01-28-2025, 12:03 AM
Forgot to add the article which spawned this thread - From ArsTechnica: FCC chair helps ISPs and landlords make deals that renters can’t escape
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has dropped the previous administration's proposal to ban bulk billing deals that require tenants to pay for a specific provider's Internet service.
In March 2024, then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed a ban on arrangements in which "tenants are required to pay for broadband, cable, and satellite service provided by a specific communications provider, even if they do not wish to take the service or would prefer to use another provider."
Rosenworcel's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was opposed by Internet providers and sat on the FCC's list of items on circulation throughout 2024 without any final vote, despite the commission having a 3–2 Democratic majority at the time. Carr, who was elevated to the chairmanship by President Trump, emptied the list of items under consideration by commissioners on Friday.
Well, I can't honestly say that I am generally OK with the idea that your "landlord" can "package" Internet service "costs" with the "rent obligation."
I get free enterprise... but with out competition? Really? How high is the ivory tower of special interests to have justified the idea that people should be further trapped by a lack of economic freedom, at the mandate of owners of the property they rent.
It seems prima facie evident that I should not be forced to pay for a service I do not choose to use... oops... that's the "free" in free market....
I suppose this can matter most immediately to people who may live in old high-density buildings, but it seems like there's a hazard in this posture the administration is executing.
I have misgivings about this appointment...
Carr issued a statement today, saying, "During the Biden-Harris Administration, FCC leadership put forward a 'bulk billing' proposal that could have raised the price of Internet service for Americans living in apartments by as much as 50 percent.
Never mind that the financial and business benefit to accessing people corralled en-masse into physically proximate groups is a phenomenal opportunity for direct marketing and the revenue streams it generates... never mind that it further refines to granular access to citizens for whatever the 'market needs.' Further ignore the plainer notion that the "industry" created the 50% increase threat out of their 'inventive' mathematics...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has dropped the previous administration's proposal to ban bulk billing deals that require tenants to pay for a specific provider's Internet service.
In March 2024, then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed a ban on arrangements in which "tenants are required to pay for broadband, cable, and satellite service provided by a specific communications provider, even if they do not wish to take the service or would prefer to use another provider."
Rosenworcel's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was opposed by Internet providers and sat on the FCC's list of items on circulation throughout 2024 without any final vote, despite the commission having a 3–2 Democratic majority at the time. Carr, who was elevated to the chairmanship by President Trump, emptied the list of items under consideration by commissioners on Friday.
Well, I can't honestly say that I am generally OK with the idea that your "landlord" can "package" Internet service "costs" with the "rent obligation."
I get free enterprise... but with out competition? Really? How high is the ivory tower of special interests to have justified the idea that people should be further trapped by a lack of economic freedom, at the mandate of owners of the property they rent.
It seems prima facie evident that I should not be forced to pay for a service I do not choose to use... oops... that's the "free" in free market....
I suppose this can matter most immediately to people who may live in old high-density buildings, but it seems like there's a hazard in this posture the administration is executing.
I have misgivings about this appointment...
Carr issued a statement today, saying, "During the Biden-Harris Administration, FCC leadership put forward a 'bulk billing' proposal that could have raised the price of Internet service for Americans living in apartments by as much as 50 percent.
Never mind that the financial and business benefit to accessing people corralled en-masse into physically proximate groups is a phenomenal opportunity for direct marketing and the revenue streams it generates... never mind that it further refines to granular access to citizens for whatever the 'market needs.' Further ignore the plainer notion that the "industry" created the 50% increase threat out of their 'inventive' mathematics...
