Florida VoIP Provider Files Net Neutrality Complaint With FCC 70
New submitter himilean writes with this snippet from PC World: "A Florida VoIP carrier has filed a net neutrality complaint against a Georgia utility and broadband provider, after the utility accused the VoIP firm of theft of service for using its network to deliver voice service without paying for it. L2Networks filed the net neutrality complaint with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission Tuesday, the first formal complaint since the FCC passed net neutrality rules in December 2010. L2Networks' filing comes after the telecommunications manager for the City of Albany Water, Gas & Light Commission, a municipal utility in Georgia, filed a theft-of-service complaint with the Dougherty County Police Department in Albany earlier this year." Asks himilean: "So, would this not be considered the most abusive power of all within the legal system? Does this mean if I Skype my buddy and he's on Comcast, Comcast can file theft charges against me?"
You a step (Score:2, Interesting)
You missed an important step...
1. start isp
2. let users access the internet
3. charge users for accessing the internet (sustainable)
4. users get what service they pay for (NOT theft of services)
5. profits
It never ceases to amaze that people are allowed to get degrees without ever having to take economic sustainability 101.
Village epic fail once again LOL
Re:Complicated (Score:5, Interesting)
This is what scares me away from municipal fiber / municipal wireless. In a civilized world it would work, but in the USA, if you are a municipal internet customer and open a trouble ticket, you could realistically expect the police to break down your door, stomp your puppy to death, and beat you, because thats just how law enforcement rolls in the land of the free.
Well, that depends on what city you live in and who is running things there. A decade back I called the Mayor (who actually talked to me!) complaining about the taste of the city water; I had to buy a filter and take water to work with me, city water was undrinkable. I was never harrassed orr threatened, and the water tasted very good just two days later.
She retired and we got a new Mayor, and after my (now ex) wife was in an accident with a city truck that had run a red light, I got pulled over every damned day.
But corporate monopolies can fuck you over, too. The city owns the power company, and we have (but not for long I fear, we got a new Mayor after Davlin committed suicide) the lowest rates and the best uptime in the state, and customer service is about as friendly as it could possibly be. Two F2 (nearly F3) tornados hit here on March 12, 2006 and completely destroyed the electrical infrastructure in a large swath of he town. The entire town was without power for several hours, and a week later everyone's electricity was back on. It took a month for anyone to get landline phone or cable service back. The city's scars from the tornado were still there two years later; it was a humungous mess.
That June a weak F1 hit the St Louis area. A month later I visited a friend in Cahokia (in the path of the tornado, right across the river from St Louis) and he still had no power, but that was the only evidence that there had even been a tornado.
So all in all, after my experiences, I'd pick municipal internet over corporate internet any day. They just raised our electric rates, and I expect the Mayor (the real head of the power company) to not be re-elected because of that.
If the service is municipal owned and the rates are high and the service is shitty, the mayor loses his job. In a corporation, you have no pull whatever. What are you going to do, buy your electricity from another provider?
Now, if this was Chicago instead of Springfield, I wouldn't want to contract for city-run ANYTHING.
Re:Complicated (Score:2, Interesting)
No, because if some private corporation sends jack-booted thugs to my door, they'd better bring plenty of body bags. I have the right and the ability to defend myself from assault by another private entity. My neighbors would also join the turkey-shoot as well, I'm quite certain.
Government, however, can send in SWAT teams, the Nat. Guard, or even the full-on military. Legally. On behalf of the corporations. That's why a relatively weak central government is one of the keys to maintaining freedom.
Corporations and other rich & powerful interests cannot corrupt government powers and departments that do not exist. It's the only real protection there is. This is why the Constitution was written to severely limit Federal power.
Governments are made up of greedy, weak, power-hungry, corruptible people, and most everyone has a price. Government oversight only works until the people in the oversight panels/committees, etc, are themselves corrupted/compromised.
There will always be government corruption, no matter what safeguards you put in place. The only way to truly and effectively limit the damage it can do is to limit the size, scope, and power of the central government.
The more things government is tasked with, the more powers and money you give it, the more opportunities for corruption there will be, the more attractive it makes it to corrupting influences, and the more damage it can do.
This isn't rocket-surgery, people.
Strat