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FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski needs another calcium supplement to stand up against powerful broadband interests. Let's send him one.
When citizens get active and get involved, they can make a difference. That’s true even with giant corporations like Verizon Communications.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has been straying as of late. In 2009, his nomination to chair the Commission came with a lot of promises he’s now threatening to break with the American people:
- to make the FCC more open and accountable to the public interest;
- to promote and expand broadband to underserved Americans;
- to protest the open Internet with strong Net Neutrality protections.
Genachowski watched Comcast use the federal courts to invalidate much of his agency’s authority over broadband because of flawed policies and bad compromises made by the previous administration. Providers lived with that arrangement until it inconvenienced them. Then they sued… and won.
History teaches us that making the same mistakes all over again will bring similar results.
Chairman Genachowski is wrong to think brokering secret, back room deals with major corporate broadband providers will solve America’s broadband issues. Verizon, AT&T, Google, Comcast, and the other players do not answer to the FCC — they answer to their stockholders and Wall Street. While corporate deals are struck behind closed doors, it is you and I that face living with the results and we don’t even have a seat at the table.
I, for one, am not interested in living in a broadband gated community with AT&T working the front gate.
Genachowski has apparently forgotten he is supposed to be working for the American people, not for America’s broadband duopoly. Not too long ago, Genachowski’s office hinted it might be prepared to cave on meaningful broadband reform. Outraged citizens flooded the FCC and told him to grow a spine and stand up for our interests and he followed through announcing broadband reform was finally on the way.
It’s time to send the chairman another calcium supplement:
- Retweet this act.ly petition to demand that Genachowski accounts for his inaction.
- Answer these two questions to get the FCC to work for you and not AT&T.
- Learn more about getting involved in the fight to win Net Neutrality protections.
This fight is far from over.
Electricity companies don’t care how I use electricity. ISPs shouldn’t care what data I use – it’s none of their business!
That post made no sense at all. True an electric company does not care how you use it but offers guide lines as to avoid brown or black outs that are their idea of caps based on being able to provide electric. You do not want either when it is 105 outside. I do not think Isp’s care how you use data but they give you a certain amount then your done for the month if they let you back on again at all. They are not going to spend billions so you can watch endless I love lucy shows… Read more »
No offense bud but you have outmoded thinking. Who wants streaming? People that want competition against the monopolies or duopolies that have been riding the gravy train for so long. The industry is changing and in the direction towards the consumer being the winner and having more choice. Yes, they -the cable co’s- will fight tooth and nail to prevent any competition but will fail. Streaming of TV shows and Movies and Music is the future. TV’s are already reflecting this change with current 2010 models having some sort of Internet interface for downloading content from places such as Netflix… Read more »
Ken, Don’t tell me “I don’t need it!” You don’t know what I,or anyone else needs! And who the hell are you to think you can tell people what they need and don’t need? A fat guy probably doesn’t need that 2nd cheeseburger but it’s his right to have it if he wants it. Don’t tell us what type of broadband we should be limited to when its available. The cable and phone companies work as “controlled monopolies” if you want cable it is TWC or Comcast or Cox. There’s no competition! If you want home phone its VZ or… Read more »
I sent the Chairman a well thought out email months ago when the FCC lost that court case. I implored him not to give up the fight and to make sure Comcast didn’t get to destroy Net neutrality. I received an email a week ago in response and it was just a form letter thanking me for my comments. No one at the FCC is listening…it’s really frustrating.
Ok I won’t tell you what you need. The ISP’s will tell you and your stuck with
it but what I will tell you your just not important enough. the air. Get over yourself unless you came up with an idea where you can get around these limits and speeds. If you can not live with this there are plenty
of places that treat that sort of thinking.
I still think they should block all streaming. All of it. Your fighting wars you will
not win. They got money to buy votes. All you got is a keyboard and in your
case is useless. If you want me to change my mind tell me why you need
it but you wont. Your not that important neither am I but I said what I wanted to.
If it isn’t streaming, it is something else. It does not matter. It is at the point right now that the market is saturated and there is no competition to steal from. The people that want cable broadband have it. The only way to increase profits (without building more infrastructure), as investors demand, is to increase your bill. That does not require expensive building in rural areas. It also plays to investors demands of decreasing costs by limiting upgrades. Cellphones are the same thing. If they were really worried about the bandwidth, they would not require and additional $15 –… Read more »
Uncle Ken… Just WHO THE HELL do YOU THINK YOU ARE, telling people like ME what I can do online?? That’s the SAME question I will pose to those “TOO-BIG-FOR-THEIR-BRITCHES” Cable and Phone companies if they decide to PUSH THIS “Consumption-based” or “Usage-based” BULLSHIT on us!!! It’s HIGH TIME that those investors should STOP BEING SO DAMNED GREEDY and be HAPPY with the profits they NOW make!!! And YES, I feel that these ISP’s SHOULD KEEP UPGRADING WHENEVER THE NEED ARISES!! It’s HIGH DAMNED TIME to TELL ALL THESE Phone & Cable companies that THE CUSTOMER IS KING, and THE… Read more »
Data plans are a great way to fleece an extra $30 from you and they do not mind making the flow speed a little faster so you hit the limits faster so that the big money money over charges kick in and they get the real big $$$$. Streaming is the future yea all 2 to 5 gig of it before your down to dial up speeds for the rest of the month. I did not forget that this applies mostly to cell and wireless. Those are lost causes. I also did not forget that they pull this off in… Read more »
Have you not been reading this blog? I have a hard time believing you don’t have a vested interest in the telecoms at this point. They have proven time and time again that these companies have an abundance of profits to upgrade their networks, yet they claim they can’t afford to do so. They are lying and its been proven that those “big green boxes” would take very little in the scheme of things to upgrade.
You are crazy if you think that they would put in place such a low cap for home wired connections. Also, I don’t know if you have been keeping up, but Blockbuster is on the verge of Bankruptcy. Netflix is thriving while Blockbuster is struggling. Blockbuster has already closed 500 stores Nationwide and has barely got enough financing to cover its debts and prevent the company from filing Bankruptcy. I am glad streaming video started this. The Cable co’s balked at giving people a la carte programming and said it was too expensive for the them and the consumer but… Read more »
I just used the words big green box as a generic term because I do know
the names what needs to be upgraded. Ability to pay is open to what
can be forced who pays for what but right now. they do not have to build out
anymore if they do not want to.
No, they don’t, but that’s their whole argument for the data caps: because they can’t afford it. But, they can. So, they either need to upgrade or stop lying and just say “We don’t want to use our profits and would rather stick it to our customers.” At least it would be honest for once.
Ill try to cover all these posts in one IMHO comment. First in other posts I said cell and wireless most effected. Naturally that low a limit on wire from the pole would be crazy but some are doing it already..Streaming is what started the problems and they are not going to support it without huge monthly bills. They have extra space but you will pay through the nose for it. Block buster is in trouble but they did not know just how much it will at some point cost netflix to stream. a la carte you can forget that… Read more »
Alright, I’m done…I’m convinced you’re a plant for Comcast or TW at this point, so I’m going to stop feeding you. We’ve given clear arguments and your rebuttals just skirt around the issue, so I’m done with this thread.
Here Tim you can hate me even more. Next check from the government about 24 days and in a couple of weeks later I get free cell phone thanks to the fees you now pay. In the 30 years I worked I paid plenty and now I want my money back. I look at it as a big savings account. So hate me ill get over it.. no do not wait im over it now. Take you streaming away most that bitch about it are are tv, gamers, and p2p. I do none. When streaming brings back 8 million jobs… Read more »
Why are you so down on streaming? Don’t you get that it IS competition to cable? I used to pay for all the premium stations – HB0, MAX, SHO, STARZ, etc. Now I pay $9 a month for netflix streaming. One of those channels costs more than that. You do know if it wasn’t streaming it would be something else. Whatever it is it does not matter. Netflix is doing well – they are giving the content providers bigger and bigger revenue, while plain old DVD shops are closing and going out of business. By streaming, Netflix costs are substantially… Read more »
Don’t bother. It’s obvious he has no idea what he’s speaking of. The guy can’t even figure out how to hit the reply button, how could he know anything about competition and streaming? i don’t know if he’s being contrary just to be different or what, but so far nothing he’s said has had any factual basis behind it. Just his personal feeling that it’s difficult to make the companies treat people fairly so we just shouldn’t even try.
Then stop trying but I hope they all close streaming down. I thought
you were out of this posting secession. Guess you lie to fit your own
needs when it suits you. BTW Firefox and this site do not play well
well all the time.
No, i said YOUR feelings are it’s difficult so people shouldn’t try to change it. And I decided to change my mind. I’m entitled as an American. But good job at trying to spin in your favor calling me a liar. Clever. You’ve yet to fully explain your problem with streaming video. As a consumer you should want alternative options.
I always look for options. Reason I could retire at 50. My take on streaming
has been posted in so many replies I could not count them all nor will I
try. You can and have come back and can do so as many times as you
want. Im not your keeper.
Ron im not so down on streaming but not on a system that can not handle
it. It was not built for it. Cell phones were for one reason to make and receive
phone calls. Then the smart phones showed up that eat bandwidth like
crazy. system cant handle it so now they cache or crash. They give reason
to providers to raise prices for everybody and people that cant live without
TV or games for an hour need some serious treatment
More and more people are texting. Texting is way less resources than talking on the phone, and it is an extra charge. Stop requiring a data plan, and I will stop using the service that I HAVE to pay for. If you force me to pay for a service, I am going to USE it, for WHATEVER it is I want to use it for. They have done it to themselves, and I refuse to feel sorry for them. I believe, they are resposnible for the state of their network, by pushing smartphones, having few phones that are not smartphones,… Read more »
Duffin good do not let the door slap you on the way out. You never said
anything of value anyways on topic.
Oh, I’m so hurt the old man with an opposing opinion insulted me. Wah wah. How will I ever survive?
I do not care. You stuck your nose in it. What hurts you most is I speak the
truth and nothing can change that. As far as old man. you will be here so day
I do not care. You stuck your nose in it. What hurts you most is I speak the
truth and nothing can change that. As far as old man. you will be here some
day to and I did insult you. I was having a conversation that you may not
agree with. Entire point of this site.
did not insult you
Nice to see people picking up on the ideas expressed in Harold Feld’s speech last month, but it would be nicer if he got credit.
http://tales-of-the-sausage-factory.wetmachine.com/content/genachowskis-fast-fading-star-and-how-he-can-still-salvage-his-term-as-chairman
Or is the idea simply something “in the air”, such that lots of bloggers/policy people are picking up on it?
Can you be more specific as to what you’re referring? Which ideas here were expressed in the speech, out of curiosity?
Read the linked essay. Oh. I found the video. 2:51-6:20 Others on the panel pick up on it and/or argue with him. I haven’t listened to the whole panel http://supernovahub.com/2010/08/supernova-forum-2010-video-the-broadband-challenge/ The essay is similar material to the speech, but in greater detail with case studies. Basically, Genachowski has not lived up to his promise, does little on the policy positions he & the administration advocate in, e.g. the National Broadband Plan, and that tech people need to call on him to do his job. (Issues on which the FCC had promised action: White Spaces, NN, competition issues, intellectual property). NTIA… Read more »
I think it’s more useful to discuss and debate ideas instead of exchanging personal barbs back and forth.
One interesting fact is that video streaming will soon represent the largest percentage of data traffic across the Internet, passing peer-to-peer traffic. That suggests a large percentage of broadband users do want to use these kinds of services.
Nice to see Ken has found a new hobby to fill his retirement time in trolling stopthecap. I pay for service to access it as I see fit including streaming. There was never any issue before in the past with streaming or other so called bandwidth “hog” activities, unlimited has always worked, and wholesale bandwidth is only getting cheaper and faster. Running and working as a sysadmin for an ISP I saw the ‘abuse’ first hand, you’re talking about a tiny group of users that would use their consumer DSL lines 24/7 as servers or P2P that were abusing their… Read more »
I am debating the issue People do want it but it is coming at a heavy price. Tell me I am wrong. Remember stop the cap. It is most every where now caps that is. So I am a troll? Yes it did start with a tiny few then it caught on and the people that deliver. the service caught on and responded by limiting the amount of data you can have.raise the price or both/ Am I still a troll? Read your own web site and the reason you are here in the first place. Caps. Am I still… Read more »
All of this was going to happen anyways. You can’t blame streaming. If it wasn’t streaming or P2P it would be web pages are taking too much of our network, or whatever new thing. Steaming has been here for a long time. Again, you placing the blame on the wrong thing.
Ron I do think is was video and P2P that finally broke the camels back. Those and out rite greed. So far we have been the odd ball city but fear soon that ill be stuck is some cap / tier that cost way more then I pay now. for things that I do not use. I do think even the government has lost interest on the subject. They do not want to pay to watchdog the net but it is not hard for them the accept millions in money. Money always wins. I did not take to kindly being… Read more »
Reread my reply. Nowhere do I say “get back on track.” I asked all participants in this and any other comment thread to debate issues and not engage in personal attacks back and forth. Most personal attack threads are of interest only to those attacking and being attacked. The rest put the mouse scroll wheel on turbo to get past the bickering. I have. I think maintaining a pessimistic attitude about these issues, believing individuals cannot make a difference, is a waste of energy and frankly doesn’t match our record of achievements. We’ve built a track record of beating back… Read more »
No closed door meeting anymore?
Awesome. Now we just have to wait for them to disclose what they agreed in the meetings that’ve already gone on.
That is true you never said that but knowing you this long I think it is on your mind for any comment space and what is said. I did not tell anyone what they could do with what they are given but what they are given gets smaller and smaller every day it seams Talking about what you did pull off just wont work here without a third or fourth party in the mix. and Rochester is a strange town and the reasons it is jumped around while the good stuff goes by us. Maybe they need a control city… Read more »