The final nail in net neutrality's coffin?

The FCC Chairman has announced his plans for the Net Neutrality Bill. No one seems especially happy about what they have to say but I'm inclined to believe this reaction given how much of a friend to Corporate America the Obama Administration has been.

I suppose anything this good wasn't going to be allowed to last.

Net Neutrality drifting away.

I can't be bothered to even act surprised or feign credulity in regards to the excuses given but essentially the Democratic dominated congress has backed away from any kind of legislation protecting people's rights. So now its all on the FCC heralding another round of secret meetings with those who oppose net neutrality and at best the FCC expanding its' remit which will then be undone by either the supreme court or the Republicans next time they get into power. Still who really though the plebs would be allowed to keep a medium that allowed such freedom of speech?

Depress yourself here.

Blizzard getting rid of anonymity on their forums.

Blizzard will be requiring forum users to use their real names for all discussions from now on. Best of luck to all women who play blizzard games and want to discuss it at all. Also note how much dissent is tolerated, very few of the post numbers are sequential.

This is a prime example of why monopolies are a bad thing, now they have millions of players locked into their e-drug the company feels secure enough to follow regressive policies that are beneficial to themselves but extremely negative for their customers. For a further critique of the RealID system of which this is a part go here.

This likely has repercussions for the wider internet because if blizzard carries it off it will be copied. Anonymity on the net is a good thing for the individual and bad for big organisations and vice versa.

thanks jonny

The death knell of Net Neutrality

Among the many blatant falsehoods Obama stated in his bid to get elected was a pledge to support net neutrality. A series of backroom meetings between the FCC and big telecoms companies shows how much stock he placed in that promise. Of course the American people are being given no chance to have an input on this deal which will markedly affect their daily lives. So look forward to corporate friendly websites being given preferential bandwidth by your ISP.

Gore created the internet, Lieberman wants to destroy it.

It seems since America elected Gore in 2000 but did not have him rule Lieberman has decided the American people, so easily cowed by Bush Cheney do not deserve his running mates' creation. Thus he is pressing ahead with a killswitch for the internet.

I am informed by Jonny, non-resident tech expert, that this would cause untold economic damage for everyone, except probably North Korea. Thus it would seem to be another MAD system or perhaps more accurately a larger scale version of Israel's Samson Option or a tool to force the world to go along with America. The second option is that Lieberman is an out of touch asshole who just loves flaunting America's power.

Either way publically announcing that this could be an option for the president will no doubt spur developments of parallel internets or similar networks especially if it becomes law.

thanks jonny