failed big time because people in congress realized "oh wait, if we do this now everyone will hate us, let's wait a couple of years until no one is paying attention".

[Briggsy]

its BS because telephone access also uses computers to process the traffic and provide features like caller ID and voice mail (all the while piggy-backing off the internet to begin with). Cable TV programming is all done on a computer, through video files and scripts, and also for pay-per-view and "netflix-like" services offered by cable companies.

 

Its great that a CEO is contractually bound to keep a company as profitable as possible, even if it means greasing the government wheels, but these ISP's really need to come up with a better argument.

[typographie]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but the "computer information processing" is done on the end-user's hardware that they own themselves. The ISPs don't do that. Sounds kind of flimsy and desperate to me.