On the one we call earth, the country was already reeling from a court decision. Thomas Gaist (WSWS) reported: :
The Washington, DC Circuit federal Court of Appeals ruled 2-to-1 Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2010 Open Internet (OI) regulations were based on a wrong legal argument and are void.
The ruling represents a significant blow against “net neutrality.” Net neutrality principles forbid discrimination by Internet Service Providers (ISP) against their clients. Essentially, net neutrality asserts that the Internet is an example of “common carriage,” a legal concept which protects the right of the public to access basic services and infrastructure. The common carriage concept, which has existed for centuries, was developed to prevent companies that operate railroads, ferries, airplanes, telecommunications networks and other universally necessary infrastructures from giving privileged access to certain types of customers.
The regulations, declared legally invalid by Tuesday’s ruling, required Internet service providers to disclose information about “congestion management” practices on their systems. Centrally, the OI regulations prohibited the selective blocking or slowing of legal Internet content by the Internet providers, ensuring equal access to broadband for clients, and prohibited “unreasonable” discrimination against customers.
Brad Reed (Information Clearing House) insisted of the ruling, "Any semblance of net neutrality in the United States is as good as dead. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s 2010 order that imposed network neutrality regulations on wireline broadband services. The ruling is a major victory for telecom and cable companies who have fought all net neutrality restrictions vociferously for years."
It's a bad ruling, to be sure. But we hope the people can still fight back.
Save The Internet isn't going down without a fight:
Bad news: Three judges just dealt a huge blow to the open Internet.
Their ruling means that companies like Verizon can now block or slow
down any website, application or service they like. And they’ll be able
to create tiered pricing structures with fast lanes for those who can
afford the tolls — and slow lanes for everyone else.
Tell the FCC to do everything in its power to fight back.
Tell the FCC to do everything in its power to fight back.
And click here for the take action form where you can put in your name, your e-mail and your zip code and let the FCC know how displeased you are with the decision.