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Net neutrality is an incredibly important issue, but it’s hard to know what to pay attention to when people throw around jargon like “common carriers” and “reclassification.” It doesn’t help that people who tend to be united in their reaction — everyone from techno-libertarians to VCs – seem divided about thegutting of the FCC’s net neutrality rules this week.

While it’s true the issues around net neutrality aren’t black and white, we’ve got a rundown of three risks and unintended consequences of the recent ruling you should be aware of, regardless of the nuances or your politics.

But first, you need to know at least this much: Simply put, net neutrality is the principle (it never was a law) that the pipes carrying our information online should be “dumb” — just like our phone lines. If the pipes are too smart, the ISPs that provide them could discriminate or prioritize some content, websites, apps, or users over others. That means, for example, Comcast could slow down BitTorrent traffic (it did) or Liberty Media could charge Netflix more for using more network capacity (it’s already said it wants to). And so on…

1. No matter how things play out with net neutrality, the outcome is likely to hurt the poor.

It seems like everyone is talking about net neutrality’s impact on companies, especiallystartups (more so than on entrenched companies). But it affects libraries, too. Without net neutrality,argues American Library Association head Barbara Stripling, we’re in danger of prioritizing high-quality internet access for entertainment over education. By allowing ISPs to preferentially charge premiums and tier access, resource-constrained public libraries — and especially the communities they serve — will be the ones to lose. Ultimately, “pay to play” only benefits the privileged. [learn more]

2. Whether we want to admit it or not, we continue to give more control over the internet to the government.

We’ve been so focused on how the FCC “lost” the net neutrality order, that we may not realize the Commission could now have unchecked powers over regulating the internet, argue TechFreedom’s Berin Szoka and International Center for Law & Economics’s Geoffrey Manne. No matter what you think of government regulation — that it’s always somewhat necessary or inevitably inadequate for complex issues – nothing good comes out of giving any agency unchecked power (just look at the NSA, or even the U.N. attempts at internet governance). What’s worse is that we won’t see it coming, because the FCC’s power will creep in incrementally, on a case-by-case basis — a death by a thousand cuts. [learn more]

3. The problem isn’t the ISPs, it’s the FCC.

While everyone’s been so focused on picking over the ruling and its impact on companies, the real danger, argues net neutrality lawyer Marvin Ammori, is the FCC’s response to the news. They’re basically spinning a loss as a victory by saying the courts “affirmed” their authority to keep the internet “free & open”, and that the FCC will be able to “use the totality of its authority for adjudication and enforcement.” But the fact is that the FCC can’t enforce net neutrality principles that have already been rejected in court multiple times without classifying ISPs as telco carriers instead of as information service providers (“the wrong ****ing words“). And that’s a political battle the FCC has already caved on before. [learn more]

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No matter how you navigate the net neutrality discussions moving forward, just remember that the question you need to keep in front of you is how will the users be affected? Because that’s what this discussion really needs to be about. http://www.wired.com/opinion/2014/01/three-dangers-net-neutrality-nobodys-really-talking/

Andrew Cuomo, The Dictator

The John F. Kennedy Democrat Party is dead. So is his rallying cry :

“Don’t ask what your Country can do for you; ask what you can do for your Country.”

It has been replaced with the “progressive” democrats whose platform is:

Don’t ask what your can do for your Country, ask what can your Country can do for you.

I was talking to one of my co-workers and I asked a simple question: What was her reaction to NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo, making the statement that if your views are the not the views of Democrats then NY is not the place for you. Gov. Cuomo wants you to believe in abortion and gay marriage and if you have a difference of opinion, then you are not welcomed in NY. Spoken like a true dictator.

Anyhow, my co-worker’s first reaction was that she hadn’t heard of such a statement being made by Governor Cuomo. I blame the media for trying to keep this dangerous, idiotic statement under wraps.

So I had to prove to her that the statement was for-real. Even after she learned the truth, she didn’t care that he said it!!

Then she replied “that she didn’t want to talk politics with me”. As she stated “ her political views are different than my view points”. Although, she wouldn’t tell me what her view points are, I guess just because I am a registered Republican and she is not, that she is assuming our view points must be different. It probably goes without saying that our political view points are different but one should never “assume” as you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me” (assume).

I pressed on about Cuomo, even though she wanted me to shut up. I told her that I think it is dangerous for our government to “target” certain individuals just because of their beliefs. We must “tolerate” all view points in order to live in a civilized world. Her answer to that was “I bet if a Republican made the same statement you would be fine with it”. Again, never “assume” what I am thinking! In my mind’s eye it is always America First over any political party. So I replied that she was mistaken because I didn’t like what Governor Chistie did when he “deliberately” closed down the George Washington bridge just to play political games! Its’ called an abuse of power.

After that, all she kept saying was “I don’t want to hear about nor talk about this with you”. Apparently her political views are like a steel trap that refuses to let go of her brain.

Here’s a news flash for her : Your daddy’s Democratic party is dead and has been overrun by the Socialists and Communists who wish to destroy our Country.

Just take Obamacare, for instance. It is a “law” that has been changed at will by Obama. No one else has a say! That’s called dictatorship.

In my humble opinion, my Democrat co-worker either has her head in the sand and refuses to listen to the truth or she is a Communist who wants to see America destroyed.

She is voting blindly for Democrats without realizing who she is electing or she is knowingly voting for the Communists. Either way, she and others like her are the ones to blame that America is now being controlled by dictators.

Gov. Cuomo has aspirations of becoming President one day. Will he send half of the country that doesn’t agree with his point-of-view to Siberia or Concentration camps?

Will my Democratic co-worker even care?

http://www.independentsentinel.com/your-daddys-democratic-party-is-dead/

When Lisa Jackson was in charge of the EPA she found that fracking – as long as it is monitored – presents no danger to the American public and is in fact beneficial. When Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, received his study of fracking in New York, the results came back in support of fracking. Cuomo hid the report from New Yorkers.

Colleges throughout the nation are teaching that fracking is dangerous and the movie studios only produce anti-fracking movies. That is why one documentary film maker, Phelim Mcaleer, decided to do a film on the fracking industry.

His resulting documentary was accepted to the Minnesota film festival until the environmental extremists had it banned along with his free speech.

His film, FrackNation, was supposed to be shown alongside an anti-fracking film, Gaslight. That is what used to be done in the United States. Now we simply ban free speech of opposing opinions.

Listen to the director on this clip:

http://www.independentsentinel.com/free-speech-banned-at-minnesota-film-festival/