Once you've signed on for Comcast high speed Internet, you expect to pay a monthly bill and that's the end of it.
Things may soon change.
When Comcast figured out that some of their clients were using BitTorrent to make it easier to download byte-heavy content, they saw a way to increase their profit margins. Why not charge extra for the privilege of being a bandwidth hog?
The case went to court and the end users won, only to lose on appeal. The idea of net neutrality, that anyone who pays the set fee can use as much as they want, is no longer the standard.
Like so many other lawsuits involving the Internet, this one hinges on a technicality. As the law is written, according to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the Feds had no legal grounds on which to slap down Comcast. The law hasn't kept up with the fast pace of electronic evolution and it's fallen far behind.
The solution lies in the halls of Congress, where new law would have to be crafted to permit net neutrality. As you'd expect, the heavy hitters in the Internet provider industry are lobbying heavily to get the legislation worded in their favor. They'd very much like to charge a premium for certain content, and charge more for the heavier users.
Unfortunately, the wheeling and dealing over the health insurance overhaul has left Congress so divided that it's unlikely another piece of legislation will come out of the Senate any time soon. Once President Obama came out on the side of net neutrality, you could bet that the regulatory issues wouldn't be considered for years. Expect Google to donate heavily to Democrats while Comcast and Verizon pour contributions into Republican coffers in the meantime.
Some have suggested that the Feds can twist the language around, give it a tweak, and lump Internet regulations into existing law, but it's not an easy task when commissions are not allowed to make law even if Congress can't get its act together to fix things.
Internet providers keep raising their prices anyway, so it's unlikely that anyone would much notice if they take advantage of the Appeals Court ruling and introduce a new fee schedule. What users will notice is a slow-down in download speed if Comcast decides to charge the provider, a Google or a Yahoo for example, for the privilege of a faster download. And Google doesn't cave in to the blackmail.
4 comments:
Hello there! Haven't been around and just catching up with your posts and continuing saga of writing and submitting. I am not commentind directly on your post--don't have a clue what this is all about, although you are explaining it quite well, but I'm just using your last post to say hello. I've been reading through the latest in the submittal story and about submitting to indies. Don't give up; I know a few writers who did find a 'home' (oh, how I HATE that experession) with small publishers.
These days I've been going through the tons of papers accumulated in my house (my Dad passed away in February, I took care of him for more than four years, he was 91 and passed away very peacefully, so now I am going through papers, his and mine...)Anyway, going through papers, I've come upon a huge stack of submittals and turn-down letters from agents and publishers--I am not exagerating, I think there were 200 of them! My God, I had such stamina! And to think that every single rejection would send me to the bottom, every time. I just tossed them all. The shredder truck is coming in a day and in they go, into the jaws of oblivion.
Update--my ms. is ready to be sent to the publisher. I tell you, there's something very liberating in self-publishing. You don't have to put up with those creatures who are agents and editors because they can't write a literary sentence if their life depended on it.
Long post... sorry. But, Hello!
Sorry for your troubles. It can be a nightmare, going through a parent's possessions.
Inspiration to clean out your own accumulations, was it? I've never kept rejections myself, but then, I'm not a collector.
Best of luck to you with going out on your own. It can be done, but it takes a great deal of effort to handle the marketing. I suppose if you've got the stamina to submit hundreds of times, you've got what it takes to push your own work to the general public.
Yes, I'm drowning in stuff--my parents', my own... Too much house for one person also, stuff in every corner. GAWD!!! But, yes, I'm going like a flame thrower through everything. I've divided it in several categories: OMG stuff, WTF stuff, You've-got-to-be-kidding stuff and WTH-is-this stuff. Very little left over after this.
As for the novel--right now, I just want to see it between two covers, I guess I'm kind of vain that way :) and then I'll see. I don't have starry eyed hopes for it. It gives me braggng rights, I suppose.
As for stamina--nothing like you have going after those agents. I gave up long before you would ever do that.
btw, do you recallt he comments you made after reading the first twenty pages or so? i incorporated them. :) it did make it a lot better, yes.
Glad to be of service as a pair of fresh eyes. And no need to offer only praise to stroke your ego when you needed an honest opinion.
I'm working on a list of small publishers who accept unagented submissions. Probably start sending out the manuscript by the end of the month.
Funny, but I'm immune to the rejection and it's become a game, like playing blackjack at the casino. I know the odds are with the house, but it's entertaining.
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