The problem with politics
I don't know if many people here know about the net-neutrality debate. Basically, internet providers in the US want to be able to provide different levels of internet service depending on what you are using the internet for. They get to decide which internet sites deserve high speed, and which deserve low speed.
They've had a few b.s. reasons that they've put forth, but the consensus tends to be that they want to stop people from watching tv/movies online, and from using skype/VOIP, because that cuts into their cable and telephone profits. It's anti-competitive, anti-free-market, and benefits no-one but a few big providers like AT&T and Verizon. America already has much poorer internet quality than many countries around the world (although nowhere near as bad as we have here in Australia).
Of all people to take an interest in this, John McCain has decided to back the telephone companies, and last week introduced the bill that would let them do this. This is the same McCain that during the election campaigns admitted that he doesn't use computers and doesn't know how to read or send emails. Why the fuck would he suddenly take an interest in something like this?
Well, the answer should be obvious. It's the same reason politicians do anything...
http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandid ... 1420091024Surprise: McCain Biggest Beneficiary of Telco/ISP Money
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is the top recipient of campaign contributions from large Internet service providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast over the past two years, according to a new report from the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics. McCain has taken in a total of $894,379 (much of that money going to support his failed 2008 bid for the presidency), more than twice the amount taken by the next-largest beneficiary, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. ($341,089).
Meanwhile, McCain has emerged as the ISPs' biggest champion against new "network neutrality" rules from the Federal Communications Commission, which voted Thursday to move forward in the process to adopt such rules. Shortly after the FCC vote, McCain introduced a bill (the "Internet Freedom Act") that would block regulation of the nation's largest broadband networks.
Net neutrality rules would amount to a federal mandate that broadband providers cannot block or hinder the internet traffic of any web site or service, regardless of whether or not that site or service completes with a similar site or service offered by the ISP itself. In other words, a telco ISP could not limit bandwidth used for Skype VoIP traffic, while maximizing bandwidth available for its own VoIP service.
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This sort of shit pisses me off. A politician who obviously knows absolutely jack-shit about the issue, pushing an agenda because people have paid him to do so.
There's a similar issue here in Australia, with the government trying to force ISPs to block particular sites. Likewise, it's being pushed by people that obviously have no understanding of the issue, and continue to ignore the advice of every single person qualified to comment on it.
