Cable Companies Duped Community Groups Into Fighting Net Neutrality 170
walterbyrd (182728) writes Last week, it transpired that the big cable companies were bankrolling fake consumer groups like Broadband for America and The American Consumer Institute. These 'independent consumer advocacy groups' are, in truth, nothing of the sort, and instead represent the interests of its benefactors, in the fight against net neutrality. If that wasn't bad enough, VICE is now reporting that several of the real community groups (and an Ohio bed-and-breakfast) that were signed up as supporters of Broadband for America were either duped into joining, or were signed up to the cause without their consent or knowledge.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:while we're bitching about cable companies.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Take whatever you can get from them, my friend. They'll certainly take all they can from you.
Re:Americans are idiots ! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:ooh ive played this game before. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why can't it be both?
Slashdot beta is really awesome (Score:0, Insightful)
I've posted on slashdot regularly for 5 years now, and first was very suprised about the new look of Slashdot Beta. Now I'm accustomed to it and I really would miss it when Dice abandons Beta. I have asked all my friends who also have been on slashdot for a long time. They share my thoughts, and they also like the new comment system.
I believe that the opposers of slashdot beta are only a tiny minority of the users fearing change. When humanity had followed their strategy, we would still live on trees. I think now is the time for progress and to turn off non-beta slashdot.
You can help this (real) grass roots movement by copying this post into every story.
Re:while we're bitching about cable companies.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:ooh ive played this game before. (Score:4, Insightful)
Or at least some consumer protection law which prevents companies from engaging in blatantly deceptive marketing campaigns.
However, fake 'grassroots' foundations seems to have become the norm.
According to the courts, that's sadly true (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't forget, fox news sued for their right-to-knowingly-lie and won in court.....
Re:How is this legal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, right, of course ... corporations are people with free speech, and entitled to actively lie to us.
What? That is utter nonsense. Corporations are not people!
Corporations are "Very Rich People". A class with little or no relation to "people".
VRPs have the inalienable right to do whatever they very much please and it is legal by Axiom*.
*: The axiom being: "Legal is what very rich people decide it is at any given point."
I really have no choice... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: while we're bitching about cable companies.. (Score:2, Insightful)
A la carte would mean individual channels will be priced much higher. It's very likely your bill will remain the same or increase.
Broadcasters, like the one i'm employed at, send their signals to cable and satellite companies. A la carte would lower are viewers by a fair bit, equating to less ad revenue. That will force us to toss niche channels, and cause the remaining channels to be priced much higher.
Re:while we're bitching about cable companies.. (Score:3, Insightful)
They have plenty of excuse:
1) We don't want to. Fuck you.
2) We don't want to. Fuck you.
3) We don't want to. Fuck you.
And lastly: We don't want to. Fuck you.
What benefit does alacarte give the cable companies that they would provide it?
Re:ooh ive played this game before. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Idiots (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean no wonder they elected GWB four times right? OK, he has had more of a tan these last two terms, big difference!
Re:I really have no choice... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, then let me disabuse you of that notion.
There is no 'free' market, and there never has been. The 'free' market is predicated on the belief that all players will act honestly, and make informed choices based on available information. This is a completely false assumption, and has been proven so time after time.
It completely ignores human nature whereby someone will always lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their own ends -- this is what we see here.
Industry players will always form cartels and collude in anti-consumer behavior -- price fixing being the prime example.
Without someone to keep corporations in line, the market would steadily skew to all of the power being in the hands of a few.
There is no such thing as a 'free' market, and there simply never has been. It's a utopian myth which can never be true.
People who go around spouting about the 'free' market are either naive, self deluded, or actively lying.
What proponents want is a situation in which corporations are free to do as they choose, under the premise that, in the long run, consumers will have perfect information and be able to make informed choices.
A 'free' market is incapable of addressing things like pollution, product safety, and ethical behavior. In fact, it's almost designed to encourage it.
When Adam Smith wrote "Wealth of Nations", he wasn't writing a rule book, he was making a series of observations. The problem is things have become so skewed, that what we see is an ever-increasing trend where corporations hold all the cards.
Governments who actively support de-regulation have been putting more and more power into the hands of corporations. By allowing industries to 'police' themselves (which isn't what actually happens) they can do as they see fit, for their gain, and to our detriment.
Economics isn't a science, and it isn't based in fact. It is an ideology of how things should work assuming impossible conditions and premises. And, like all ideologies, it is inherently blind to its own flaws, and taken as a matter of dogma to be true.
Taking steps towards a 'free' market has the net effect of removing restrictions on corporations -- which are typically there because we've already seen examples of grossly bad behavior.
The US has been steadily creating (and forcing other countries to adopt) a global oligarchy whereby the corporations call all of the shots. For instance, the TTIP [opendemocracy.net]:
Basically, governments are no longer free to set evidence based policy if it would impact the bottom line of corporations which are the ones causing harm in the first place. They can be over-ridden by these private tribunals which exist to protect the interests of investors and corporations, to the detriment of the rest of us.
This is an oligarchy, and definitely NOT a free market. You could not transition from an oligarchy to a 'free' market by simply removing the laws and regulations governing corporations -- this would not magically create a free market, it simply removes their obligations to society, and frees them to do as they please.
The free market is a complete and utter myth. It has never existed. And the reason society has had to develop laws and regulations around their behavio