Remember all the whoopla about net neutrality – and how the
supporters said it was really about “protecting” Internet users from the
capricious whims of big, bad broadband providers?
You remember that, right?
I said then that net neutrality was a ruse. I said it was a backdoor
way for government to turn broadband service into a “utility” so politicians
and bureaucrats could decide who gets what and for how much, based entirely on
politics.
I also said it wouldn’t be long before the government used
that power.
In yesterday’s local paper I saw where the Obama Administration
has decided that hundreds of thousands of low-income households in Camden and
Philadelphia and elsewhere will get free or heavily discounted broadband service.
Under this ConnectHome program, so will low-income residents of Newark,
NJ; Baltimore and D.C.
This proof-of-concept phase could be extended to over
200,000 homes, and benefit up to 275,000 low-income kids, according to Obama
spokespuppets.
One minority-owned provider of discounted cable services to
public housing residents in Philly sees big things ahead. I’m sure they’re expecting
a windfall. They’re probably hoping for a repeat of the Obama-phone bubble when
fly-by-night operators got paid for signing up people for free phones and
service whether or not they qualified, and sometimes for multiple accounts for
the same person. Dangle free Internet and people will be trampling over each
other to get in.
“The Internet has been reclassified as a utility," said
Brigitte Daniels, vice president of Wilco Communications. "The principle of Net
neutrality has been firmly established, as it must be," she said.
"All kinds of content, including TV, is or will be coming to the Web.”
So expect the next phase to include not
only Internet access, but also subscriptions to NetFlix and premium
cable channels. And since these households
need a way to get to all this, I’m guessing that we’ll soon be subsidizing new
and faster computers for all of them.
Those will be followed by large flat-screen TVs because, after all, you
simply can’t expect them to watch Game of Thrones, the NBA All-Star Game, or Orange
is the New Black on anything smaller than 46”.
Of course nobody is talking about who will
pay for this down the road. There’s the usual BS that the initial tab will be
picked up by a combination of donations by private industry, foundations, and other
sources, but not the government. My
guess is that in the end it’s you and me. Just like those mysterious charges on
your cable and phone bill that seem to have nothing to do with your service, I
expect we’ll see new charges on our bills to subsidize their bills.
And it’s all because the FCC's ruling on
net neutrality turned Internet access into a utility.
Before you dismiss that as irrelevant, think
of how other utilities operate. Think about how some people get subsidized gas
service, phone service, electricity and water, but not you. Think of how you’re
getting hit with monthly fees to provide electric and landline telephone service
to people who choose to live in the middle of nowhere, and to help pay the public utility
bills of people who don’t. Do you honestly believe Internet access as a utility
won’t end up the same?
Sure, theoretically, through this program some
kids will now be able to access the Internet at home for school projects. But I’ll
bet the biggest benefit to them will be that they no longer have to risk
getting caught downloading porn on the computers in the school library.
For others, like people already gaming the
system, this is a dream come true.
Understand that besides the kids who might
benefit, you’ll also be picking up part of the tab for dedicated lowlifes who’ll
use that discounted or free broadband almost exclusively to watch porn, engage
in identity theft, and launch viruses. All
from the comfort of their couch.
Because, count on it, if this program
operates in any way, shape, or form like the free phones and cell-service
giveaway, or the cash-for-clunkers program, the scumbags of the earth will come out in droves for this deal. Given the Obama
Administration’s stellar track record on preventing fraud in entitlements in
general, and ObamaCare in particular, expect anywhere from 10-15% of all
recipients to be bogus. And that’s probably a low-side estimate.
The whole net neutrality debate was a hoax
from the start. People got sucked in by the propaganda into believing that they
had more to fear from big, bad providers than government bureaucrats.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. When will the public ever learn?
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