Cablevision, AT&T, Verizon etc., can block content they don't like
Image source: Sodahead
According to the FCC's "Open Internet Order" commissioner Ajit Pai, admits broadband providers may soon ban free speech or block speech they don't approve of! There are currently 34 broadband providers in the U.S.
“The commission ominously warned that ‘threats to Internet openness remain today,’ that broadband providers ‘hold all the tools necessary to deceive consumers, degrade content or disfavor the content that they don’t like,’ and that the FCC continues ‘to hear concerns about other broadband provider practices involving blocking or degrading third-party applications,'” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said.
What Pai failed to mention is that broadband providers have a monopoly on subscribers.
“Instead of providing any specific guidance, he analogized the FCC to a football referee and said that it would throw the flag if it saw behavior that it didn’t like. That answer, I would submit, is the very definition of regulatory uncertainty” Pai said.
“There are a lot of people who just don’t like the fact that the Internet is a completely unregulated marketplace in terms of the freedom of speech. “And there are some speech that people just don’t like or they think that it should be regulated because it has an outsized effect on public discourse, and the Drudge Report is one of those” Pai said.
YouTube is a sad example of private companies censoring the internet...
"If your video uses content controlled by rightsholders, and they object to that use, YouTube will take your video offline and won't restore it unless you can get the rightsholder's permission. Because the takedown isn't subject to the DMCA, the rightsholder has no legal obligations to consider whether your use is a lawful fair use."
YouTube's "Content ID" system automatically checks videos that are uploaded against a backlog of copyrighted content, and alerts rights holders when it finds an infringement.
Google's Adsense also censors internet content...
“If your site has content which you wouldn’t be comfortable viewing at work or with family members around, then it probably isn’t an appropriate site for Google ads,” according to Google’s guidance for “Adult Content.”
“There’s a chilling effect here... A corporate gatekeeper that treats news like offensive or adult content risks stifling free speech" Daniel McCarthy, editor of The American Conservative said.
“Advertisers have always been free to withdraw support from a news organization when they’re embarrassed by its reporting, but Google is more than just an advertiser: AdSense is the Internet’s largest advertising network, and the only reason it’s the Internet’s largest ad network is because of Google’s market power as a provider of search engine and other services integral to most Americans’ web use,” says McCarthy.
Google/NSA is deciding what news organization's can report!
Click here to read about Google's close relationship with the NSA.
Our government hates internet free speech because of its power to sway public opinion and expose government lies.