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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Newsletters

Meghan McCain Rips
Palin's 'Retarded'
Double Standard

'Exactly what's wrong with politics today'

8 hours, 51 minutes ago
Mystery Bush
Billboard Appears

Sign shows up in Minnesota with no sign of buyer

3 hours, 50 minutes ago
Sex Scandal Will Take Down Another NY Governor

David Paterson will resign after New York Times exposé: source

Feb 7, 10 4:45 PM CST
Palin Blasts Global Warming Studies as 'Snake Oil'

... in speech to Calif. logging conference

Feb 8, 10 10:04 PM CST
Tea Partiers Attack... Ron Paul?

Texas congressman draws three primary challengers

7 hours, 29 minutes ago
Analysis

Obama Calls
GOP's Bluff
With Health
Care Summit

President thinks Republican ideas will look worse in the spotlight

Feb 8, 10 2:20 PM CST
OPINION

Good Riddance to Rep. Murtha

Late Democrat slammed for corruption, stance on Iraq

9 hours, 49 minutes ago
WILLIAM MCGURN

Look Who Says Bush
Was Right on Terror

Obama invokes Bush policies as defense in Couric interview

10 hours, 7 minutes ago
Sarah Palin's
Cheat Sheet:
Her Palm

Former Alaska governor uses prompts during Tea Party Q&A

Feb 7, 10 4:15 PM CST
GOP Threatens to Sit Out Obama Health Care Summit

Boehner, Cantor demand Democrats scrap old bill

7 hours, 22 minutes ago
analysis

Meg Whitman
Is the
Anti-Palin

She's known for her business smarts, not her personality

2 hours, 37 minutes ago
OR MAYBE BORING OLD CORRUPTION

Swingers to Drugs,
Rumors Swirl
Around Paterson

New York governor denies any involvement with sex, drugs

5 hours, 30 minutes ago
OPINION

Sarah Palin,
Tea Partiers
Are Actually
Anti-Populist

The real Populists were anti-Wall Street and for big government

Feb 8, 10 10:45 AM CST
Democrats Fault
Rahm Emanuel
on Health Care

Many believe his inexperience in Senate maneuvering stalled bill

2 hours, 57 minutes ago

|NEXT STORY »

FCC Eyes Hiking Phone Bills to Expand Internet Access

Feds want to open networks, but would tax your phone bill to do it

By Rob Quinn| Posted Nov 18, 09 6:48 AM CST|

(Newser) – Al Gore may think he created the Internet, but it's the FCC that's looking to make it available to all Americans—and it's considering taxing your phone bill to pay for it. Federal regulators will outline their case today for stepping up government control of Internet and phone services, the Wall Street Journal reports, in a move to reverse Bush-era policies and bring widespread, cheap broadband access.

The FCC is considering options including doubling a $7 billion federal phone-subsidy fund to include broadband and reclaiming airwaves from TV stations to sell to wireless providers. The regulator is also considering new "open access" rules to force Internet providers to share their networks. Phone and cable companies are firmly opposed to any such measures, although an FCC-commissioned study credited open-access rules with improving networks in other countries.

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

Zachary Delorne, 14, who lives on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation, uses a computer lab at tribal offices. The tribe has applied for stimulus money earmarked for building broadband networks. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

We're looking at lots of things in the entire ecosystem. It would be premature to suggest we're moving in a particular direction. - FCC analyst Blair Levin

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2.9.10

It’s the Sex, Stupid

2.8.10

For Me, Palin Scores

24 comments

VIEWING:

godawgs
Nov 18, 09 6:56 AM CST

Good now maybe I can quit seeing those Hughsnet commercials about how much faster it is then dailup. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

DontLikeYou
Nov 18, 09 9:26 AM CST

More taxes from democrats. Thanks for the "Change" obama... that's all we'll have left in our pockets after you and your liberal friends are gone in 2012.

-3

| 0 minutes ago

odowd80
Nov 18, 09 7:09 AM CST

Open internet is good for everyone, including business. This is as important as government control of roads and highways. Private ownership of turnpikes in the early days only served to slow commerce and line the pockets of the turnpike owners. Plus, they were much lower quality than government-owned roads. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

divetrader
Nov 18, 09 7:21 AM CST

Well said!

IN RESPONSE:

bewilderbeast
Nov 18, 09 8:03 AM CST

Hear, hear! Let THE PEOPLE, through their government, reclaim those important things that should NOT be in private hands (water is another national resource that should be legislated out of private hands). And let THE PEOPLE regulate those areas vital to the common good where they ARE to be left in private hands. And let all honest corporations (there are honest pharma corporations, right? There are honest electricity providers, right? There are honest oil companies, right?) WELCOME the advent of fair laws.

IN RESPONSE:

raggedyrose
Nov 18, 09 9:02 AM CST

IN RESPONSE:

DontLikeYou
Nov 18, 09 9:27 AM CST

..... and mourn the age of reason and freedom.

-3

| 0 minutes ago

myvoice
Nov 18, 09 7:11 AM CST

If the FCC gets control of the internet, does that mean we lose our current uncensored internet? I hope not! Reply

IN RESPONSE:

EileenRocks
Nov 18, 09 7:34 AM CST

FCC is in favor of net neutrality, which means they don't care whose bits do what (double joke on 'bits' there...) unless they are specifically investigating an obvious evil, like child porn. Wingers like Beck oppose net neutrality not because they dislike government (at least in this instance), but because they favor their corporate buddies being able to impose surcharges on net traffic.

IN RESPONSE:

Timinator2K
Nov 18, 09 8:12 AM CST

"If the FCC gets control of the internet" The operative word there is CONTROL. When our precious Big Brother Government decides, for our own "protection" to shut down/lock-down the Internet for National Security Reasons, start expecting to have to be "qualified" to use THEIR Internet...and possibly find yourself on a US Government No Surf List. SO MUCH FOR FREE SPEECH, WAS NICE WHILE WE HAD IT.

IN RESPONSE:

myvoice
Nov 18, 09 8:24 AM CST

The road to the FCC is paved with food intentions. But what happens when we get another Ashcroft in power? Freedoms are not there to protect us from the good in power but from the bad. my concern is that it may end up like public radio and TV. You know someone with power, preaching their morality. why is it that you cant swear on public TV or radio? Sure we should all have access to the internet without the Big companies owning it. But why we cant just do that without giving control to the FCC? Im just saying....

IN RESPONSE:

myvoice
Nov 18, 09 8:25 AM CST

i meant good intentions not food! LOL

IN RESPONSE:

raggedyrose
Nov 18, 09 8:51 AM CST

yes it does and that means if this same government doesn't like something a website is saying they can shut it down and they can block anything that makes them look bad or anything they just don't like.

| 0 minutes ago

CS1234
Nov 18, 09 7:40 AM CST

No new taxes huh? At least it is not out in the open like a payroll tax. It is much easier to sneak it through that way. And besides, there will need to be a new agancy to oversee this so that would mean more jobs right? I wonder if there is any of that stimulus money left over to make that happen. Reply

-2

| 0 minutes ago

offspringdude235
Nov 18, 09 7:42 AM CST

They need to be careful about their wording on "government control" of the internet. Because I'm not one of the right wing nut jobs that thinks the government is trying to control everything. But when I read "government control" and "internet" in the first paragraph I almost lost it. All that I'm saying is the FCC needs to be careful to explain the facts and not freak people out because they're looking for ANYTHING to jump on the "the government is trying to control and own everything" bandwagon if they really want to get this done... Reply

IN RESPONSE:

offspringdude235
Nov 18, 09 7:43 AM CST

Sorry there should be a comma after bandwagon.... I'm kind of a grammar nazi :-)

IN RESPONSE:

bewilderbeast
Nov 18, 09 8:07 AM CST

Liberate yourself! Read: http://www.salon.com/author/laura_miller/index.html and purge yourself of grammar hangups.

-1

IN RESPONSE:

Timinator2K
Nov 18, 09 8:17 AM CST

Yes, VERY excellent idea to advise Big Brother to be very careful about their scary/panic inducing use of words as they ratchet up CONTROL. Gentle words and subtle gestures make oppression so much more bearable for all you liberal folk...who believe it will never affect you, The New Master Race.

IN RESPONSE:

EileenRocks
Nov 18, 09 2:53 PM CST

You guys slay me... who do you think paid for and built the net in the first place? The US Gov, in the form of the Military. The core of the net was DARPA's network, built to maintain communication lines during a nuclear attack. After the bones were built, the Universities piled on, and spent millions on letting Comp Sci students play star trek on 8x8 cursor sized screens. Eventually the goverment gave up control of the Internet to CERN and others in the mid 90s, half a decade after personal computers became robust enough to access the net from homes instead of University computers. I took a class on the net in 1990, when WAIS was as wide spread a visual net protocol as the WWW, and we used to access our university accounts via command-line Unix. (This was before there were ISP's.) The Government is not taking control of the net. That's silly, they just gave it up a little over a decade ago. They are just proposing that traffic be fair to everyone, like a traffic policman. AT&T and Comcast want to make competing sites pay *them* extra to have their information flow like always. Or charge users extra for prime access to the net, and everyone else gets the dregs. "Nice packets you got there. Be a shame if it got lost, or something... wouldn't it?"

| 0 minutes ago

Reader65069154
Nov 18, 09 8:44 AM CST

I'd be curious to know what the government considers a phone to tax? If this is just a tax on analog telephones, it will be short lived as that's a dying breed, and probably tax the very people this is trying to bring internet to. On the digital side, the difference between voice and data is getting more blurry every day. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Ucantusethatname
Nov 18, 09 9:46 AM CST

The Emperor's army moves onward. Control banks, take over GM, squash opposing voices. Now initial attempts to take over technology and media. No surprise. Reply

-1

| 0 minutes ago

JoeQ
Nov 18, 09 11:11 AM CST

A lot of people have abandoned their land lines because they don't need them anymore. If you look at a phone bill you will see a tax of around $7 per month. Thats an old tax the feds put there to pay for installing phone lines to rural areas. They finished building those lines decades ago but, guess what, the feds never took it away. Once the feds put a tax in a phone bill it stays forever. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Nancy_Knew
Nov 18, 09 12:56 PM CST

When did Congress or anyone give the F.C.C.a say on private subscription services ? Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Derni
Nov 18, 09 2:17 PM CST

More taxes...and where will the people get money for that? Reply

-1

| 0 minutes ago

View all 24 comments »

Internet • FCC • broadband Internet • network speed • Internet access • open access • National Broadband Plan

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FCC Eyes Hiking Phone Bills to Expand Internet Access