My main reason for being against Net Neutrality as it is under Title 2 of the Telecommunications act is because of what the Obama administration snuck through.

Under Title 2, companies have to apply with the FCC for a license to be able to sell their signal, in this case the internet they provide. These licenses have to be regularly renewd with the government. Imagine if one day, you're the chairmen of the FCC. You have just been appointed and you get a call from the person that appointed you, the President. The president asks you to revoke a license for x ISP company because it is violating a federal law. You tell him to fuck off and you hang up. Little did you know, that company IS violating federal law. There is no way that company could be violating a federal law, right? They just provide a service and other people use that service, there is nothing they can do! They are violating a federal law though, at least they are under the "Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016" (S.2692).

Under this act, there is now a new government agency created. An interagency center to be housed in the State department. But, why would they make it an interagency center? Usually agencies are made independent of one another to protect accountability and to dissuade corruption. The head of this center will be appointed by the President, so someone that takes orders directly from the President.

"(1) to lead and coordinate the collection and analysis of information on foreign government information warfare efforts..."

So they are going to collect information at this agency of foreign governments and how they are spreading disinformation and propaganda.

I never heard about this bill or it being talked about on the news, it sounds like a pretty important bill that would be talked about on national television in light of supposed election hacking by the Russians. It was hidden inside the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. Obama signed this into law on December 23rd, 2016. No one saw this in the 3000 page Defense bill.

The interagency Center that they created can also bring in NGOs (non governmental organizations) to, basically, flag 'propagandists' as 'neutral, third party fact checkers'.

My main reason for being against Net Neutrality as it is under Title 2 of the Telecommunications act is because of what the Obama administration snuck through.

Under Title 2, companies have to apply with the FCC for a license to be able to sell their signal, in this case the internet they provide. These licenses have to be regularly renewd with the government. Imagine if one day, you're the chairmen of the FCC. You have just been appointed and you get a call from the person that appointed you, the President. The president asks you to revoke a license for x ISP company because it is violating a federal law. You tell him to fuck off and you hang up. Little did you know, that company IS violating federal law. There is no way that company could be violating a federal law, right? They just provide a service and other people use that service, there is nothing they can do! They are violating a federal law though, at least they are under the "Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016" (S.2692).

Under this act, there is now a new government agency created. An interagency center to be housed in the State department. But, why would they make it an interagency center? Usually agencies are made independent of one another to protect accountability and to dissuade corruption. The head of this center will be appointed by the President, so someone that takes orders directly from the President.

"(1) to lead and coordinate the collection and analysis of information on foreign government information warfare efforts..."

So they are going to collect information at this agency of foreign governments and how they are spreading disinformation and propaganda.

I never heard about this bill or it being talked about on the news, it sounds like a pretty important bill that would be talked about on national television in light of supposed election hacking by the Russians. It was hidden inside the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. Obama signed this into law on December 23rd, 2016. No one saw this in the 3000 page Defense bill.

The interagency Center that they created can also bring in NGOs (non governmental organizations) to, basically, flag 'propagandists' as 'neutral, third party fact checkers'.

"(2) Collecting, integrating, and analyzing relevant information, including intelligence reporting, data, analysis, and analytics from United States Government agencies, allied nations, think tanks, academic institutions, civil society groups, and other nongovernmental organizations."

Basically, anyone that has an opposing viewpoint to the sitting President can be prosecuted as a federal crime. So the FCC chairman that told the President to fuck off because that ISP isn't violating a federal crime? Well, they are. So their license gets revoked and they can no longer do business.

*Any American ISP network (eg Comcast) that has users posting or uploading opposing viewpoints to whoever is in charge can have their FCC Title 2 license revoked and can basically no longer do business. So ISPs are required to play nice and do whatever the government says.


https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/114th-congress/house-report/840/1 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal year 2017

http://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/communications-law-and-regulation.html FCC rundown, states you need a license to operate under Title 2

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2692/text Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2017 "Signed into law by President Barack Obama on 23 December 2016"