Obama's Internet Iron Fist

By Douglas V. Gibbs

There is nothing like an electoral defeat to make tyrants squeeze tighter their iron fist of authoritarianism.

Let's not forget Leia's immortal words: "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

With, or without, Congress, Obama plans to stop the flow of information that is keeping people informed enough to defeat him and his policies in elections like the 2014 mid-terms.  The government focus on internet regulation is under the guise of keeping it free under the greedy paws of the profiteers, but the reality of it all is that liberal left progressives are all about government control, and killing individual freedoms for the benefit of the all-powerful state.

Republicans dare not tread on accusing the Democrats of totalitarian aspirations, especially when it comes to Net Neutrality, but the GOP politicians are accurate in their assessment that Obama's proposed government crack down on the internet will result in killing jobs.

Obama says he has no patience left for a Congress that won't do what he tells it to do, so he is bypassing constitutional requirements of legislation, and is seizing legislative powers by making law through the FCC, demanding that they ignore the will of the people, the Constitution, and the United States Congress, and increase their regulatory powers of the Internet.  Obama says the worldwide web is a utility, and should be treated with the same ferocity that government treats public utilities.

He said the FCC should explicitly prohibit Internet providers like Verizon and AT&T from charging data hogs like Netflix extra to move their content more quickly. The announcement sent cable stocks tumbling.

The FCC says it has some legal complexities to deal with before acting upon Obama's demand, which means they haven't figured out how to make it look like they are allowed to expand executive control over the web, just yet.

"We are stunned the president would abandon the longstanding, bipartisan policy of lightly regulating the Internet and calling for extreme" regulation, said Michael Powell, president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the primary lobbying arm of the cable industry, which supplies much of the nation's Internet access.

This "tectonic shift in national policy, should it be adopted, would create devastating results," added Powell, who chaired the FCC during the Bush administration until 2005.

"Net neutrality" is the idea that Internet service providers shouldn't block, slow or manipulate data moving across its networks.  That kind of insertion of power should only be by government.

In 2010, the FCC embraced the concept in a rule, but their move was struck down last January by a federal appeals court.  The court said the FCC didn't technically have the legal authority to tell broadband providers how to manage their networks.

Obama, with his announcement, is even trying to use is powers of nobility to strike down the court system, which the liberal left normally uses gleefully to get their big government policies in place.  Apparently, to the liberal left's disappointment, not all judges are hard-core activist judges that jump when Democrats say jump. . . yet.  In the case of Net Neutrality, the courts, like Congress, are not supporting his tyranny, so Obama's attitude is that it is up to him to go it alone, and force his will upon Americans, and the Internet, regardless of the law, regardless of constitutional authorities granted, and regardless of anybody that dares to stand against him.

While Obama and gang claims that the federal intrusion into the internet will create more freedom, and disallow the big bad corporations from dictating speeds and fees, which enables them, according to Obama, to pick the winners and losers of the web, what this really does is put in place a precedent the government can use later to dictate their agenda to the internet without any opposition, be it from corporations, consumers, the courts, or Congress.

AT&T is threatening  legal action and Comcast Corp. says the move is "a radical reversal that would harm investment and innovation, as today's immediate stock market reaction demonstrates."

Republicans are calling Obama's announcement "government overreach," and Senator Ted Cruz called it "Obamacare for the Internet.  The Internet should not operate at the speed of government."

The Internet Association, which represents many content providers like Netflix, Twitter, eBay and Google, applauded Obama's proposal, not realizing that if they don't play ball the way Obama wants, they will be the next target for control.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Obama calls for tougher Internet Regulation - Yahoo News

BATTLES BETWEEN FCC CHAIR AND PRESIDENT OVER NEW INTERNET RULES - Washington Post

'All this going to be litigated' - New York Times

AT&T to pause fiber investment until decision - Yahoo Finance