F) Why are people so trusting of the government with the Internet?
It wasn't until a couple of years ago that the government declared the internet a "public utility". Do advocates of net neutrality not know about the person who made this historic decision?
Tom Wheeler was Obama's head and chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Before his appointment, his prior positions include President of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA); Two of the largest cable and telecommunications lobbying firms in the business.
Let me stress this point again..A corporate lobbyist gave the government more control over the internet.
Regulating the internet like a public utility, even with the best intentions, has unintended consequences just like most government regulation. Such regulation generally only benefits those who have enough power to influence the government, rather than regular people like you and me. Here you see a corporate lobbyist not only influencing but literally making a decision with his fancy governmental regulatory position.
Once you realize this is a textbook example of how most government regulatory bodies and legislation works...it's very frustrating when people say we need more government and more regulation to protect us. This decision to give government agencies ran by corporate lobbyists power to "protect the internet" will negatively impact the use of the internet within the next few decades.
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Tom Wheeler, Former Lobbyist and Obama Fundraiser, Tapped to Lead FCC | TIME.com)
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http://www.theguardian.com/…/2…/may/01/obama-tom-wheeler-fcc)
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http://www.newyorker.com/…/obamas-bad-pick-a-former-lobbyis…)
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http://sunlightfoundation.com/…/obama-bundler-tom-wheeler-…/)
