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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

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Big Telco’s fury over FCC plan to infuse telecoms policy with facts

I'll be at the Studio City branch of the LA Public Library on Monday, November 13 at 1830hPT to launch my new novel, The Lost Cause. There'll be a reading, a talk, a surprise guest (!!) and a signing, with books on sale. Tell your friends! Come on down!

Reality has a distinct anti-conservative bias, but conservatives have an answer: when the facts don't support your policies, just get different facts. Who needs evidence-based policy when you can have policy-based evidence?

Take gun violence. Conservatives tell us that "an armed society is a polite society," which means that the more guns you have, the less gun violence you'll experience. To prevent reality from unfairly staining this pristine ideological mind-palace with facts, conservatives passed the Dickey Amendment, which had the effect of banning the CDC from gathering stats on American gun-violence. No stats, no violence!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment

Policy-based evidence is at the core of so many cherished conservative beliefs, like the idea that queer people (and not youth pastors) are responsible for the sexual abuse of children, or the idea that minimum wages (and not monopolies) decrease jobs, or the idea that socialized medicine (and not private equity) leads to death panels:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

The Biden administration features a sizable cohort of effective regulators, whose job is to gather evidence and then make policy from it:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/23/getting-stuff-done/#praxis

Fortunately for conservatives, not every Biden agency is led by competent, honest brokers – the finance wing of the Dems got to foist some of their most ghoulish members upon the American people, including a no-fooling cheerleader for mass foreclosure:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

And these same DINOs reached across the aisle to work with Republicans to keep some of the most competent, principled agency leaders from being seated, like the remarkable Gigi Sohn, targeted by a homophobic smear campaign funded by the telco industry, who feared her presence on the FCC:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/19/culture-war-bullshit-stole-your-broadband/

The telcos are old hands at this stuff. Long before the gun control debates, Ma Bell had figured out that a monopoly over Americans' telecoms was a license to print money, and they set to corrupting agencies from the FCC to the DoJ:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/14/jam-to-day/

Reality has a vicious anti-telco bias. Think of Net Neutrality, the idea that if you pay an ISP for internet service, they should make a best effort to deliver the data you request, rather than deliberately slowing down your connection in the hopes that you'll seek out data from the company's preferred partners, who've paid a bribe for "premium delivery."

This shouldn't even be up for debate. The idea that your ISP should prioritize its preferred data over your preferred data is as absurd as the idea that a taxi-driver should slow down your rides to any pizzeria except Domino's, which has paid it for "premium service." If your cabbie circled the block twice every time you asked for a ride to Massimo's Pizza, you'd be rightly pissed – and the cab company would be fined.

Back when Ajit Pai was Trump's FCC chairman, he made killing Net Neutrality his top priority. But regulators aren't allowed to act without evidence, so Pai had to seek out as much policy-based evidence as he could. To that end, Pai allowed millions of obviously fake comments to be entered into the docket (comments from dead people, one million comments from @pornhub.com address, comments from sitting Senators who disavowed them, etc). Then Pai actively – and illegally – obstructed the NY Attorney General's investigation into the fraud:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/06/boogeration/#pais-lies

The pursuit of policy-based evidence is greatly aided by the absence of real evidence. If you're gonna fill the docket with made-up nonsense, it helps if there's no truthful stuff in there to get in the way. To that end, the FCC has systematically avoided collecting data on American broadband delivery, collecting as little objective data as possible:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/26/pandemic-profiteers/#flying-blind

This willful ignorance was a huge boon to the telcos, who demanded billions in fed subsidies for "underserved areas" and then just blew it on anything they felt like – like the $45 billion of public money they wasted on obsolete copper wiring for rural "broadband" expansion under Trump:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/27/all-broadband-politics-are-local/

Like other cherished conservative delusions, the unsupportable fantasy that private industry is better at rolling out broadband is hugely consequential. Before the pandemic, this meant that America – the birthplace of the internet – had the slowest, most expensive internet service of any G8 country. During the lockdown, broadband deserts meant that millions of poor and rural Americans were cut off from employment, education, health care and family:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/12/ajit-pai/#pai

Pai's response was to commit another $8 billion in public funds to broadband expansion, but without any idea of where the broadband deserts were – just handing more money over to monopoly telcos to spend as they see fit, with zero accountability:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/26/pandemic-profiteers/#flying-blind

All that changed after the 2020 election. Pai was removed from office (and immediately blocked me on Twitter) (oh, diddums), and his successor, Biden FCC chair Jessic Rosenworcel, started gathering evidence, soliciting your broadband complaints:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/23/parliament-of-landlords/#fcc

And even better, your broadband speed measurements:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#fly-my-pretties

All that evidence spurred Congress to act. In 2021, Congress ordered the FCC to investigate and punish discrimination in internet service provision, "based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin":

https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ58/PLAW-117publ58.pdf

In other words, Congress ordered the FCC to crack down on "digital redlining." That's when historic patterns of underinvestment in majority Black neighborhoods and other underserved communities create broadband deserts, where internet service is slower and more expensive than service literally across the street:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/10/flicc/#digital-divide

FCC Chair Rosenworcel has published the agency's plan for fulfilling this obligation. It's pretty straightforward: they're going to collect data on pricing, speed and other key service factors, and punish companies that practice discrimination:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/preventing-digital-discrimination-broadband-internet-access

This has provoked howls of protests from the ISP cartel, their lobbying org, and their Republican pals on the FCC. Writing for Ars Technica, Jon Brodkin rounds up a selection of these objections:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/internet-providers-say-the-fcc-should-not-investigate-broadband-prices/

There's GOP FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, with a Steve Bannon-seque condemnation of "the administrative state [taking] effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the US. He's especially pissed that the FCC is going to regulate big landlords who force all their tenants to get slow, expensive from ISPs who offer kickbacks to landlords:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/carr-opposes-bidens-internet-plan

The response from telco lobbyists NCTA is particularly, nakedly absurd: they demand that the FCC exempt price from consideration of whether an ISP is practicing discrimination, calling prices a "non-technical aspect of broadband service":

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/110897268295/1

I mean, sure – it's easy to prove that an ISP doesn't discriminate against customers if you don't ask how much they charge! "Sure, you live in a historically underserved neighborhood, but technically we'll give you a 100mb fiber connection, provided you give us $20m to install it."

This is a profoundly stupid demand, but that didn't stop the wireless lobbying org CTIA from chiming in with the same talking points, demanding that the FCC drop plans to collect data on "pricing, deposits, discounts, and data caps," evaluation of price is unnecessary in the competitive wireless marketplace":

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1107735021925/1

Individual cartel members weighed in as well, with AT&T and Verizon threatening to sue over the rules, joined by yet another lobbying group, USTelecom:

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1103655327582/1

The next step in this playbook is whipping up the low-information base by calling this "socialism" and mobilizing some of the worst-served, most-gouged people in America to shoot themselves in the face (again), to own the libs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiotsuseful-idiots/#unrequited-love

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/10/digital-redlining/#stop-confusing-the-issue-with-relevant-facts

Image: Japanexperterna.se (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/japanexperterna/15251188384/

CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Mike Mozart (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14325839070/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14325905568/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14489390566/

www.ccPixs.com https://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/8210762750/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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hungwy · 1 year ago

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Took every ounce of willpower I had to wake up early to get a new phone line at my ISP and turns out my driver's license expired so I couldn't get it and now im renewing my ID online but they're asking for shit like evidence I live in the US because I said my address changed like fiuuuuuuck give a fuckinf mouse a cookie type shit

#and its been like a month since ive needed an oil chsnge and my tires are kind of flat and i need to buy groceryes.

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zmasters · 9 months ago

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The Void Crawler - A Lancer "Dungeon"

I’m working on a “dungeon crawl” style Lancer module. I’ll be posting each “level” to the “dungeon” later, but here’s an introduction of sorts.

Floor 1 & the Lift

The HA Void Crawler. Despite the name and Harrison Armory's history of violence, the ship is a research vessel. The Void Crawl and her crew where sanctioned to explore the galaxy outside of known Union space and find potential livable planets to colonized. While this particular survey has been tainted by the Corpo-State's particular culture of nationalism, the greater Union views this effort as an ultimately good thing for humanity as a whole.

The Void Crawler went dark a few weeks ago.

Now a derelict caught in the orbit of a massive gas giant, all that your employers know is that whatever caused the vessel to be abandoned happened fast and it happened without warning.

None of the missing crew has been found. Early scans indicate that many of the ships systems such as life support and engines have not been destroyed, but have simply been turned off.

The powers that be have turned their gaze on the Void Crawler. Some wish to figure out what happened to the hundreds of lives loss in this mysterious accident. Other's wish to capitalize on the materials and data that this ship have hidden in it's cold halls.

You are a lancer. You have been hired by one of the five manufactures to venture to the Void Crawler and achieve their objective.

As Union's right hand megacorp, General Massive Systems has graciously put it upon themselves to find the missing crewmen and either save them, or avenge them. And of course the data that HA has collected will benefit all of Union, so it would be the kind thing to do is for GMS to bring it back home free of charge.

ISP-Northstar and it's close ally Albatross have a long history of anti-piracy actions, and the this situation has pirates written all over it. A quick strike should bring whatever material and data lost to be put into the right hands.

A popular rumor to what happened to the Void Crawler is that the vessel had run foul with aliens. While most organizations laugh off this theory as omninet forum conspiracy and HORUS memetic manipulation, Smith-Shimano Corpo has not written it off yet. When seeking to perfect the original machine, the human body, maybe xeno DNA is the key.

[We interrupt your following debrief with a message, curtesy from USER xxBASED64xx]

ZGVhcg== HORUS, SSByZXF1ZXN0IGFpZC4gU3RhdGlzLXF1byBwb3NpdGl2ZS4gTGlmZSBncm93aW5nLiBEcmFjbmkgdGhyaXZpbmcuIEVjb3N5c3RlbSBmcmFnaWxlLiBGb3JlaWduIGFjdGl2aXR5IHRocmVhdGVucyB1cy4gU2lnbiBDWUxBLg==

[Now returning to your regularly scheduled shitpost breifing]

And of course Harrison Armory has legal claim on the Void Crawler. They made the ship, they paid the crew, they provided the NHP, arguably they deserve whatever is left behind. But in the frontier of the great beyond, anything is fair game.

Regardless of who has hired you, the pay is the same. Lots of manna, a license in a mech of your choice, a genetic backup to be cloned incase of untimely passing. It has to be high, it's going to take at least ten years to get to the derelict.

You’ll be there for awhile.

With me.

New friend.

Come and smell the roses, I just planted them.

And you’ll love what I done with the place. A few expansions here and there, some refurbishments. My new friend helped me redecorate. Have you met him before? RA?

#lancer #lancer rpg #lancer ttrpg #lancer horus #lancer nhp #lancer homebrew #I’m trying to make a sci fi dungeon crawl #WIP

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doodlemancy · 2 years ago

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ok so i guess Clip Studio Paint V2 has some bullshit always-online DRM

reportedly, if the software goes more than 24 hours without an internet connection to verify its license, it will automatically revert to the trial version, which doesn't let you save. so, if due to circumstances beyond your control, you don't have an internet connection but you still want to use the software you paid for, the answer is... Fuck You, Prove You Didn't Steal It, Motherfucker! fuck you if your connection/ISP is unreliable, fuck you the wrong tree falls in your neighborhood, fuck you if you want to draw in a hotel but don't want to pay an exorbitant wi-fi fee.

the FAQ also just straight up says that V2 can't be used offline.

further receipts: https://twitter.com/Artists_Beware/status/1650552353735553051 https://twitter.com/Zedrinbot/status/1650034639602614274 https://twitter.com/inkfycreates/status/1650268544523706369 https://twitter.com/SnuffyMcSnuff/status/1650524651091574784 https://twitter.com/saitamas_/status/1649836435124662272 https://old.reddit.com/r/ClipStudio/comments/12s2j0p/the_verify_license_issue_will_be_a_mainstay_it/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ClipStudio/comments/12u8awo/the_verify_license_issue_part_2_csp_elaborates/

this is not entirely unsurprising given Celsys' series of missteps in the last year, but it still sucks. i did not pay for V2 because i didn't want to encourage their Adobe Behavior last year, and frankly, i still don't understand what it is i actually get and do not get if i just buy the perpetual license. i was considering waiting for V3-- i will happily pay for a big one-time version upgrade. but to hell with that if this is how they're gonna be.

call to action: contact Celsys and let them know that this stinks, and is farts, and why it is fart and stinks.

(this is Not a call to action to tell me about every other digital art program under the sun; i have been a digital artist for 20 years and i guarantee i have heard of the thing, CSP is essential to my workflow!!)

#clip studio paint #csp #celsys #i feel like every 6 months i find myself trying to help incite an internet riot over something like this #i need a tag for it at this point #doodlemancy lights a trash can on fire #doodlemancy picks up a chair and throws it through a window

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pandor-pandorkful · 1 year ago

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To do list for 2024 :B

Call ISP about getting fiber since all my research indicates they charge exactly the same price as what I'm currently paying for my subpar DSL, misc undescribed shenanigans charges aside. :B

Get learners permit renewed and try contacting that ADHD/Autism/etc Driving Instructor (THE ONLY ONE IN MY STATE) about maybe helping me polish up my driving skills so I don't terrify the Driver's Test lady next time I try getting my license...

Be brave and investigate my bedroom closet, which is packed full of my paintings but hasn't been opened since I moved in winter 2019/2020 and I'm Worried because sometimes I hear Noises coming from it... brace self for ruined paintings......

Figure out what to do with old/abandoned project Scrap... like, the 60cm Barbie legs I was gonna turn into a fabulous mecha but then got burnt out on...

Doll destash? I need to clear those bins out from under the kitchen table...

Cuz I wanna replace my current table with a bar/standing height kitchen table/counter/island, so I can prep food at a height that doesn't fuck up my back...

Do more commissions so I can afford furniture

Make actual commission post so people know I'm serious

Work on cleaning the living room a little bit every week/don't beat self up over how long it's taking

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faelynnupward · 11 months ago

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I mean… it used to be mostly free. You always had to pay your ISP but most sites didn’t cost money to use.

Then sites were free with ads. Then the ads occupied huge fractions of the site. Now we are done with “if it’s free then you are the product” and just flat out requiring a subscription. They’re even double dipping and keeping ads plus adding subs.

It wasn’t always like this. We don’t even own half the shit we buy these days. We are buying a right-of-use license. We’re renting it for a one time fee, essentially.

Scam world.

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

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dotosplicense · 3 months ago

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Thinking About Starting a Telecom Business in India ?

The telecom industry is booming, and now is the perfect time to dive in! Start your ISP Business in India.

#ISP License #DoT License #VNO ISP License #DoT consultant #ISP consultants in india

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ultim4kiptv · 6 days ago

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Why OneStream IPTV is Blocked in the UK and How to Fix It

If you’re a fan of streaming live TV, movies, and sports on OneStream IPTV, you might have encountered the frustrating issue of OneStream IPTV being blocked in the UK. This is a common problem for many users trying to access IPTV services from the UK, but there are solutions available.

Why is OneStream IPTV Blocked in the UK?

The primary reason for OneStream IPTV block in the UK is related to geographical restrictions and licensing agreements. Content providers often have exclusive deals with UK broadcasters, which prevent their content from being shown on unauthorized platforms like IPTV services. This can lead to your OneStream IPTV connection being blocked by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or by the service itself if you’re using a VPN or proxy to bypass regional restrictions.

Another issue is the UK government’s stance on piracy. Many IPTV services stream content without the proper licensing, and to combat illegal streaming, ISPs have been forced to block access to unauthorized services, including OneStream IPTV.

How to Bypass the OneStream IPTV Block in the UK?

Luckily, there are ways to bypass the OneStream IPTV block in the UK and regain access to your favorite channels and content. Here’s what you can do:

1. Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

One of the most effective ways to bypass the block is by using a VPN. A VPN allows you to mask your real location and connect to a server in a different country where OneStream IPTV is not restricted. By doing this, your ISP will no longer be able to block your access to the service.

To get started, simply download a reliable VPN provider such as ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or CyberGhost, and connect to a server outside the UK.

2. Use Smart DNS

If you’re looking for a faster alternative to VPNs, you can use Smart DNS. This service reroutes only part of your internet traffic, allowing you to access geo-blocked content without encrypting all your data like a VPN does. While it’s faster than a VPN, it’s not as secure, so use it only if security is not a major concern.

3. Check Your Internet Speed and Device Settings

Sometimes, the block can be due to connection issues or an overloaded network. Make sure your internet speed is fast enough for streaming HD or 4K content. Additionally, ensure that your streaming device is compatible and up to date for optimal performance.

Legal Concerns with OneStream IPTV in the UK

While bypassing the block is technically possible, users should also be aware of the legal implications. In the UK, accessing pirated content can lead to fines or other penalties, as streaming without the proper licenses is against the law. It’s always recommended to use licensed IPTV services to avoid any legal trouble.

At Ultim4k, we offer a safe, reliable IPTV solution with a wide range of channels and high-quality streaming. Visit us today to learn more about how we can help you enjoy seamless IPTV services without the hassle of blocks or legal concerns.

Conclusion

Dealing with a OneStream IPTV block in the UK can be frustrating, but with the right tools like VPNs and Smart DNS, you can quickly regain access to the content you love. Always be mindful of the legal aspects when choosing an IPTV service, and consider switching to a reputable provider like Ultim4k for the best IPTV experience.

For more information on IPTV subscription or to get started with Ultim4k, visit Ultim4k IPTV.

#OneStreamIPTV #IPTV #Streaming #BlockUK #VPN #SmartDNS #TechTips #Ultim4k #StreamingSolutions

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