The longer Trump's in office, putting greedy robber barons in places of political power, the more I learn about political corruption.
Until this year, I had no idea the Federal Communications Commission had a board that was made up of conservatives and progressives.
By a vote of 3 to 2 the FCC voted this week to end Net Neutrality rules put in place by President Obama
This was a direct result of Trump putting Ajit Pai in charge of the FCC. He's taken steps to ensure Internet Service Providers like Spectrum, Time Warner, and AT&T will have the ability to slow down your internet service depending on what you're using their service for OR charge you additional fees on top of what you are already paying for your basic service.
And it seems like Pai did this because he used to work for a law firm that works for companies interested in making more profit off providing internet service.
Jenner & Block has represented communications industry clients at the FCC, the Department of Justice and other regulatory agencies across the country. No firm has both the experience and credibility that Jenner & Block enjoys before the FCC and other regulatory agencies...
https://jenner.com/practices/105/ourworkNo conflict of interest here? What are you talking about? So what if he goes back to work for Jenner and Block again eventually. (<---extreme sarcasm)
To be specific, If Net Neutrality becomes a thing of the past, your internet provider that's already charging you $35 a month can decide they don't want to provide you enough bandwidth for Netflix unless you pay $5 extra per month for it.
Your internet provider could also decide they don't want to let you have access to enough bandwidth to have access for facebook, instagram at all, unless you pay a separate fee for a social media package $10 too.
In Portugal, paying for internet service is a lot like paying for cable television. You pay for basic service. Then you pay for packages depending on what you'd like to access.
In other words, cable cutters like me are about to be paying the best part of $100 a month for television because Netflix, Hulu, and the rest will be require a separate charge on top of basic cable service.
People are saying that nothing will change much in the U.S.
...at first.
And, I'm sure that's true. Those who want to make profit over the long term, like Internet Service Providers and law firms who represent them, do not want voters to wake up suddenly as a result of a bunch of new fees, then align with states suing the FCC over this decision.
But make no mistake, making more money is the goal of these huge companies like Time Warner, AT&T, and Spectrum. They'll nickle and dime us first, with little fees you don't really notice...same as companies used to do to phone bills.
Last year, AT&T told me that I'd have to PAY to have my telephone internet service cut off if I ran out of data. I wanted to do this rather pay 100 dollars a second for overage charges. AT&T told me I'd have to pay $5 extra a month and then they WOULD not change my service for me. They added the charges and made me figure out how to set this up on line
AT&T is at the wrong end of a class action suit every few years over fees and other crooked crap. Therefore, I have no doubt companies like AT&T will start fee-ing us to pieces as the result of no more Net Neutrality.The end of net neutrality could make internet service couple price poor, heavily mostly black and brown areas, right out of internet markets. It could even make internet service unaffordable for schools and libraries too eventually
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| MORE EXTRA CHARGES |
We may not be in Portugal's shoes yet, but this is likely the goal of companies that Trump's appointed FCC Chairman used to work for through his former employer.
Jenner & Block has represented communications industry clients at the FCC, the Department of Justice and other regulatory agencies across the country. No firm has both the experience and credibility that Jenner & Block enjoys before the FCC and other regulatory agencies. Jenner & Block has developed particular skills in matters including spectrum and wireless matters, cable regulation, telephone competition, Internet and other advanced services, pricing and intercarrier compensation, and access charges. The following is a small sample of representative matters...
https://jenner.com/practices/105/ourwork
I wonder if this is what the calculations will eventually look like for Internet Service Providers:
"Okay we're going to move to cable type pricing for our internet service today...We project we will lose 1 million poor people as clients altogether; let the 5 million working poor to pay the same price for BASIC INTERNET SERVICE (same as basic cable) where they can google stuff and shop BUT nothing else; and then we'll increase prices 33% across 250 million people."
So will Ajit Pai be working for Jenner and Block when he is done with his stint at the FCC?
Or will he profit more directly from his decisions as FCC Chairman by going to work for one his his former employer's clients?
How long will he have to wait to do this per federal conflict of interest rules --that nobody really enforces? A whole two years?
Once again, Trump has made another maneuver where the rich get richer. Internet Service Providers, always playing the long con, will likely not do anything to stir the pot while everybody's looking at them...while states are suing them. But all of us, in some way or another, are going to wind up paying through the nose in the long term.
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