Google

[TheMastersSon]

85% of our regular internet sites (including this one) do not work properly or at all without links to Google. We can't even access our DOT traffic maps without Google. And they're GOVERNMENT maps.

 

Tick. Tock.

 

Google's fascist business plan and their control over both the world's view of itself and even what the world can do on the internet, tightens every day. Recently the noose has been closing with record speed, thanks primarily to Trump's replacement of our FCC Chairman with one of his Indian business pals. They've already undone the few protections for internet traffic passed under our last president, and if you've watched a Youtube video recently, their conversion of the internet into basic cable TV is now complete. Or at least as far as Google are concerned. I predict the company will be history within two years from now.

Edited November 21, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[HeyYou]

Google is Skynet.

[TheMastersSon]

Google is Skynet.

They're also our government. And doubleclick.net. And and and and and. We can't even share our opinions on Yelp without Google cookies. The kicker imo is not being able to operate publicly funded and owned government sites without these privacy abominations. But the good news is, the corporate profit motive is infinite, therefore it's only a matter of time before it destroys itself by greed. E.g. it took "Ma" Bell less than a decade before their increasing abuse of our landline phone network mandated regulation and protection of this traffic. The internet will have to suffer and is currently suffering through the same development phase imo.

 

Trump's actions so far make it abundantly clear that he is an enemy of net neutrality, one of his first acts was to replace our FCC Chair with an industry shill from Verizon. Together they're doing everything possible to destroy this neutrality. So please be preprared to open your checkbooks for access to just about anything beyond a Google search prompt, which in turn will guide you absolutely nowhere except to counterfeit crap from China.

 

Comcast's latest and current demand from the FCC is that all U.S. states be restricted from passing their own net neutrality laws. So when I call these people fascists the term is precisely accurate. Ten years from now every one of us will look back and wince in utter embarrassment at what everyone from our own government to our ISPs, cable TV companies pretending to be ISPs (Comcast et al) and social media etc sites are currently getting away with. As I've said in other threads we've managed to outdo Orwell, and that fact is also stated without exaggeration. We have unrestrained greed supported by an amoral (or morally bankrupt at best imo) federal government that is far more enemy than friend to the best interest of the American people and our freedom, on many if not most issues. Watch what they try and get away with in the next few months, or at least read the comments our new FCC have already made. It's doom for what remains of our free and open internet at least for the short term.

Edited November 16, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[HeyYou]

There is no privacy on the internet. Your browser, regardless of which one (TOR aside) hands out information about you to anyone that asks. Considering that there is a pretty large market for that information, it isn't going to change.

[TheMastersSon]

The same was said when Ma Bell started eavesdropping on phone conversations and pushing advertising to customers based on what was heard. In today's vernacular it's called Facebook. Same shiite, different shovel. But the situation did change due to public outrage, as it will here.

[HeyYou]

The same was said when Ma Bell started eavesdropping on phone conversations and pushing advertising to customers based on what was heard. In today's vernacular it's called Facebook. Same shiite, different shovel. But the situation did change due to public outrage, as it will here.

Don't hold your breath on that. Too much money to be made from selling the information, and targeted advertising. Windows 10 does this NATIVELY.

[TheMastersSon]

It's already happened, e.g. the classification for internet traffic was already corrected by our FCC etc. Trump and his shills will do whatever they can to undo the process but in the long-term it doesn't matter -- it's inexorable. The internet has become not only our country's but the world's primary common carrier for private communication, rather than an "information service" as our confused if not prostituted Supreme Court once claimed (the term 'information service' is defined nowhere in our laws), and we're one of the last remaining industrialized countries on Earth that has yet to implement regulation and protection of this traffic. Google were just fined a few billion dollars over in the EU. Again. $2.7B this time.

 

At least for me and in the short term, it continues being something lifted directly from a Twilight Zone episode. The same country responsible for hosting the most effective global fascist in human history is also the only country that refuses to lift a finger to reign it in. And at this point Google's intentional limiting of consumer choice is something between absurd and obscene. It wouldn't be an issue if one company didn't have and actively maintain a dominant market share of internet searches, ask any 10 random people where they go for searches and at least eight of them will say Google etc. With that kind of control the only two options are to nationalize the company, or create one or more publicly owned and run search engines that are protected from third-party manipulation by law. Those are the two practical long-term options imo, because the only other eventuality is what we have now: a world artificially and ridiculously shrunk to nearly invisible proportions by an intentionally lobotomized and castrated internet, in accordance with the best interests of Google's profit margins and legal department and absolutely nothing else. No matter what it is, if it's not behind at least one paid gate, you won't be seeing it on the first page of Google's search results, which is as far as 85% of us look in web searches.

 

But as I've said in other threads imo it's stupid and delusional to expect any private company to ever act against its own best interests, and chances are very good that any group of people, given an essential lock on the world's view of itself and free legal reign to manipulate that lock however it wishes etc, would do exactly what Google are doing. They're incidental to and just a symptom of the actual problem, which is a lack of constitutional free speech, fair use, privacy and other protections for internet traffic in our country. As mentioned above most industrialized countries have already implemented this protection. No other eventuality is possible. Again imo the development of our landline telephone network is the most accurate analogy. Can you even imagine the American people putting up with forced advertising before we're given a dial tone on our phones? How about three minutes of Geico commercials before your post office will accept packages for shipping? Should the USPS read our mail and push advertising on us based on what it finds? Etc. The internet has become not less but in most cases as much or far more critical as a common carrier than these others, e.g. currently 80 emails are exchanged by Americans for every one piece of snail mail etc.

Edited November 21, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[TheMastersSon]

Let the abomination begin:

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fcc-plans-net-neutrality_us_5a14459ae4b0aa32975df36b?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

 

This is what happens when the American people become entirely disenfranchised from their own federal government. History will not be kind to our president, deservedly so imo and assuming he doesn't end civilization as we know it. Polls consistently indicate a majority of Americans do not consider him even fit for his office:

 

http://www.pollingreport.com/trump_ad.htm

 

We're in for a looong next few years imo, while this human garbage takes itself out. As if our federal government is not already an abject enemy of our Constitution and the best interests of the people. Simply beyond pathetic imo.

 

And if you want infinite hypocrisy, this same government is also currently seeking to block AT&T's aquisition of Time-Warner, by claiming that the deal would "hurt consumers". The actual reason for the DOJ's move is because AT&T (unlike cable TV companies) are legally considered a common carrier and its traffic is therefore protected under our Title II and other U.S. laws.

Edited November 22, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[HeyYou]

Let the abomination begin:

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fcc-plans-net-neutrality_us_5a14459ae4b0aa32975df36b?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

 

This is what happens when the American people become entirely disenfranchised from their own federal government. History will not be kind to our president, deservedly so imo and assuming he doesn't end civilization as we know it. Polls consistently indicate a majority of Americans do not consider him even fit for his office:

 

http://www.pollingreport.com/trump_ad.htm

 

We're in for a looong next few years imo, while this human garbage takes itself out. As if our federal government is not already enough of an enemy of our Constitution and the best interests of the people. Simply beyond pathetic imo.

I trust the huffington post to be honest, and unbiased, about as far as I can throw the moon..... However, yeah, the FCC is getting ready to trash net neutrality, even though some 22 MILLION people commented on it, most of which, were NOT in favor of the repeal.

 

Trumps approval numbers may be abominable, however, if you check back, you will find that he isn't the only president that folks didn't like. (especially the 'other' party.....) You would likely find the same results for Obama, if you looked 'em up.

 

And while all the accusations being slung around are concerning, what ever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'???

 

Keep in mind, I am not really a fan of The Donald, still and all, I like him better than Hilary. (which really isn't sayin' much.)

[TheMastersSon]

To say most are not in favor is a rather huge understatement. 80% of the FCC's responses were from shill bots. Of the genuine responses (20%), 17.4% were opposed to repeal of net neutrality. Or in other words, calling it absolute disenfranchisement of the American people is only a very slight overstatement. Edited November 22, 2017 by TheMastersSon