{"id":9061,"date":"2015-02-04T15:07:28","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T20:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=9061"},"modified":"2015-02-05T06:07:05","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:07:05","slug":"to-provide-for-the-general-welfare-net-neutrality-the-government-and-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/to-provide-for-the-general-welfare-net-neutrality-the-government-and-you\/","title":{"rendered":"To Provide For the General Welfare… Net Neutrality, the Government and You"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"closed\"<\/a>Should the Government Protect the Internet and Net Neutrality?<\/h1>\n

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. (Preamble – U. S. Constitution)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After reading some of the comments about an article we featured on our Cloudeight InfoAve Web site,<\/a><\/span> we get the feeling that many people think that whenever the government puts its grubby hands into anything, they ruin it.<\/p>\n

Well, that’s true in many -maybe even most cases – but if you’ve ever driven across this country, then you’re driving on roads built and maintained by governments – federal, state and local. Many of you who think the government will ruin the Internet if they are allowed to regulate it should think about this.<\/p>\n

Imagine we’re in the 1950’s and no federal highway system existed. There was a bill was before congress which would establish a federal highway system, but that bill was voted down by those who didn’t want the government controlling federal highways\u00a0 because surely, big government would make a mess of it.<\/p>\n

(Just hypothesizing here – we all know congress did pass and Dwight Eisenhower did sign a bill creating the federal highway system. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law.The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law.).<\/em><\/p>\n

With the failure of the federal highway act, this opened the door to private enterprise. And\u00a0\u00a0let’s say private enterprise starting building roads. Obviously, their not going to do this out of a sense of civic duty, they’re going to do it to make a profit. So any roads built by private enterprise would be toll roads.<\/p>\n

So National Roads, Inc., American Highways, Inc and TransCon Highways TCH, emerge as the top road builders and they’ve got a network of toll roads that criss cross the United States, east to west, north to south. They’ve got us covered – we can go anywhere as long as we have the money to pay the tolls.<\/p>\n

So now we have a system of private interstate highways and all is well because as long as one has the money to pay the tolls – anywone can use the highway system.<\/p>\n

But the road companies aren’t satisfied with huge profits. They start claiming they’re pouring billions into maintenance and repairs, so one of the brilliant mogols decides to build “fast lanes” so only those who could afford to pay much higher tolls could use them.<\/p>\n

Let’s say a trip from Cleveland to Boston, on one of these private toll roads costs $22.50. Not too bad. The fast lane highways would cost $125 and you can’t afford it or just don’t want to pay it, so you travel the the old roads – the cheaper ones. Of course, the companies that own these roads are not going to maintain the “slow lanes” as well, they’re going to pour their money into the fast lanes, because they’re five times more profitable than the slow lanes. So the slow lanes become slower as the roads become worse, full of potholes, so the speeds at which you can safely travel are reduce to say, 50 MPH.<\/p>\n

You look over and see the folks on the fast lanes traveling at 80MPH on smooth, well-maintained, roads. The roads are well lighted and well marked and all the latest highway safety innovations are being employed on these fast lanes, while the slow lanes continue to deteriorate.<\/p>\n

Soon it becomes not so much a matter of money, but a matter of safety. So the next time you do to Boston you decide you’ll bit the bullet and travel the fast lanes. Of course, now, instead of costing $125, it will cost you $200.<\/p>\n

Our highway system would not be equitable for all, it would favor the wealthy. And that’s just what’s going to happen to the Internet if someone does not step in and prohibit cell phone companies and Internet Service Providers from establishing fast lanes for those willing to pay a lot more. AT&T, Comcast and other ISPs already have a tiered access system ready to go. If you don’t want to pay 3 times more than you’re paying now, you can forget about watching Netflix or any streaming video on your computer. You can forget about doing a lot of things you’re used to doing on the Internet – unless you can afford to pay.<\/p>\n

The problem is complex. The crux of the problem is that competition among ISPs is almost non-existent. There are only a handful of ISPs. We’ll be you don’t have a choice of more than one or two in your area. And if you live in an isolated rural area, good luck. There isn’t enough money to run cable to your neck of the woods. So you’re stuck with satellite internet which is notoriously slow, or worse, with dialup.<\/p>\n

We are not big fans of big government but sometimes government regulation is a necessary evil. Wall Street wants less and less regulation so they can pull more and more shennigans to make a few richer and richer. Actually gambling is generally illegal except when the rich people want to do it – after all, the stock market is legalized gambling, isn’t it. They call it “investing” though, so it’s not so bad.<\/p>\n

It’s constitutionally required of the government to “provide for the general welfare”. The Internet is no longer a curiosity or a luxury, it’s becoming more and more of a necessity. Those of you who want government to keeps their hands off the Internet will be singing a different tune if they actually do.<\/p>\n

As it stands now, Net Neutrality, protects everyone by prohibiting ISPs from engaging in predatory pricing and establishing high-speed lanes for both consumers and Web sites. The Web sites that don’t want or can’t afford to pay to be on one of the fast tiers will be so slow to load, no one will want to visit them. Of course, not to worry, the big sites you normally visit, like Facebook, Amazon, MSN, Google, Walmart, Target, etc. will be able to pay to stay in the fast lane – but will you?<\/p>\n

The government sticking its nose into your private life, the governement undermining individual liberty, and the government robbing us of our privacy under the guise of security are all unacceptable. However the government does have a constitutional obligation to provide for the general welfare. Our national highway system, our schools, our law enforcement agencies, our fire departments, and our colleges are all made possible by governments.<\/p>\n

The FAA is a government agency that is, at least in part responsible for the fact the the United States has the lowest rates of aviation accidents and fatalities in the world. What if we left it up to Delta, United, Southwest, and the other to govern themselves – do you think we’d have the safest aviation system in the world?<\/p>\n

The FDA is not perfect but our food and medicines are much safer than they would be if we started trusting the pharma industry to govern themselves or the food industry oversee that all the food \u00a0and food ingredients we ingest are safe. Sometimes the only one with the power and force of law to provide for the general welfare is our government. The only alternative is to leave it up to the enterprise to govern themselves. Here the government does provide, more or less, for the general welfare of every citizen.<\/p>\n

Just to be clear again – we are not in favor of big government’s wasting taxpayers’ money, snooping into their private affairs nor many of the other things government has bungled over the years. But do you want to leave the Internet in the hands of a few multi-billion dollar companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon whose prime motivation is making a profit? Nothing wrong with making a profit as long as the customers are protected.<\/p>\n

The argument is that competition will keep prices low and service excellent. It didn’t work when the airlines were deregulated in the 1980’s. Then we had numerous small carriers competing with large carriers; we had more flights, more choices and lower fares than we have now. And with only a handful of airlines left, we would hate to leave oversight\u00a0of the airlines up to the airlines themselves.<\/p>\n

Preventing ISPs and cell providers from creating fast lanes is imperative if every citizen is to have equal access to the Internet. And equal access to the Internet is fast becoming as important as equal access to schools, highways, law enforcement, fire protection, and social programs.<\/p>\n

Whether you’re conservative and against big governement or liberal in favor of big government, try to remember this has nothing to do with politics or ideologies it has to do with access to the Internet. A free, fair and open internet where everyone has the freedom to create a Web site, and online business, access all Web sites equally, without tiering and fast lanes is essential.<\/p>\n

Not one of us, regardless of our feelings about government, should ever want the Internet to become an unrestricted country club where the rich and powerful control admittance and decide what sites and which internet users will be stuck with slow loading pages and slow internet connections while the wealthy web sites and internet users who can afford to pay substantial premiums enjoy the fast lanes established, of course, by rich and powerful.<\/p>\n

We don’t believe the government has any right to stick its nose into any citizen’s private affairs. We are apalled by the degradation of personal privacy while being told it’s for our own good – security you know. We don’t think a lot of the things the government does are good or right. But in case of the Internet, the governement has to act under its constitutional right to provide for the general welfare; it’s in your best interest that the Internet remain neutral and that rich and poor alike can access the Internet without having to pay more for the fast lanes that ISPs and cellular companies want to establish. Do you think ISPs and cell companies want to do this for your benefit, or are they doing it for profit?<\/p>\n

Think if the highway system was left up to a few private companies who decided by tolls and restrictions what lanes you could drive in.<\/p>\n

Utilities are regulated by governments. My power, water, gas and electric work 99.99% of the time. Unlike some people would you like you to believe, the government doesn’t bungle everything it touches.<\/p>\n

That the government is taking away our rights and freedoms and our privacy is wrong – no doubt about it, but to let a few companies, motivated by profit,\u00a0determine who will benefit from the Internet and who will not, \u00a0is just as wrong.<\/p>\n

Net neutrality must be protected and the only way we can see is to protect it is through governmental laws and regulations –for the general welfare. For all of us.<\/em><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should the Government Protect the Internet and Net Neutrality? We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228,1433,1674],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9061"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9064,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9061\/revisions\/9064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}