Ya knew it was coming...
The FCC’s Plan To Take Over The Internet Has Begun
"It's not a government takeover of the Internet.” That was the mantra of those who backed the Federal Communication Commission’s “net neutrality” rules, which the FCC approved a little over a year ago.
“Not only are the new rules not a government takeover,” argued one supporter in Variety, “they are well in keeping with how communications have been successfully fostered and regulated in America in the past.”
The rules were only meant to keep the Internet “free and open,” advocates said. All the government was doing was blocking ISPs from discriminating against users by charging more for faster speeds.
But to impose “net neutrality,” the FCC reclassified the Internet so that it could regulate it in the same way it regulated the telephone monopolies. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler promised that — despite the fact the FCC had just granted itself wide-ranging control over ISPs — it would use a “light touch” when it came to regulating ISPs.
But now, 12 months later, the FCC tipped its heavy hand with a proposal for a new set of regulations that could, as the Morning Consult put it, “reshape the tech industry.”
The proposed new rules don’t have anything to do with “net neutrality.” They are about privacy. Now that the FCC can do so, Chairman Tom Wheeler has decided that the government should impose what it determines are the appropriate privacy protections on all Internet service providers....
http://www.investors.com/politics/capital-hill/the-fccs-plan-to-take-over-the-internet-has-begun/And sure enough, at least one service is complaining about entangling regulations.
If you want to paint this, er, "pivot" with a broad brush, you can say that FedGov got the suckers to swallow the King's Shilling once again.
But look at it with a more detail-oriented eye and you see the FCC essentially acting as muscle for one faction at the expense of another. And as is almost customary, the faction that gets the muscle has been branded as "the consumers."
It's fascinating. Consumerism, if you will, is standard policy in a business country. The general maxim of business is, "The customer is always right." And yet, FedGov frequently uses its muscle on the side of "the consumer." Fascinating how the two dovetail.
Are you one of those who decry consumerism? Well if so, you stand athwart not only "business" but also the federal government.