Small Fish, Big Pond

This used to be a political blog so here is a perfect mesh of past and present.

Today the head of the FCC announced that they’re moving to guaranty the internet stays free and competitive from now on. FCC Chairman wants network neutrality, wired and wireless
To do this it will require laws that guarantee certain freedoms for people on the internet. These laws may restrict the way businesses take advantage of consumersdo business; in much the same way labor laws took away a businesses right to employ 8 year-olds for 60 hour work weeks.

The idea of a law against business has got Republican attention and now Republicans are moving to block the new FCC online freedom initiative by removing all the funding for it to be implemented. In their own words:

“In this struggling economy, any industry that is able to thrive should be allowed to do so without meddlesome government interference that could stifle innovation,” Ensign said in a statement. “We must avoid burdensome government regulations that micromanage private businesses or that limit the ability of companies to provide what their customers want. The Internet has flourished in large part because of a lack of government interference; I see no need to change that now.”

These are the businesses that “thrive” by charging you $100 a month for phone service that doesn’t work. By charging you more per kilobyte for an SMS than it costs NASA to communicate with the Hubble space telescope. By promising to “innovate” and upgrade your service over a decade but instead charging you more per month for the same service.

This is an example of jackass Republicans letting partisan bickering block good legislation all without them knowing what or why they’re blocking it. These FCC initiatives don’t “limit the ability of companies to provide what their customers want.” They stop companies from blocking what customers want. It keeps the internet free so that huge corporations don’t stifle the innovation that created the internet in the first place.

Because if laws that guarantee freedom stifle businesses, then those businesses are doing something they shouldn’t.

The new FCC network Neutrality regulation is a regulation the same way the First Amendment is a regulation. Guaranteeing people have freedom to do what they want may mean we have to force business NOT to restrict our freedom. The government is just passing legislation so that our modern Corporatocracy doesn’t become a “Big Brother” influence that defines how and when we communicate over the internet.

To put it in perspective, if free speech was billed by corporations when the founding fathers came up with the Bill of Rights these morons would be fighting it saying that government regulation will kill all the businesses that make money enforcing silence among the populace.

Bottom line:
Today the FCC made the first announcement that it’s going to keep the internet free (communication-wise, not $$$), competitive, and non-discriminatory.
Republicans are moving to stop this, and in the process rejecting everything they claim defines their party.

By giving monopoly businesses power rather than the consumer they are creating an environment that:
1. Squashes free communication
2. Closes the free market
3, Blocks access to today’s modern communication utility
4. And restricts the innovation that has allowed to internet to redefine communications in our time.

It may sound like I’m blowing this out of proportion but all of the above have already happened at least once as the big communication providers have tried to “cross the line” to turn a profit. I hope to hell that the republicans are only doing this as a knee-jerk “fight the democrats” reaction and not because they truly believe that corporate America should have to power to define and limit how American citizens freely communicate online.

Update: It was. Yay for internet, boo for the USA’s failing government.