"Net Neutrality is the Obamacare of the Internet..."

[Czernobog]

That was the brilliant response of Ted Cruz to President Obama's comments this morning about Net Neutrality.
"Net Neutrality' is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government," Cruz wrote on Twitter.
Ted Cruz: Net Neutrality Is 'Obamacare For The Internet' - Business Insider

President Barack Obama wants to reclassify the internet as a utility, he said in a new statement released by the White House on Monday.
That would allow the Federal Communications Committee to enforce heavier restrictions on it and protect net neutrality.

This is an insanely cynical tactic that should worry all citizens regardless of political stripe, and it's coming from the guys at the top; Ted Cruz (R-TX) is a powerful member of the GOP in the Senate and a potential presidential candidate for 2016. Republicans just took over Congress and hold the keys to policymaking for at least the next two years. If the best they can continue to come up with is repeating "Obama is bad!" the internet is in serious trouble.

Net neutrality is obviously nothing like Obamacare, but Cruz and his colleagues have already demonstrated they either don't understand what internet freedom means or they're willing to spread mendacious propaganda about it to help their friends at Verizon, Comcast, and other monopolistic ISPs.

At some point one would think that, in the name of protecting their constituency, even Republicans would figure out at some point that just because Obama supports it, that doesn't automatically make it a bad thing...

 

[Rikurzhen]

Net neutrality is obviously nothing like Obamacare

Obvious only to those who live in Bizarro Universe. Massive regulation slathered with a nice topping of special interest payoffs on one side and exactly the same on the other side. Instead of nothing like, it's exactly like.

 

[Czernobog]

Net neutrality is obviously nothing like Obamacare

Obvious only to those who live in Bizarro Universe. Massive regulation slathered with a nice topping of special interest payoffs on one side and exactly the same on the other side. Instead of nothing like, it's exactly like.

Okay. What, precisely, do you think net neutrality is, and what is at the heart of the question of net neutrality?

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Obama is for net neutrality so of course, the knee jerk RWs are against it. Just one more example of the right being in favor of something that hurts them just because Obama is in favor of it.

Idiots.


Obama walked into the fray Monday, seeking more clarity on the hot-button issue. His unequivocal support for "net neutrality" – the notion that any and all content should be treated equally by Internet providers – could add fervor to a fight that has already gone on for years.

"We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online."

Specifically, Obama called for prohibiting ISPs from blocking or deliberately slowing any legal content. His proposals also include a recommendation to mostly ban paid-for "fast-lane" access, in which a content provider refusing to pay extra would be subject to slower Internet transmission.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Net neutrality is obviously nothing like Obamacare

Obvious only to those who live in Bizarro Universe. Massive regulation slathered with a nice topping of special interest payoffs on one side and exactly the same on the other side. Instead of nothing like, it's exactly like.

Uh, you don't even know what "net neutrality" is.

EDUCATE YOURSELF.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

There was another thread on this today and, sure nuff, all the rabid RWs were against Obama's stated wish that the Internet remain free and open to all.

Not one them could say why they are against net neutrality in that thread either.

 

[Rikurzhen]

There was another thread on this today and, sure nuff, all the rabid RWs were against Obama's stated wish that the Internet remain free and open to all.

Not one them could say why they are against net neutrality in that thread either.

There are layers of objections but the very lowest hurdle here is "What's the problem?" What harm is being caused which warrants the government coming in and regulating and controlling the rules of the marketplace? We saw how well things worked out when government stuck it's nose in the mortgage lending operations of the financial sector. Now they're completely destroying the health care sector.

What harm have you suffered which warrants the creation of a whole new regulatory regime and who's going to pay for all that regulation?

 

[Iceweasel]

This is an insanely cynical tactic that should worry all citizens regardless of political stripe, and it's coming from the guys at the top; Ted Cruz (R-TX) is a powerful member of the GOP in the Senate and a potential presidential candidate for 2016. Republicans just took over Congress and hold the keys to policymaking for at least the next two years. If the best they can continue to come up with is repeating "Obama is bad!" the internet is in serious trouble.

Which wacky assed progressive website do you get your marching orders from? Cruz is against it and doesn't want the internet to run at the speed of government. Who said comparing it to obamaCare was they best he or anyone on the right can do? Your outrage is completely misplaced. obama is the problem and you're foaming at the mouth over Cruz?

 

[Fang]

I'm a Republican and I all for net neutrality as are many Republicans that I know. Someone in Ted Cruz's camp needs to explain to him why comparing the internet to Obamacare is political suicide. This should be a no brainer bipartisan topic.

 

[Stephanie]

wonderful, they lied and duped you all on OScamCare so now lets give them control of the Internet and our Freedom of speech next

man oh man

 

[Stephanie]

sheep like the op will be the END of us
GRUBER: "Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage."

 

[Fang]

wonderful, they lied and duped you all on OScamCare so now lets give them control of the Internet and our Freedom of speech next

man oh man

I'm no fan of Obama, but wake up and smell the coffee on this one. Letting ISPs win this one and remove net neutrality DOES NOT benefit you in any way shape or form.

 

[Stephanie]

SNIP;
All of Your Internets Belong to Barack Obama Now
By Emily Zanotti on 11.10.14 | 3:11PM

• SmallerLarger
• Print Article

The President has decided to heed the message voters gave to the Democratic Party last week and will now work with Republicans to implement a common-sense policy agenda that includes a reasonable approach to Internet bandwidth questions currently in front of the FCC.

Ha! No. After his outburst on immigration this morning - that he'll pass it by executive order if Congress doesn't pass it's own version before years end (which he'll probably veto anyway) - Barack Obama decided to announce, while in China of all places, that he intends to control your Internet, which is great news, if you're a fan of how the government typically runs, well, anything. Of course, the FCC, which is handling the policy, is an independent organization that the President cannot control unless he's hired his own Comcast lobbyist, but that seems to make absolutely no difference as far as he's concerned.

In a detailed statement and video, Mr. Obama called for bright-line rules that ban broadband providers from blocking websites or cutting deals with content companies for better access to consumers, known as paid prioritization.
”We cannot allow Internet service providers to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas,” Mr. Obama said.

Firefox Vice President Johnathan Nightingale says President Obama's proposal to group broadband providers with phone companies would be a step toward eliminating online "discrimination."

To achieve that goal, the president called for the FCC to increase its regulatory authority over the broadband industry by placing them in the same category as public utilities or common carriers, such as the old landline phone network.
Since the 1996 Telecommunications Act, as Less Government President Seton Motley notes, the Internet has been classified as Title I utility, which means it's loosely regulated. Title I doesn't let the FCC impose "Net Neutrality" restrictions that put everyone on "equal footing: (though, as I suppose you know by now, nothing, where government is concerned, is ever truly equal). Barack Obama is arguing that the Internet, a vast series of tubes that he claims to understand, fits more soundly under the 1934 Telecom Act, which regulates land line phones. Reclassifying it would make it a Title II utility, and will give the government authority to heavily regulate.

ALL of it here:
All of Your Internets Belong to Barack Obama Now The American Spectator

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Dear Senator Ted Cruz I m going to explain to you how Net Neutrality ACTUALLY works - The Oatmeal

Maybe this will help RWs understand why net neutrality is a GOOD thing.

Yeah, I doubt it too.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

wonderful, they lied and duped you all on OScamCare so now lets give them control of the Internet and our Freedom of speech next

man oh man

Stephanie still doesn't know what net neutrality is.

She's so damn dumb, SO intent on jumping through Ted Cruz's Big Business hoops, she is against keeping the internet free and accessible to everyone.

I don't mind if idiot RWs want to pay for more and get less but their stupidity will cost us all.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I'm a Republican and I all for net neutrality as are many Republicans that I know. Someone in Ted Cruz's camp needs to explain to him why comparing the internet to Obamacare is political suicide. This should be a no brainer bipartisan topic.

I just want to point out that Fang appears to be the only RW who has the integrity to stand against the radical right.

Could we have an actual Conservative in our midst?

 

[PredFan]

The problem: I hate and distrust both Comcast, and the goverent.

The LAST thing that Obama wants is a free and open anything, let alone the Internet.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

The problem: I hate and distrust both Comcast, and the goverent.

The LAST thing that Obama wants is a free and open anything, let alone the Internet.

Uh no, the problem is that you're ill-informed on any and all issues.

 

[ricechickie]

The problem: I hate and distrust both Comcast, and the goverent.

The LAST thing that Obama wants is a free and open anything, let alone the Internet.

Yep. That's why he's made himself a dictator.

And why no one may criticize him upon pain of death.

Yep.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

In German "Net Neutrality" roughly translates to "Seig Heil!"