public support – Techdirt (original) (raw)

Ajit Pai Now Trying To Pretend That Everybody Supported Net Neutrality Repeal

from the allergic-to-the-truth dept

By now it’s abundantly clear that the Trump FCC’s repeal of net neutrality was based largely on fluff and nonsense. From easily disproved claims that net neutrality protections stifled broadband investment, to claims that the rules would embolden dictators in North Korea and Iran, truth was an early and frequent casualty of the FCC’s blatant effort to pander to some of the least competitive, least-liked companies in America (oh hi Comcast, didn’t see you standing there). In fact throughout the repeal, the FCC’s media relations office frequently just directed reporters to telecom lobbyists should they have any pesky questions.

With the rules now passed and a court battle looming, FCC boss Ajit Pai has been making the rounds continuing his postmortem assault on stubborn facts. Like over at CNET, for example, where Ajit Pai informs readers in an editorial that he really adores a “free and open internet” despite having just killed rules supporting that very concept:

“I support a free and open internet. The internet should be an open platform where you are free to go where you want, and say and do what you want, without having to ask anyone’s permission. And under the Federal Communications Commission’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order, which takes effect Monday, the internet will be just such an open platform. Our framework will protect consumers and promote better, faster internet access and more competition.”

‘Course if you’ve paid attention, you know the FCC’s remaining oversight framework does nothing of the sort, and is effectively little more than flimsy, voluntary commitments and pinky swears by ISPs that they promise to play nice with competitors. With limited competition, FCC regulatory oversight neutered, the FTC an ill-suited replacement, and ISPs threatening to sue states that try to stand up for consumers, there’s not much left intact that can keep incumbent monopoly providers on their best behavior (barring the looming lawsuits and potential reversal of the rules).

Over in an interview with Marketplace, Pai again doubles down on repeated falsehoods, including a new claim that the repeal somehow had broad public support:

Marketplace….this is not a popular decision. Millions of people have written in opposition to it. Public opinion polling shows most Americans favor net neutrality, not your open internet rule. And I wonder why you’re doing this then? If public opinion is against you, what are you doing?

Pai: First of all, public opinion is not against us. If you look at some of the polls ?

Marketplace: No, it is, sir, come on.

Pai: If you look at some of the polling, if you dig down and see how these polls were constructed, it was clearly designed to reach a particular result. But even beyond that ?

Marketplace: It’s not just one, there are many surveys, sir.

Pai: The FCC?s job is not to put a finger in the wind and decide which way the winds are blowing, it’s to look at the facts and make a sober judgment based on what the law is. And that is exactly what we’ve done here. Moreover, the long-term interest is in building better, faster, cheaper internet access. That is what consumers say when I travel around the country, and I?ve have spoken to consumers in Los Angeles to the reservation in South Dakota, places like Dahlonega, Georgia. That is what is on consumers? minds. That is what this regulatory framework is going to deliver.

First Pai tries to claim that the public supported his repeal, then when pressed tries to claim that the polls that were conducted were somehow flawed. Neither is true. In fact, one recent survey out of the University of Maryland found that 82% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats opposed the FCC’s obnoxiously-named “restoring internet freedom” repeal. And those numbers are higher than they were just a few years ago. That the public is overwhelmingly opposed to Pai’s repeal is simply not debatable.

When discrediting the polls doesn’t work, Pai then implies consumers aren’t smart enough to realize that gutting oversight of indisputably terrible ISPs like Comcast will be secretly good for them. He then tries to insist that public opinion doesn’t matter and that he’s simply basing his policy decisions on cold, hard facts. Which, for a guy that claimed during the repeal that net neutrality aids fascist dictators, made up a DDOS attack, ignored countless widelesly respected internet experts and based his repeal entirely on debunked lobbyist data–is pretty amusing.

Whether Pai’s repeated lies result in anything vaguely resembling accountability remains to be seen. But based on the volume of time Pai spends touring flyover country, it’s pretty clear he’s harboring some significant post-FCC political aspirations. Those ambitions are likely to run face first into very real voters (especially of the Millennial variety) harboring some very real annoyance at his gutting of a healthy and open internet.

Filed Under: ajit pai, fcc, net neutrality, public support

Actors Hired To Play Consumers In Bid To Thwart Renewable Energy in New Orleans

from the fake-it-'til-you-make-it dept

Thu, May 10th 2018 10:42am - Karl Bode

The nation’s largest, incumbent utilities continue to engage in some pretty shady behavior to try and stop the unstoppable renewable energy (r)evolution. In Florida, for example, we noted how one utility created an entirely bogus consumer group with one purpose: to hamstring solar competition. The group, “Consumers For Smart Solar,” was built specifically by utilities to try and push legislation that claimed to support solar energy, but actually applied all manner of backward and obnoxious restrictions to the alternative energy industry.

As these companies work to craft legislation that makes it harder on renewable competitors, they’ve ramped up the use of astroturfing to provide the illusion of broad consumer support for their efforts. Not to be outdone by their colleagues in Florida, one Louisiana utility appears to have hired a bunch of actors to express their enthusiastic support for the construction of a gas-based power plant that had been struggling with public approval. Locals had opposed the construction, arguing that claims that the plant was needed to shore up lagging capacity didn’t hold up, and the utility should instead focus on modernization of existing lines.

Local utilities didn’t like that, so they hired a bunch of actors to cheer the plant’s construction, and jeer any conversation about renewable energy alternatives at a meeting in New Orleans:

“At least four of the people in orange shirts were professional actors. One actor said he recognized 10 to 15 others who work in the local film industry. They were paid 60eachtimetheyworetheorangeshirtstomeetingsinOctoberandFebruary.Somegot60 each time they wore the orange shirts to meetings in October and February. Some got 60eachtimetheyworetheorangeshirtstomeetingsinOctoberandFebruary.Somegot200 for a ?speaking role,? which required them to deliver a prewritten speech, according to interviews with the actors and screenshots of Facebook messages provided to The Lens.

?They paid us to sit through the meeting and clap every time someone said something against wind and solar power,? said Keith Keough, who heard about the opportunity through a friend.

“Astroturfing,” or the act of generating bogus grass roots public support for arguably unpopular policies, was a concept perfected by the broadband industry years ago. Whether it was paying people to attend meetings or the creation of bogus consumer groups to attack net neutrality, creating the illusion of support is a longstanding American tradition. It tends to be confusing to the general public, so by and large it’s something traditional press outlets don’t deem worthy of covering. But it routinely pollutes public discourse, and directly and routinely results in crap policy and law that doesn’t reflect the will of the (actual) public.

In this case, locals believe the actors were likely hired by a utility company by the name of Entergy through a company creatively named Crowds on Demand (there’s a long list of companies that do this, though most like to operate under the radar). But Entergy denies the claim, and promises it will look into it and take “appropriate action if warranted”:

“?While we reiterate that Entergy did not pay, nor did we authorize any other person or entity to pay supporters to attend or speak at Council meetings, we recognize that our interactions with our stakeholders must always be based on honesty and integrity,? the company said. The company said it?s finalizing an investigation ?to determine if anyone retained by the company has acted in any way inconsistent with these values. We will take swift and appropriate action if warranted.”

Because it’s not illegal for companies to hire actors to actively mislead the public and corrupt the democratic process, nothing much comes of these revelations. And while these kinds of efforts obviously can’t stop natural market evolutions like the shift toward renewable, lower-pollution alternative energy options, they certainly do a great job making meaningful evolutionary progress that much slower and cumbersome.

Filed Under: actors, alternative energy, new orleans, public support

Over 19,000 Emails Sent Concerning UK 'Snooper's Charter' — Not A Single One In Support Of It

from the batting-zero dept

Back in June, Glyn wrote about the so-called “Snooper’s Charter” in the UK. It was a draft Communications Bill that had some ridiculous surveillance measures, such as data retention by ISPs on all emails. There was an open comment period, and apparently over 19,000 emails were sent in. And, it turns out, the score was over 19,000… to zero. Yes, not a single comment submitted in support of the bill. From the Joint Parliamentary Committee:

… we have not seen a single email supporting the draft Communications Data Bill, or even agreeing that there may be a case for the security services and law enforcement agencies having greater access to communications data than they do at present.

While many of the emails received were generated from organizations opposed to the bill, you’d think that someone out there would be in favor of it. At the very least, hopefully this leads to a pretty big rethinking of the effort.

Filed Under: data retention, public support, snooper's charter, surveillance, uk