Net Neutrality Prevails In Historic FCC Vote

[Belix]

From the article DeeBye linked:

The order explicitly opens the door to billions of dollars in new taxes.
Read my lips: More new taxes are coming. It's just a matter of when.

Heh! That sounds exactly like something someone with close ties to the telecom industry would say. And, sure enough, I just looked him up:

Pai previously worked as a lawyer for Verizon Communications.

I thought I had seen his name somewhere else recently. Yep!

Techdirt: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Is Leading An Incoherent, Facts-Optional Last Minute War On Net Neutrality

In short, you've got a former Verizon regulatory lawyer claiming to represent the interests of everybody except the companies he's actually busy looking out for. Layered on to that is a media that pretends it's not just a little bit absurd that a living, breathing example of revolving door regulation is claiming to be a champion of the American public. Pai knows the rules will be approved on Thursday; he's just hoping his theatrical performance wins him a chance to lead the FCC (and the likely destruction of these very same rules) should we see a 2016 party shift.

So, Mr. Pai warns us that the government will abuse its "control of the internet" to grab billions of dollars. This is delightfully colorful coming from someone who worked as a lawyer for a company that did exactly that:

Techdirt: Decades Of Failed Promises From Verizon: It Promises Fiber To Get Tax Breaks... Then Never Delivers

Verizon promised that all homes and businesses would have access to 45Mbps symmetrical fiber by 2015. By 2004, the deal was that 50% of all homes were supposed to have that. In reality, 0% did, and some people started asking for their money back. That never happened, and it appeared that Verizon learned a valuable lesson: it can flat out lie to governments, promise 100% fiber coverage in exchange for subsidies, then not deliver, and no one will do a damn thing about it.

And Verizon, of course, isn't the only one with their hands in that cookie jar:

Techdirt: You've Already Paid $2,000 For A Fiber Connection You'll Never Get

For the last decade, those same telcos have made promise after promise to local governments concerning the delivery of truly open fiber optic connections to the home. In exchange, they've been granted all sorts of privileges and rate increases by the government, costing all of us money. And where did the money go? Not towards what was promised.

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He warned of a litany of negative consequences, intended or not, from the net neutrality plan. He said it allows rate regulation -- and, ultimately, rates will go up and broadband service will slow.

Telecom companies have already been artificially raising rates and slowing services for a long time. It's standard practice.

PBS: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen

Over the decade from 1994-2004 the major telephone companies profited from higher phone rates paid by all of us, accelerated depreciation on their networks, and direct tax credits an average of $2,000 per subscriber for which the companies delivered precisely nothing in terms of service to customers. That's $200 billion with nothing to be shown for it.
...
The cost of providing digital services is always going DOWN, not up, so the telcos that might have been forced to cut rates instead offered to freeze them, locking in an effective multiyear rate increase.
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The RBOCs cut heads, cut spending, cut construction, increased depreciation rates, failed to deliver promised services, increased telephone bills, and had booming profits as a result.
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I could move to Japan and pay $14 per month for 100-megabit-per-second Internet service but I can't do that here and will probably never be able to.

The telecom industry has had decades to earn the trust of customers, and has spent the entire time doing the exact opposite. I don't feel the least bit sorry for them. Quite frankly, I think Mr. Pai should be given the opportunity to find other employment opportunities. You know, by being forcefully ejected from his current job.