back to article Republican manifesto calls for internet freedom but no net neutrality

The Republican Party has decided on its official platform for the coming presidential election, and where tech is concerned, it's running on a ticket of reforming the FCC, dumping net neutrality, and selling off wireless spectrum as fast as it can find it. "The internet has unleashed innovation, enabled growth, and inspired …

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  1. Anomalous Cowturd
    Joke

    Trust the corporate sector to do you. Right?

    FTFY

    ;o)

    1. beep54
      FAIL

      Re: Trust the corporate sector to do you. Right?

      Ooooh, companies regulating themselves!! That worked SOOO well with Wall Street! Let's try it again!

      1. Figgus

        Re: Trust the corporate sector to do you. Right?

        It works fine if you do 2 things:

        1) Don't force companies to do something they shouldn't (like subprime loans).

        2) Don't bail them out if they screw up. Let them fail.

  2. Toadkiller
    Mushroom

    "The internet has unleashed innovation, enabled growth, and inspired freedom more rapidly and extensively than any other technological advance in human history" and we the GOP cannot abide this it must be stopped at all costs

  3. Mephistro
    Devil

    If you think this is funny...

    ... wait to see the proposals they rejected.

  4. Ben Tasker

    Finally, the Republicans want to beef up the protections for intellectual property holders in the US and promise “punitive measures will be imposed on foreign firms that misappropriate American technology and intellectual property.” This has bought a warm response from the entertainment industry

    Funny init, Clegg talks about taxing the rich more here in the UK and we hear "we'll scare off the wealth creators", yet the Republicans promise a bit more of American protectionism (which will make doing business in the US less attractive) and it gets a warm response (admittedly from a bunch of corrupt self-serving twats).

    Strange how cultures differ, not sure they'll get much support from the populace if they put it in simple terms - "we want AT&T to be able to charge more to access certain sites on the net" let alone if you followed up with "and porn will be a top-tier service"

    1. Eddy Ito
      Devil

      It is a bit silly

      Of course it begs the question, do Apple, Amazon and Google count as foreign firms? Let's face it any company hiding a good portion of their profits offshore using the Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich tax trick can't seriously be counted as a domestic firm. Who said Apple doesn't innovate? And don't think they would have patented that trick if they could gotten away with it.

  5. Graham Marsden
    Facepalm

    Self regulation...?

    Right, because that has always worked *so* well in the past...!

    1. asdf
      FAIL

      Re: Self regulation...?

      Hush you. The housing melt down was because the evil government required the rich to lend to the irresponsible minorities and not because of a giant lack of regulation and self regulation failing miserably. Said argument works great if you gut the public education system for a generation or so.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Gut the public education system?

        That's part of the GOP official platform, too.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Gut the public education system?

          Have you seen the state of the public education system? It could lose half its guts and still be a bloated carcass of B.S. Be honest, any system that allows Texas to dictate the textbooks for many other states via pushing publishers around and wants ID/creationism taught in schools couldn't be hurt by having some of those guts spilled.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Texas textbook adoption?

            Erm... But that's the half of the guts that the GOP platform wants to *keep*!

            1. LateNightLarry
              Flame

              Re: Texas textbook adoption?

              Why don't we just let Ricky Perry take Texas and the rest of the brain-dead southern states and secede from the union... They can have the New Confederate States of America, with no help from the remaining states... and limit immigration until their education system is as good as the US.

              1. beep54
                Happy

                Re: Texas textbook adoption?

                Only if Austin can then secede from Texas. Which would be problematical since the Capitol is here. Oh well, we could keep the lovely building (similar to, but taller than the US Capitol Building; it IS Texas ya know) and let the pols go swelter in Houston....

              2. asdf

                Re: Texas textbook adoption?

                >Why don't we just let Ricky Perry take Texas and the rest of the brain-dead southern states and secede from the union

                We already have one third world country the south do we need another?

      2. LateNightLarry
        FAIL

        Re: Self regulation...?

        And they've been gutting the public education system for at least two generations... dumbing classes down so that high school kids can't even make change unless the cash register tells them. And sometimes not even then. I had occasion to go to a Taco Bell roughly 20 years ago (one generation, more or less), and the girl behind the register couldn't figure out the correct change, because the tab had been something like $5.87, and I gave her $6.12... change should have been a quarter... I had to walk her through making the change. She had actually graduated from high school... and just missed being on the honor roll.

        Fail, because that's what our education system has been doing; need a couple of jugs of wine to abolish that memory.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Republican manifesto

    Also calls for rapist to be able to sue the victim for parenthood. Also to split the rape into a forcible rape and ahm - a normal rape. The bill was crafted by Paul Ryan (possibly the US next president, if Romney wins and then dies ) and Tod Akin. Surely they must know what they're doing.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Republican manifesto

      Well if was a legitimate rape her body would shout that down and she would not get pregnant

      1. kain preacher

        Re: Republican manifesto

        Before you vote thumbs down, know that Republicans actually said that.

        1. LateNightLarry
          FAIL

          Re: Republican manifesto

          They said it repeatedly, while Romney keeps trying to walk it back, so he won't lose the women's vote...

    2. Stevie

      Re: Republican manifesto

      Also to split the rape into a forcible rape and ahm - a normal rape.

      Not so. The split is Forcible Rape and Statutory Rape.

      Not saying I agree with the demented stance on rape (which is actually a stance on abortion as I read it) but if you're gonna pick fights pick 'em with the real men, not the straw buggers.

  7. Peter Murphy
    FAIL

    Excuse me?

    "The internet offers a communications system uniquely free from government intervention."

    My impression is that Big Government - and there is no Bigger form of Government than the Department of Defense - created the first iteration of the Internet, including the technologies like TCP therein. Distributed communicated network to deal with ICBM attack from the Soviets? That was the big idea.

    It's great that the tech then permeated through to civilians both local and foreign. But without government intervention, the Internet would not have existed in the first place.

    1. keith_w
      Stop

      Re: Excuse me?

      Do not confuse the needs of faith with facts that are irrelevant to that faith.

      1. LateNightLarry
        FAIL

        Re: Excuse me?

        The official RepubliCON party position is, "Don't confuse me with facts. I have my mind (all two brain cells of it) made up already."

        Fail, because the RepubliCON party is one big failure... The Greedy Old (White) Prick Party... Any women in it are just to satisfy the GO(w)P's in charge.

  8. deadlockvictim

    War on Terror

    Is this the same party that wants to keep Government interference out of the Internet when they are looking for, em , terrorists?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The GOP wants to eat your brain

    I'm seeing a lot of juvenile insults hurled here, but not much reasoned discourse. Are you techies, or are you leftist parrots? I wasn't aware that net neutrality had achieved consensus as a 'good thing' yet. No pros and cons whatsoever? Is this really the Reg board? Weird...

    1. Big_Ted

      Re: The GOP wants to eat your brain

      How dare you, believe it or not it is possible to have non conservative or extreme right views and still be a techie.

      If it wasn't for the early inventors of the net being socialist in their views we would have a net that is purely owned and run by big business rather than the open system we have now.

      Of course net neutrality must be good as the other choice is bias and with it being left to bog business we get things like AT&T banning Facetime on Appple kit........

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The GOP wants to eat your brain

      I see, Big John, so anyone who doesn't automatically assume that democracy is a bad thing is a 'leftist parrot'?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "...... favoring instead companies regulating themselves. When it comes down to protecting personal information and sharing it with third parties, "the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector," it states."

    Companies regulating themselves. YEAH RIGHT!

    We all know how that ends up. So those who would sell your grand mother for a profit can be trusted to keep perosnal data private and not be traded like cattle. Wouldn't trust a business man as far as I could throw them. To suggest otherwise demonstrates a persons lack of understanding.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "companies regulating themselves"

      Isn't there a word for that? Ah yes, 'cartel'.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meanwhile, back at the secret underground base of the Republican Party, Dr Doom (Mitt Romney WHAT A JOKE) is planning to take over the world.........

  12. Big_Ted

    Thank the gods of tech......

    This only applies to the good old US of A.

    At least in the EU we are more inclined to ensure companies don't have the power to do what they want. This sort of thing will only benefit big business, companies like Apple, Google MS etc can afford to put pressure on BB providers and ensure they get the bandwidth they need to have their service run at full speed whilst others are left with whats left of the bandwidth.

    And as to the sticks getting better speeds, thats only so their second/third homes get updated BB so they can watch porn on their own private site whilst all the others in the area are limited to Fox news 24/7 live stream.

    Lastly, protect IP ? come on, this is the biggest disaster in the making of the lot. It will end up with MS, Google and Apple having all the books, films, art etc that are out of copyright and you having to pay for them to download or view. I can foresee the whole of the Library of Congress and Smithsonian collections etc being online and an Apple site that you pay for through the nose. Google etc are already starting down this road and it will come much faster if the Reps get in.

  13. Chad H.

    "the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector,"

    Yes, because they do such a wonderful job of selling my infromation to anyone with an open wallet.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector,"

      Chad: ‘… they do such a wonderful job of selling my infromation to anyone with an open wallet.

      Better than leaving the information on a train for free, perhaps?

      ‘More sensitive government files … found on train bound for London Waterloo on 11 June, the same day that another batch of papers relating to intelligence assessments of Iraq and al-Qaeda were handed to the BBC after being left by a senior official on a train.’ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7455084.stm)

      Or in a hedge?

      ‘Welsh Government papers found in Pembrokeshire hedge’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-14496259)

      Quis custodiet, etc.

      ‘… data lost from RAF Innsworth in Gloucestershire the previous September included 500 highly sensitive files … report from the Information Commissioner told the NHS to improve its data security, after the watchdog took action against 14 NHS organisations in the last six months … lost a memory stick containing the medical details of more than 6,000 prisoners and ex-prisoners from HMP Preston. … a portable hard drive holding details of up to 5,000 employees of the justice system was lost … HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) lost two computer discs containing the entire child benefit records, including the personal details of 25 million people …’ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7449927.stm)

      Reminds me of P.J. O’Rourke’s words:

      ‘When you looked at the Republicans, you saw the scum of the top of business. When you looked at the Democrats, you saw the scum of the top of politics. Personally, I prefer business. A businessman will steal from you directly instead of getting the IRS to do it for him. And when Republicans ruin the environment, destroy the supply of affordable housing and wreck the industrial infrastructure, at least they make a buck of it. The Democrats just do these things for fun. Also, the Democrats wanted the federal government to solve every one of America’s problems, from AIDS to making sure the kids wipe their feet before they come in the house. For chrissake, the federal government can’t even deliver mail, and how hard is that? The stuff’s got our address right on it and everything.’

      p.30–31, ‘Parliament of Whores : A lone humorist attempts to explain the entire U.S. Government’ (1991)

      1. Captain Underpants
        Thumb Down

        Re: "the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector,"

        Yeah, so? The public sector being crap at managing data doesn't make it *better* that the private sector voluntarily flog it on at a profit while also frequently being just as crap as the public sector at securing it to begin with (hello, PSN hack, LinkedIn hack, however many banks have had ID theft committed by staff in off-shore callcentres, and however many other examples).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector,"

          Yeah, so?

          So mankind is fallible and all systems and mechanisms designed and managed by imperfect men are flawed; they will at some point fail, or be corrupted, or used in ways never anticipated at conception. Are the problems of inadequate human mechanisms resolved by giving a small number of flawed men greater powers in the form of governmental regulation? Or should we, imperfect creatures that we are, be afforded as great a choice as possible through the free market?

        2. Oninoshiko
          WTF?

          Re: "the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector,"

          Wait, so someone actively breaking into a system is equivalent to LEAVING IT ON A TRAIN?

          DAMN, can I have some of what you're smoking?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector,"

            Oninoshiko: ‘Wait, so someone actively breaking into a system is equivalent to LEAVING IT ON A TRAIN?

            What are you wittering about? Chad H. implied that IT systems were securer when regulated by government; I countered by pointing out (with examples) that systems were far from secure when left in government hands.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And the Democrats should know better

    Here in California the state legislature has just eliminated state regulation of the Internet under the guise of deregulating telephonic communication. As almost all telephone signals become VoIP now, we're sure to see the benevolence of Big Business come into play very soon. And there'll be nothing we can do about it.

  15. James Le Cuirot

    Railroads?

    I thought the internet was not a big truck.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Free From Government Interference...

    ... so the NSA can catalogue what most Americans believe / are interested in, etc., so they know who to put in the labour camps.

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