Hitting the Twitter fan in a big way was this Burger King ad explaining net neutrality to its customers in the most obnoxious way. And yes, I will be buying a "slow MPBS" Burger King order:
Burger King's new ad has become a sensation, with more than a million views on YouTube and it's lighting up Twitter. In the ad customers, whom the restaurant says are real, are told they will be charged different prices for a Whopper, based on speed, or MBPS (making burgers per second). Prices range from $5 to $26. And the customers grow increasingly furious in an art-imitating-life display that mocks new internet rules that have led to wide-scale protests, even death threats.
ATT now backs Net Neutrality: This is a twist...but are they serious?
ATT is calling on Congress for a national net neutrality law that would govern Internet providers and tech companies alike, which the telecom giant says would end a fractious, years-long debate over the future of the Web. In a series of full-page ads Wednesday in major newspapers such as The Washington Post and the New York Times, AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson proposed an “Internet Bill of Rights” that could help guarantee an open Internet, one in which online content is not blocked or slowed down by telecom or cable companies, nor by Internet companies such as Google or Facebook.
AT T's legislative campaign aims to head off what many analysts say could be another swing of the regulatory pendulum against broadband providers. Many states are also moving to pass their own net neutrality rules to replace the federal regulations. On Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) signed an executive order requiring that state agencies purchase Internet access only from broadband providers that abide by net neutrality.
The prospect of having to comply with perhaps dozens of state-level net neutrality rules is a nightmare for Internet providers. Although the FCC has said it will take states to court if they seek to circumvent its decision, companies such as AT&T want a guarantee of stability. AT&T's call for the bill to apply equally to Internet companies and providers reflects a turning point for the long-running net neutrality saga as well as for Silicon Valley's fortunes in Washington.
One tech industry official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely. “This is like the big, bad wolf promising better building codes after blowing down all the houses in town,” the official said.
Big Telecom taking Over Broadband Control: Ajit Pai's plan is to turn the internet over to the big players, leaving local government and consumers to Big Telecoms monopolized market prices:
San Jose mayor Mayor Sam Liccardo says he’s quitting FCC broadband committee because Big Telecom is running it: the FCC, under Trump-appointed chairman Ajit Pai, launched an advisory committee on high-speed internet access, saying it planned to bring broadband to more people.
At a recent meeting, Mayor Liccardo said, a working group with no municipal representatives considered a plan to eliminate municipal control of broadband infrastructure. The goal, he now believes, is to give the industry “publicly-funded infrastructure at taxpayer-subsidized rates.”
In August, the Center for Public Integrity explained how local governments believed they were being played, as the FCC reportedly stacked more than three out of four positions on the panel with business-friendly interests.
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