Current Events > FCC Director: "Broadband isn't telecommunications"

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/06/to-kill-net-neutrality-rules-fcc-says-broadband-isnt-telecommunications

Telecommunications, as defined by Congress in the Communications Act, transmits information of the user's choosing to and from endpoints specified by the user without making any changes to the user's information.

Landline and mobile voice service are both considered telecommunications by the FCC. But broadband isn’t telecommunications because “broadband Internet users do not typically specify the ‘points’ between and among which information is sent online,” Pai’s NPRM argues. It continues: "Instead, routing decisions are based on the architecture of the network, not on consumers’ instructions, and consumers are often unaware of where online content is stored."

tl;dr: broadband isn't "telecommunications" because the customer doesn't specify all of the intermediate hops that a packet takes before reaching the endpoint.
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In other words, Ajit Pai is a fucking moron.
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Wonder how much Verizon paid for that decision
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didn't realize I made up my friends phone number
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Can we please kick Trump out before this asshole kills Net Neutrality?
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So is this saying broadband isn't a utility? If so that's shitty.
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They are provided by the same companies...
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i think we need to start mailing bags of shit to Pai. fuck him.
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This same logic can also be applied to modern phone service, since everything is done on packet-switched networks.

treewojima posted...

This same logic can also be applied to modern phone service, since everything is done on packet-switched networks.

Please don't give Pai any more ideas.
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BLAKUboy posted...

treewojima posted...

This same logic can also be applied to modern phone service, since everything is done on packet-switched networks.

Please don't give Pai any more ideas.

Frankly, the laws governing the powers of the FCC haven't kept up with the explosion of the Internet. Really the only government domain that has is copyright protection, which makes sense because that's where the money is.

If his argument passes judicial muster, then the only remaining option is an act of Congress. (God help us all.)

treewojima posted...

If his argument passes judicial muster

let's hope it doesn't
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By that logic, cellular phone networks no longer qualify as well.

Hell, even landlines use automatic routing nowadays instead of operators.
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treewojima posted...

Frankly, the laws governing the powers of the FCC haven't kept up with the explosion of the Internet.

And let's please wait to make this argument until after we get him replaced by someone who doesn't just want to fuck over consumers.
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tainted_emerald posted...

By that logic, cellular phone networks no longer qualify as well.

Hell, even landlines use automatic routing nowadays instead of operators.

BLAKUboy posted...

Please don't give Pai any more ideas.

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Lightsasori posted...

In other words, Ajit Pai is a fucking moron.

Nah, he's really smart. Hilariously bought and paid for, but not an idiot.
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BLAKUboy posted...

tainted_emerald posted...

By that logic, cellular phone networks no longer qualify as well.

Hell, even landlines use automatic routing nowadays instead of operators.

BLAKUboy posted...

Please don't give Pai any more ideas.

No, let's. I honestly want him to say nothing is actually telecommunications.
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Pai is an attorney, not an engineer. He knows exactly what he's doing. It doesn't matter how the world's networks actually function - all that matters is how the law says they function.

Polycosm posted...

broadband isn't "telecommunications" because the customer doesn't specify all of the intermediate hops that a packet takes before reaching the endpoint.

They usually don't, but they can if they really wanted to.
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i legit facepalmed when i read the topic title
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treewojima posted...

If his argument passes judicial muster, then the only remaining option is an act of Congress. (God help us all.)

I'd start praying that the 115th Congress stays out of it. Here's what they did to broadband privacy protections a couple months ago:
https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ22/PLAW-115publ22.pdf
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Possibly the stupidest logic ever used to define broadband. May as well declare that a road isn't public with that shit. Everything in the known universe operates on that principle, and yet somehow we aren't governed by anarchy. At least not yet, obviously if these shitheads stay in power that will change.
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DeltaRayquaza posted...

i legit facepalmed when i read the topic title

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May as well say that a Taco Bell taco isn't really a taco because you don't know how the meat got there.

wait. bad example.
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Oh my f***ing god

It should not

be

a god damn

real quote

but it

f***ing is
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I just want to thank America's hicks for helping put this moron in power. What the fuck...
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voldothegr8 posted...

So is this saying broadband isn't a utility? If so that's shitty.

correct, the intended purpose is to make regulation of verizon/comcast unenforceable (as per the lawsuit that verizon won before they were subject to title II utility status)
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Frostshock posted...

Nah, he's really smart. Hilariously bought and paid for, but not an idiot.

yep. the word is 'dangerous'
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mRPTrWHHKQ
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It shouldn't be a rea....Oh already posted.
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MC_BatCommander posted...

Wonder how much Verizon paid for that decision

So if broadband isn't telecommunications, does that mean I can use my internet without worrying about federal telecommunications regulations at all?
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CableZL posted...

So if broadband isn't telecommunications, does that mean I can use my internet without worrying about federal telecommunications regulations at all?

Of course.
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Yea the internet isn't AM radio.
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http://www.dictionary.com/browse/tele-

a combining form meaning “distant,” especially “transmission over a distance,” used in the formation of compound words:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/communication

1.
the act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.
2.
the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.
3.
something imparted, interchanged, or transmitted.
4.
a document or message imparting news, views, information, etc.
5.
passage, or an opportunity or means of passage, between places.

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