** URGENT ** Join the battle for net neutrality!

[Bluestreakid15 540]

Fellow sG members! As vexer recently posted, we need all hands on deck to help save net neutrality!

 

If you do not already know what net neutrality is, here is a very well-written Reddit post explaining it:

TL:DR: Imagine every time you want to call your mom, it's a $15 charge. If net neutrality is eliminated, you will be charged per-service. Whether it be Facebook, Youtube, sG's forums, you name it, you can be charged for it.

 

 

"You're probably familiar with your electric bill, right? You get charged for what you use, not how you use it. The power company doesn't care whether you have a drill press in your garage, a server farm in your basement, or an herb garden under some heavy-duty lights.

 

 

The argument happening now is about the same thing, but with Internet access.

 

 

Since the creation of the Internet, the federal government, through the Federal Communications Commission, has required your Internet provider to treat all of your activity equally. Your Internet company is not allowed to charge you differently for what you do with your Internet. They're certainly allowed to charge you more if you use more, but they're not allowed to charge you more if you use it for video games instead of streaming video, or for running your own server. That's the principle of Net Neutrality.

The announcement today was an expected one from the new chairman of the FCC, who was appointed by the new president of the United States. On Dec. 14, the FCC will vote on whether or not Net Neutrality should exist.

 

If the proposal passes as expected, companies will be allowed to charge you differently, based on what you use the Internet for. They might also decide to simply not provide Internet access to specific applications, websites or uses.

 

Nothing requires these companies to do this. The repeal of Net Neutrality simply allows them to do so, if they wish.

 

 

People are concerned by this because in most places within the United States, there is limited competition for Internet access. If a consumer is unhappy with a company's practices, there may not be an easy alternative. If you're outside the United States, this would have indirect effects on you. If companies do take advantage of Net Neutrality repeal and institute preferential treatment, it would affect how people use the Internet. Users in the United States would have an economic incentive to use particular websites, and those websites would receive more traffic. For websites that rely on user-created content, that would have a significant impact.

 

In short, your access would not be affected, but what you access would be affected."

 

 

Examples of what the FCC has done in the past:

There's nothing hypothetical about what ISPs will do when net neutrality is eliminated. I'm going to steal a comment previously posted by /u/Skrattybones and repost here:

 

1. 2005 - Madison River Communications was blocking VOIP services. The FCC put a stop to it.
2. 2005 - Comcast was denying access to p2p services without notifying customers.
3. 2007-2009 - AT&T was having Skype and other VOIPs blocked because they didn't like there was competition for their cellphones. 2011 - MetroPCS tried to block all streaming except youtube. (edit: they actually sued the FCC over this)
4. 2011-2013, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon were blocking access to Google Wallet because it competed with their bullshit. edit: this one happened literally months after the trio were busted collaborating with Google to block apps from the android marketplace
5. 2012, Verizon was demanding google block tethering apps on android because it let owners avoid their $20 tethering fee. This was despite guaranteeing they wouldn't do that as part of a winning bid on an airwaves auction. (edit: they were fined $1.25million over this)
6. 2012, AT&T - tried to block access to FaceTime unless customers paid more money.
7. 2013, Verizon literally stated that the only thing stopping them from favoring some content providers over other providers were the net neutrality rules in place.
8. The foundation of Reason's argument is that Net Neutrality is unnecessary because we've never had issues without it. I think this timeline shows just how crucial it really is to a free and open internet.

 

 

This is no small matter. If net neutrality is eliminated, you won't just be able to search up what you want, when you want. You'd need to pay extra for everything. 

 

Want to search:

 

Videos? Extra.

Sports? Extra.

Social Media? Extra.

Pornography? Extra.

Weather? Extra.

 

Are you starting to panic yet?

 

There's so much we can do, and it starts with YOU! 

Here are some very helpful links from Reddit user u/Knopfmour

 

DO YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR INTERNET AND KEEP IT FREE? WONDERING WHAT TO DO? LOOK NO FURTHER

SIGN UP TO A PROTEST AT A VERIZON STORE NEAR YOU, FIND YOUR LOCAL ONE HERE: http://verizonprotests.com/

 

 

Contacting people

The vote is up to 5 people on the FCC. Two of them are in favour of Net Neutrality and three of them are opposed to it.

To defeat the net neutrality repeal, one of those three men has to change their vote.

 

Their Twitter handles:

https://twitter.com/AjitPaiFCC

 

https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC

 

https://twitter.com/mikeofcc

 

 

• We need to go straight to the source. Be civil, be concise, and make sure they understand that what they're about to do is UNAMERICAN.
•  
• https://resistbot.io/ Text "RESIST" to 50409 or message resistbot on facebook and It will find out who represents you in Congress, and deliver your message to them in under 2 minutes
• You can also go to www.battleforthenet.com call your representatives and tell them why you want them to stop the FCC and why you want them to protect your internet.
•  
• www.CallMyCongress.com to call your congressperson and make sure they are representing you.
•  
• Tweet your local representatives or post on their Facebook page, tell them that if they allow the FCC to destroy Net Neutrality then they will lose YOUR vote.
•  
• WRITE A LETTER. Write a letter to your representative, to the FCC, to whoever it concerns. Letters are ALOT harder to ignore and have a big impact. Send your letter via USPS and make your voice heard.

 

• Petitions
• Link to whitehouse petition https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/do-not-repeal-net-neutrality

NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU VERIFY YOUR SIGNIATURE BY CLICKING THE LINK IN THE CONFORMATION E-MAIL AFTER YOU SIGN.

 

ALSO, The more personalized message you send, the better! The FCC is complaining that "bots" are sending emails to them because they are all in the same format. Be unique! 

 

IF YOU DON'T GET AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE, DON'T GIVE UP! 

 

 

There are plenty of videos and pages of people explaining what net neutrality is, here is only a few:

 

 

*Links from Markiplier's video* 

 

Reddit thread with TONS of info: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/7ek4q6/join_the_battle_for_net_neutrality_net_neutrality/?st=jac1ka5u&sh=41883eff

 

Contact your Representatives: https://resistbot.io/

Another Helpful Tool: https://democracy.io/

Find your Representative: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Find your Senator: https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state

Contact the FCC: https://www.fcc.gov/about/contact

 

 

 

Don't think your vote won't matter.

 

 

It's simple, ladies and gentlemen. 

 

The internet is under attack, and we, the people, are the last ones standing.

We can fight this, and we can win this.

 

Please, for the sake of internet freedom, do your part. 

[Carl Sagan 2577]

im honestly okay with getting rid of net neutrality if it will stop the spam

1 hour ago, Bluestreakid15 said:

Tweet your local representatives or post on their Facebook page

 

[Dylan 558]

Literally people would rather pay attention to Anything rather than educate themselves on what net neutrality is because it “sounds too complex”

[Tristan. 1053]

2 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

im honestly okay with getting rid of net neutrality if it will stop the spam

 

Ted just stick to riding scooters your opinions are shite. And you will also be affected even in Canada.

 

[Rock 227]

14 hours ago, Bluestreakid15 said:

Pornography? Extra.

Well shit, now I'm really going to have to spring into action

[Ordinarygamer96 785]

As long as republicans and Trump are in office net neutrality is not safe. They Just wanna deliver a win to corporations at the expense of everyone else.

[Sean 3760]

28 minutes ago, Ordinarygamer96 said:

As long as republicans and Trump are in office net neutrality is not safe. They Just wanna deliver a win to corporations at the expense of everyone else.

False.

 

Big companies like comcast are PAYING members of the senate to swing votes. This has nothing to do with being a republican, it also has nothing to do with Donald Trump.

 

EDIT: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15100620/congress-fcc-isp-web-browsing-privacy-fire-sale

[Ironic 2278]

2 hours ago, Ordinarygamer96 said:

As long as republicans and Trump are in office net neutrality is not safe. They Just wanna deliver a win to corporations at the expense of everyone else.

I’m confused how Trump got involved in this.... I thought he had nothing to do with this? 

[Ordinarygamer96 785]

6 hours ago, Sean said:

False.

 

Big companies like comcast are PAYING members of the senate to swing votes. This has nothing to do with being a republican, it also has nothing to do with Donald Trump.

 

EDIT: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15100620/congress-fcc-isp-web-browsing-privacy-fire-sale

You realize that article you shared literally says every single one of the votes was a republican.  Its very much a republican push

4 hours ago, Ironic said:

I’m confused how Trump got involved in this.... I thought he had nothing to do with this? 

Trump intentionally put a guy in charge of the FCC who was known to be anti-net neutrality and Trump has spoken out against Net neutrality in the past. Trump has planned to remove net neutrality since going into office. Also congressional dems have spoken out against the repeal while republicans have supported it. Its extremely easy to see this as a dem versus repub political issue. Trump very much had the power to protect net neutrality by for instance not putting a guy who used to work for verizon in charge of regulating it. Draining the swamp indeed

[DMODW 643]

if you aren't a united states citizen and you want to help save NN.
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express

proceedings - 17-108 Restoring Internet Freedom.
under address mark international.

 

net neutrality is too important to stay silent about, wherever you are,
please speak out against this.
 

 

(if you don't know what to say, here is a simple template you can use, i've taken it from https://www.battleforthenet.com/ )
 

I urge you to stop the FCC's plan to end net neutrality *before* the FCC's December 14th vote.

I don't want ISPs to have the power to block websites, slow them down, give some sites an advantage over others, split the Internet into "fast lanes" for companies that pay and "slow lanes" for the rest, or force me to buy special "tiers" to access the sites and services I choose. But that's exactly what the FCC plan would do. Please read it:

https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-347927A1.pdf

Blocking & throttling by ISPs is a serious problem. Comcast has throttled Netflix, AT&T blocked FaceTime, Time Warner Cable throttled the popular game League of Legends, and Verizon admitted it will introduce fast lanes for sites that pay-and slow lanes for everyone else-if the FCC lifts the rules. This hurts consumers and businesses large and small.

If some companies can pay ISPs to have their content load faster, startups and small businesses that can't pay those fees won't be able to compete. This will kill the open marketplace that has enabled millions of small businesses and created America’s 5 most valuable companies. Without strong net neutrality protections, Internet providers will effectively be able to impose a tax on every sector of the American economy.

Moreover, under Chairman Pai's plan, ISPs will be able to make it more difficult to access political speech that they don't like. They'll be able to charge fees for website delivery that would make it harder for blogs, nonprofits, artists, and others who can't pay up to have their voices heard.

If the FCC passes their current order, every Internet user and business in this country will be unprotected from abuse by Internet providers, and the consequences will be dire. Please publicly support net neutrality protections by denouncing the FCC's current plan. Do whatever you can to stop Chairman Pai, to ensure that businesses and Internet users remain protected.

Thank you!

[JFK 546]

15 hours ago, Sean said:

False.

 

Big companies like comcast are PAYING members of the senate to swing votes. This has nothing to do with being a republican, it also has nothing to do with Donald Trump.

 

EDIT: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15100620/congress-fcc-isp-web-browsing-privacy-fire-sale

 

Quote

Republicans in Congress just voted to reverse a landmark FCC privacy rule that opens the door for ISPs to sell customer data.

 

 

I really have to ask if you got past the first sentence of your own source and somehow missed that there wasn't a single Democrat among that list of 265 members of Congress before you rushed in with "Well that's not true because it's both sides". Your own source very flatly destroys any notion that Net Neutrality isn't a partisan issue. It has been since Obama became President in 2008.

 

Republican lawmakers overwhelmingly, if not unanimously, are opposed to Net Neutrality.

[Sean 3760]

I made myself more clear in discord and didn’t bother to correct my comment.

 

This is definitely by far a republican law, however I’m sure it wouldn’t have gotten this far if telecom companies weren’t paying off these senators to feel better about themselves.

 

Reason I know this is accurate is because SOPA, a similar bill, was supported heavily by democrats! It doesn’t matter which side you’re on in this one.

 

The ONLY reason I linked that article is to prove that large telecom companies are sending them feel good dollars. Last time I checked the House of Representatives and Senators was a republican majority.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dr. NarwhalsNumbNuts IV 2291]

Semantics aside, this bill is awful for us, either inside or outside of the US. It's a dangerous precendent to set and must be stopped