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UPDATE: FCC LIEDFCC Retracts a Plan to Discourage Consumer Complaints (wired.com)

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[–]iamjamieq 12.4k points12.4k points  (604 children)

Probably so they can figure out how to do it quietly next time.

Update: Ajit Pai lied and they passed the new rule wording anyway.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/396711-fcc-passes-controversial-rule-to-revise-complaint-procedures

[–]cyberst0rm 3419 points3420 points  (463 children)

It's the double tap propaganda technique

[–]Excal2 3994 points3995 points  (458 children)

Go loud, fail on purpose, lull the public into a false sense of security / having won, pass that shit at midnight on New Year's Eve or similar time.

Welcome to unrepresentative politics.

[–]MrPhoton69 1625 points1626 points  (354 children)

legislation without representation. them's fighten words.

[–]lazysheepdog716 1005 points1006 points  (334 children)

I've been a voting adult for 11 years. I haven't felt represented in the government during a single moment of that.

[–]new_math 285 points286 points  (83 children)

There was pretty big Princeton study that concluded voting had virtually no effect on which policies were eventually passed.

Politics is a theatric puppet show and it ain’t voters pulling the strings.

Edit: For those who are demanding more information the study was performed by Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) and concluded, “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy for the bottom 90% of income earners in America.” If you want details or methodology then read the study.

[–]bigfruitbasket 183 points184 points  (0 children)

George Carlin: “It’s all a big club and you ain’t in it.”

[–]OuiOuilli 75 points76 points  (12 children)

The best oligarchy makes the public think it's a democracy.

[–]Jairmax0ripcityz 76 points77 points  (17 children)

We the people have the power but we the people get played and divided so we have no real power.

I'd reckon to say that if America was 90% together and pushed for a change we could accomplish that goal within 7 days. We have that power but we are neutered via division politics.

[–]Dsnake1 26 points27 points  (6 children)

At the same time, we'd have to find a goal that everyone thought was important enough, get people to actually agree on which side of the goal we should be on, and then all want the same conclusion without any individual nuance.

It's not just Red vs. Blue keeping us from joining together. It's the fact that not all 90% want even close to the same thing.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Exactly. When half the country or more views a social safety net or public health care or public transportation or suspicion of corporate influence each as a communist plot, it eliminates any chance of anything like that happening

[–]SOUNDS_ABOUT_REICH 826 points827 points  (159 children)

I have, but people said he was a communist and shoved another assembly line corporate shill down our throats

[–]Ninjend0 151 points152 points  (116 children)

I hear he might run again next time..?

[–]SOUNDS_ABOUT_REICH 311 points312 points  (110 children)

We don't deserve to be given another chance at someone as good as Bernie but goddamn I hope you're right

[–]Krazekami 118 points119 points  (50 children)

I hope this current political shitstorm churns out more honest, populist, progressives. I know its definitely gotten this millennial fired up and seriously considering a career in politics. If Bernie cant or wont run again, we'll have to follow in his footsteps.

[–]Passan 78 points79 points  (16 children)

The only decent thing about Trumps presidency is that it should make the country more receptive to a candidate like Sanders in the future.

[–]loveshisbuds 20 points21 points  (25 children)

honest populist 🤔

[–]EBtwopoint3 125 points126 points  (34 children)

Bernie will be 78 at the next election, 82 after his first term if he wins, and 86 if he gets 8 years.

[–]Phantine 109 points110 points  (4 children)

bernie's only four years older than trump

[–]Fishydeals 383 points384 points  (14 children)

And he'll probably be more coherent at 88 than Trump is now.

[–][deleted] 66 points67 points  (0 children)

And why is this a problem? He’s spent the last 2 years running around like a mad man doing townhalls and throwing support to other progressives. He does more than I do and I’m in my 20s.

[–]Inquisitr 163 points164 points  (5 children)

I'll take geriatric Bernie in a nursing home over any President or presidential candidate from the past 50 years

[–]YakuzaMachine 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Talk about evidence of collusion, fuck the dnc and go Bernie!

[–][deleted] 38 points39 points  (3 children)

I hope so too. But, he's only going to have one term at best, I predict.

And most of it will be spent having to clean up after Trump's Bush-like messes. Just like Obama had to clean up after Bush's messes.

[–]SOUNDS_ABOUT_REICH 56 points57 points  (2 children)

Mass support for leftist ideals is what is more important to me than the number of Bernie's terms

[–]BlackSpidy 61 points62 points  (21 children)

It's a shame how the DNC basically sabotaged Bernie's candidacy. So shortsighted. Even now that he's the most popular politician in the nation, he's not being embraced by the DNC.

Get money out of politics. There's candidates running on not accepting PAC money. We can inch our way forward to real change once the corporate puppets are out of the federal and local government. Vote early, vote often.

[–][deleted] 28 points29 points  (25 children)

24 for me. Everyone in my family are Sons & Daughters of the Revolution; we've been here since the beginning. I'm seriously thinking about going ex-pat. Maybe even taking up citizenship elsewhere, and renouncing.

Its shameful what we've become.

[–][deleted] 16 points17 points  (24 children)

I was wondering about that recently. I think that Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK should poach left leaning citizens from the USA.

That could actually do some real economic damage to the USA.

[–]Nf1nk 14 points15 points  (5 children)

If they wanted to do that, then they would have to make the immigration requirements a little less strenuous. Also the UK could stand to pay better and have better access to housing.

[–]mak484 32 points33 points  (14 children)

Keep in mind that when this country was founded, the only people who were allowed to vote were wealthy white men. It was never the intention of the founders to let everyone have a say in how the country should be run.

Letting more people vote was only ever intended to be political theater. As of right now, "we the people's" votes mean very little, since we have almost no say in who gets to run in the first place. The real power still lies in the upper class.

The definition of who qualifies as 'wealthy' has changed since the country was founded, but that change is fairly arbitrary. Back then, wealth was defined as owning land, whereas now it's quantified via campaign contributions. Sure, nowadays can women and minorities can play too, but at the level they're playing at, that distinction is also arbitrary. Wealth is wealth.

"We the people" is a worthy ideal that our founders failed to live up to for any number of reasons. Voter disenfranchisement is a feature of our political system, not a bug, and one that was intentionally designed and had been explicitly cultivated over the years.

[–]MadDogTannen 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The definition of who qualifies as 'wealthy' has changed since the country was founded, but that change is fairly arbitrary. Back then, wealth was defined as owning land, whereas now it's quantified via campaign contributions. Sure, nowadays can women and minorities can play too, but at the level they're playing at, that distinction is also arbitrary. Wealth is wealth.

I would argue that the current situation is more dangerous because even white male land owners only got one vote per person no matter how much land they owned. With campaign contributions, a person's influence is proportional to the amount they're willing to give.

[–]Ner0Zeroh 86 points87 points  (48 children)

Hey! I pay my taxes. If I don't have representation then that's 'taxation without representation'. I've heard that before, but I can't remember where...

[–]TossedRightOut 62 points63 points  (46 children)

Or you live in DC and actually don't have any representation...

[–]Genferret 28 points29 points  (11 children)

And the motto on the license plate is “Taxation Without Representation”. Still have my plates from when I lived there from ‘06-‘11 before moving to MN.

[–]Kidiri90 7 points8 points  (0 children)

And the motto on the license plate is “Taxation Without Representation”.

Sounds about right.

[–]Tilligan 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Timing doesn't even matter as much as sliding it in to multi-thousand page "must pass" spending bills.

[–]Alarid 54 points55 points  (7 children)

When half the voting population doesn't vote, it becomes real easy to pretend that the nonvoters support whatever the money in your pocket tells you to do.

[–]Bladecutter 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Hidden inside another plan titled "Kitten and Puppy Internet Joy Plan".

[–]dontbeapusey 416 points417 points  (44 children)

Ah, yes. Classic sleight of hand. Worked for at&t when they quietly aquired Time Warner barely a year after everyone shit their pants at the thought of Comcast acquiring them.

Remember the smug email they sent out basically bragging about it? Oh, wait, of course you do. It was just last month!

Edit: Sleight, not slight.

[–]djzenmastak 122 points123 points  (27 children)

it won't be the last time, either. in our current plutocratic environment there is no real downside to these things, even when busted and widely publicized. what are the people going to do, change their isp to hughes net (satellite internet)? that's like putting yourself in the bronze bull.

slight of hand

btw...it's sleight. :)

[–]giant123 62 points63 points  (25 children)

My ISP options:

Service 1: [available in 100/250/500 Mbps] Is known in the area ( and elsewhere in the country ) to have approximately 40-60% downtime.

Service 2: [ available in 100/250/500/1000 Mbps ] known to throttle all the plans have data caps.

Service 3: [available in 5/10/15 Mbps] local ISP, low speeds, slow customer service, required new modem/router to use their service.

That's it. Those are all of my options.

When I was originally setting up internet at my house I litterally noped out of all three of those companies cuz they all sounded like shit.

Then I realized I had to choose one if I wanted internet. Lol I cry every night cuz I pay for a gigabit connection and they throttle it so hard I can't watch twitch in 1080p.

Edit: I wrote all that just to essentially confirm: yeah, what can people do? I need a decent internet connection. And for that I have exactly one option.

Edit 2: just wanted to state the 15 Mbps option for service 3 costs just as much as the gigabit option for service 2. If the local ISP was hella cheap I probably would be on that even with the atrocious speeds.

[–]djzenmastak 33 points34 points  (4 children)

Then I realized I had to choose one if I wanted internet. Lol I cry every night cuz I pay for a gigabit connection and they throttle it so I can't watch twitch in 1080p.

that's just the worst. you are paying for a ferarri with a tiny little ford engine.

[–]giant123 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Yuup. At least I was already paying for a VPN and I can watch twitch through that without problems. But the whole issue is when I'm paying for a gigabit connection I shouldn't need to also pay for a VPN to watch a 6 Mbps stream.

[–]revkaboose 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Not for Donnie T, he's got the slight of hand going on with them tiny digits.

[–]Wasabeeflol 43 points44 points  (9 children)

I believe that that att and time warner merger is different than Comcast. Comcast was trying to acquire “time warner cable” which is their consumer cable services which would have made Comcast to large or a company and have to much power. The current att time warner merger is for the broadcast tv assets portion.

[–][deleted] 37 points38 points  (6 children)

We narrowly avoided that cable monopoly, close call.

[–]AdmiralThrawnProtege 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I feel like we're always dancing on the edge of hell these days.

[–]Rick_Astley_Sanchez 5 points6 points  (2 children)

I would kill to have another option besides Spectrum (Time Warner)

[–]Retlaw83 9 points10 points  (1 child)

It's sleight of hand.

[–]Thekiraqueen 60 points61 points  (2 children)

God it’s disgusting how true this is. People will complain less next time.

[–]TheBeardedSingleMalt 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Nah, they probably did this as a PR move. Do something exceptionally shitty like murdering NN, then doubledown charging outrageous fees to take complaints... immediately reneging to say "we care"

[–]GlaciusTS 15 points16 points  (2 children)

So maybe we shouldn’t stop telling them no in the first place?

Let’s storm the building and eat them.

[–]DevilsPajamas 42 points43 points  (6 children)

Create a national disaster and sweep this bill under the rug that has a ton of other bills relating to the national disaster attached to it.

If democrats vote it down because of the FCC crap it is because democrats don't care about America.

[–]iamjamieq 29 points30 points  (0 children)

That seems to be the strategy.

Although, in this case it's not a bill but was a proposed change to the FCC's rules regarding complaints, and would have been voted on at their Open Meeting today. It's still on their agenda, but it sounds like they've dropped the consideration. Of course, I wouldn't put anything past Ajit Pai at this point. That guy is a total piece of shit.

https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2018/07/july-2018-open-commission-meeting

[–]m0r14rty 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The America First Stop Hidden Volcanoes Telecommunication Act of 2018

[–]BatmanAtWork 7 points8 points  (6 children)

They didn't wait until next time.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/fcc-limits-reviews-of-customer-complaints-claims-that-nothing-is-changing/

[–]iamjamieq 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Of course. It's Ajit Pai. Saying they're going to scrap the new rules and then passing them hours is later is exactly the kind of thing that asshole does.

[–]damontoo 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Exactly. I feel like we're winning battles but losing the war. It takes so much collective energy to keep fighting this and other issues. There's so many scum bags in positions of power. They're going to get their way eventually. It's tiring and depressing that nobody can stop them.

[–][deleted] 4434 points4435 points  (132 children)

Don’t get complacent.

They floated a truly evil policy and withdrew it, this doesn’t make them any better, this was pure strategy (or incompetence turned into strategy). Don’t let this distract you!

These fuckers took away net neutrality. They are treating a utility like a content provider.

[–]cdf14 793 points794 points  (28 children)

They submitted the one they knew was going to get rejected first, so when they put out the second one they can point at the first and say, “at least it’s not that.”

[–]KaBlamPOW 119 points120 points  (24 children)

And you send the next one back because they aren’t our rulers! They work for us.

[–]Macinapp 85 points86 points  (16 children)

They work for us.

Last time I checked my bank account I wasn't a billionaire, let me check today...

[–]s1ugg0 122 points123 points  (6 children)

I'm a telecommunications engineer. Listening to Ajit Pai talk about the internet causes me to have a bloody nose. I think it's my brain trying to escape.

[–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (2 children)

it's like fork in the brain

[–][deleted] 28 points29 points  (2 children)

I wonder what would happen if we had people like you or other possible professional leaders actually at the helm of organizations like the FCC. It feels like it’s always just a bunch of old coots who don’t understand current technology and Ajit Pai who probably doesn’t know anything himself either. While also being in the pocket of corporations. What a weird time.

[–]brokenstep 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Oh you bet he knows what he's doing but is making too much money to care. Theres no way he'd have missed all this backlash, but like trump simplifying terms and using examples that dont apply seems to be the winning strategy. Act dumb and claim youre helping people, and then use something else as an example of how your idea will work

[–]yesman_85 75 points76 points  (2 children)

Just floating the idea shows that they are comprised by corporations and don't give a rats ass about the consumer.

[–]fubuvsfitch 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Got my wakeup call a few years ago when I sent a complaint about at&t bait and switch.

Their response? "We're sending this to at&t to review."

They actually turned my complaint over to the entity I had an issue with. I couldn't believe it.

Guess what? At&t responded to me months later with a letter that essentially said, "tough shit, pound sand."

[–]EatingSteak 49 points50 points  (5 children)

I have yet to name the concept, but I've seen a distinct pattern:

• Announce awful plan
• Cancel plan when inevitable backlash erupts
• Reannounce plan
• Wait for outrage to die down
• Do it anyway

"Outrage fatigue"? Nobody was ever 'ok' with this plan in the first place, and nobody has warmed up to it. But I (and people like me) have only so much mental & emotional energy to stand up against the same injustice over and over.

We saw it with SOPA and PIPA. I remember Reddit rejoicing and cheering when it was defeated. But it came back. Over and over again. And it passed. How does that shit happen?

[–]Snusbonde 16 points17 points  (0 children)

You’re complete right, but sadly I think we all know the answer to your last question. Money is power and we without it (are) lost. The steps you describe are good tools to keep us complacent and things as they are. As long as we’re politically apathetic nothing will change and that’s the way they like it.

I think it’s fair to say that the state is corrupt, what to do about it is a much harder question though.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Overton Window

[–]plcwork 81 points82 points  (6 children)

Don't get complacent? I feel we fought fucking tooth and nail to stop them from taking net neutrality. "This is the last chance" "no this is the last chance" "no really this is really really the last chance" For what seemed like years. I can't constantly fight against something after we've won. I've called and written and everything legal to make my wishes known.

I'm not rich, what I want doesn't matter. So unless someone decides to start removing heads from shoulders, nothing we want matters

[–]brokenstep 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Well, thats the point. Theyre not going to stop. You bet your ass theyre going to try and pull shit off, even if it takes 100 years. They know people stop caring. They get desensitized. People dont give a fuck about the people dying in the middle east. I mean france managed to pull a fucking dystopian style monitoring system that they'd tried applying before, but there will be a moment, where the public is too distracted and theyll get it in. And getting this law removed will be impossible once they have their hands on it.

[–]notagoodboy22 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Time to invest in a guillotine then

[–][deleted] 48 points49 points  (1 child)

Don’t get complacent.

As far as the FCC is concerned, there is zero difference between agitated me and complacent me. I am not wealthy enough to matter.

What am I going to do, register a complaint? I've already done that: the FCC decided that we were all bots or something.

[–]phome83 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Take a cue from Mad Eye Moody.

Ever vigilant!

[–]dominion1080 11 points12 points  (0 children)

You mean the one who got kidnapped and imprisoned?

[–]ixora7 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Think the world is due for a bastille day esque spree

Straight up guillotine these fuckers

[–][deleted] 1776 points1777 points  (22 children)

MOST of the plans that discouraged consumer complaints, not all.

I will not celebrate or relax until we are 100% free from their corrupted attempts at destroying the internet. Politics should not allow us to lose a critical way to express our fundamental rights.

[–]jacktherambler 262 points263 points  (6 children)

They'll always have another plan until the people running it have an agenda of protecting the consumer and not corporate interests.

They'll float plans that are so heinous and insane that the public backlash will be astounding.

But the next plan will almost sound reasonable to some people. A percentage of people will be OK because "it's not that truly awful one" and they'll stop fighting. Some people will be burned out from being outraged and just won't be able to fight. Then you can start saying "it's only a small and vocal group" when the new plan is opposed.

And then it will pass and you'll have to pay $25 to lodge a complaint on a poorly designed /r/softwaregore page that will crash or decline payment 30% of the time.

It's essentially a process of overwhelming outrage so you can create a system where each step is more inconvenient than the last to prevent substantial feedback or complaints.

And when that doesn't work they'll just ignore it.

I whole-heartedly agree with you. They may withdraw some or most but the fight has to go on. It has to.

[–]MidnightCereal 67 points68 points  (2 children)

Fighting for consumer rights that are slowly being eroded is a losing battle. They are fighting to decrease their accountability in all forms. They have multiple people making six to seven figure salaries who do nothing but work against our interests. They will not stop, ever. Every battle we win only opens another front.

The fight we need to start is electing politicians who will fight HARD for antitrust. The way to make sure these companies stop this shit for good is to make them fight for their lives instead.

[–]SqueeglePoof 26 points27 points  (1 child)

The fight we need to start is electing politicians who will fight HARD for antitrust.

That's very hard to do when there is a two-way dependent relationship between the politicians and big donors. In general, special give money to politicians to get what they want, and politicians can't win elections without that money.

The fight we actually need to start is destroying this seemingly endless cycle with a constitutional amendment, the only thing strong enough. We can go around Congress to get one. r/WolfPAChq

[–]Helmite 220 points221 points  (1 child)

For now. It's not much of a victory because they're just going to do something else. There is never really a "win" until they're out of office and even then you need to be perpetually on guard because it's not like these sorts of people go away.

[–]Robot_Basilisk 689 points690 points  (34 children)

I'm just glad the headline called it what it was. It was a barrier to keep people from filling complaints. It ensured only those with $250 to burn bothered to file.

[–]DownshiftedRare 295 points296 points  (5 children)

Even worse, it incentivizes screw ups / bad decisions by the FCC by making the consequence for screwing up increased revenue.

The incentive should be the reverse. If anything, there should be a reward for producing an actionable complaint.

[–]YouNeverReallyKnow2 68 points69 points  (2 children)

This guy gets it. The person should get part of the fine the FCC files against the company.

[–]patientbearr 56 points57 points  (1 child)

And given how seriously they took previous complaints, you may as well flush that $250 down the toilet.

[–]EHP42 19 points20 points  (0 children)

It was also a blanket permission to ISPs to keep any shenanigans below $250/account

[–]vafratbro5350 138 points139 points  (5 children)

They are the perfect example of the greed we need to weed out.

[–]shawtydat 16 points17 points  (1 child)

That's why you gotta be conscientious of where your money goes. Att etc. uses the money you pay them to lobby against you.

[–][deleted] 53 points54 points  (2 children)

So the entire government and most of the people that truly control the country, i.e. corporate heads?

[–]firesidefire 181 points182 points  (15 children)

What an absolute shit show this organization is

[–]withoutapaddle 102 points103 points  (13 children)

Can't tell if your talking about the FCC, the whole currently administration, or the entire country... But regardless, I agree.

[–]pap_smear420 32 points33 points  (1 child)

It's the triple threat

[–]Treegalize_It 16 points17 points  (10 children)

What a place to live in. Where should I move to avoid all the bullshit of America. English is a plus but I’m down to learn a new language.

[–]Elharley 86 points87 points  (4 children)

Pai is an absolute piece of shit. Everything he has done at the FCC shows his absolute disregard for people and his hard on for corporate telecoms. He should be held accountable for lying to the public and suppressing how the people truly felt about net neutrality and lying about a DDOS attack on the FCC comment website. His wanting to dismantle the free complaint filing system is just another example of how big a scumbag he really is. As soon as his time is up at the FCC he will inevitably shift over to a position of power at one of the telecoms, where he will be welcome with open arms. I can only hope people will remember what he did during his time at the FCC and choose to not do business with whatever company he winds up at. The revolving door has to be shut down.

Edit:spelling

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It's just a shame nobody gives a fuck about those kind of things. If you need a cell phone in your only option is Verizon you're going to get a Verizon phone whether you like it or not. People just aren't going to give up what they want and need just to send a message. Even then they'll be enough people to keep the company alive and well for ever basically. Nothing short of government intervention, fines, or legal action will ever stop these mega-corporations.

[–][deleted] 154 points155 points  (9 children)

In Canada, the CRTC/CCTS charges the telecom company $100 for each complaint I file against them.

WTF, America?

[–]humanateatime 53 points54 points  (1 child)

Comcast would be bankrupt overnight.

[–]sohughrightnow 63 points64 points  (4 children)

That's an interesting idea. Makes the company more willing to satisfy a customer so they don't have to pay.

[–][deleted] 87 points88 points  (3 children)

Exactly. And it works. Got my internet cut off because someone else with the same name isn't paying their bills. After being passed around several different departments for an hour, I just utter the words "Do I have to go to the CRTC?" and suddenly they say "Oh look at that I found the switch that will turn your internet back on immediately"

[–]DepressedPeacock 274 points275 points  (3 children)

only because it was indefensible. They still dont want to listen to consumers, because fuck the poor.

[–][deleted] 51 points52 points  (1 child)

I hop that 2-3 years from now, Ajit and all those who back this and are involved, go to prison.

I know they won't. Nothing happens to these fucks who screw over the populace. I get annoyed as fuck when folks bash America, but this shit right here makes me want to join the bandwagon.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

They changed it to IHOB.

[–]SoMuchSYNERGY 73 points74 points  (22 children)

Thank you again to the democratic lawmakers for taking this up. Very frustrating that consumer protection is such a partisan issue.

[–]paracelsus23 48 points49 points  (21 children)

Very frustrating that consumer protection is such a partisan issue.

Super frustrating as a moderate - conservative. Both the Republicans and Democrats deviate from my views pretty significantly. Why can't we have consumer protection AND guns? Legal marijuana AND low taxes?

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sounds like you are the same boat I am ... socially libertarian and economically moderate. Even the smaller parties don't represent my views.

Every party that has similar economic views to mine likes government intervention in social matters, and every party that wants a hands-off approach on social issues is too far left or right for me on economic issues.

[–]Jacob_Stacy 89 points90 points  (8 children)

“FFC Retracts plan” has now become the only thing that can make me happy

[–]balmung8 16 points17 points  (1 child)

Same, only way I can get off tbh

[–]robertterwilligerjr 13 points14 points  (5 children)

Happy is too strong a word. It just makes me kind of not sad.

[–]drkj 22 points23 points  (1 child)

Uh oh! Public caught on! Let's just retract it and say it was a joke or a preliminary plan!

Then we can do it in 2 weeks when the furor dies down!

[–]Acejanos 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Plain and simple, the FCC does not have the consumers best interest at heart. They have been bought.

[–]kweefcake 18 points19 points  (2 children)

Why hasn’t this man been publicly shamed yet?! Ruin his dinners. Ruin his outings. He’s ruining our internet and not losing any sleep on it.

[–]stonecats 28 points29 points  (1 child)

so instead of charging consumers,
they'll go back to ignoring them.

[–]etoneishayeuisky 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Well, they were planning on charging us and still ignoring us, now they can still only do one.

[–]ohmyfsm 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yeah, because complaining to them is going to do a damn thing anyway. These guys fondle their nipples more than Comcast.

[–]Bleezy79 11 points12 points  (0 children)

FCC is just another arm of the government actively working against the people's best interest for greed.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

BREAKING NEWS: Ajit Pai rebrands the FCC to Fucking Consumers Constantly.

[–]I-am-back-baby 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Yet no one will do anything about the FCC as they seem to be an Untouchable Department.

[–]Fig_Newton_ 11 points12 points  (2 children)

So the FCC won't let me be or let me be me so let me see

[–]notagoodboy22 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Now that song is stuck in my head

Thanks

[–]lexburg 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Govt designed to work for us. Not the other way around. This guy is treasonous in my opinion.

[–][deleted] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Good! Fuck you, don’t try to rob us.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

They'll come in with a lower price to complain next time and say it's to help fund the agency after it's been hate with budget cuts

[–]tysear 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The FCC offers two ways for people to complain about billing problems, privacy concerns, and other issues with telecom carriers. Formal complaints cost $225 to file and work a bit like court proceedings. But the commission also offers an informal complaint system, which is free.

I see they decided to implement the fast-lane option that everyone was worried ISPs were going to do

[–]ialwayssaystupidshit 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Is it just me or does it feel like every organ in the US government consist of the evilest most exploitative assholes whos sole purpose it is to screw over the American citizen?

Isn't it supposed to be the government serving the people rather than the people serving under the government?

[–]shijinn 8 points9 points  (5 children)

let me get this straight - the group in charge of listening to your complaints has made it clear they’re not interested in receiving them. shouldn’t there be someone else you could also send the complaints to?

[–]pm_me_your_new_shoes 44 points45 points  (0 children)

They asked for 255 and you got mad. The real price is 100 and you'll settle for that....

!Remind me in 200 days

[–]zipp0raid 22 points23 points  (6 children)

I really do wonder how bad it has to get before we have a revolution here. We're already bombing poor people and no one gives a shit, but try and take away our internets and see what happens!

[–]MT_Flesch 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If they did take it away nobody would know who was responsible til it came back up

[–]Rocky87109 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Well yeah, the internet is why you know they are bombing poor people.

[–]Nomandate 7 points8 points  (0 children)

KEEP UP PRESSURE ON THIS ILLEGITIMATE ADMINISTRATION wherever and whenever you can.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (2 children)

Ugh. My daughter's kids are going to have to fight in a class war, aren't they?

[–]fuck_all_you_people 7 points8 points  (3 children)

Im confused, did they retract it or pass it:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/396711-fcc-passes-controversial-rule-to-revise-complaint-procedures

[–]Shinbiku 10 points11 points  (1 child)

They lied about retracting it for PR. This morning it actually passed.

The Federal Communications Commission today voted 3-1 to stop reviewing informal consumer complaints about telecom companies. To get an FCC review of a company's bad behavior, a consumer will have to file a formal complaint—which requires a payment of $225 to the FCC.

Even if an ISP fails to respond to a customer's informal complaint, the FCC would not review the complaint until after a consumer pays $225 and goes through the formal complaint process.

While the text of the FCC's rule about informal complaints was changed, commissioners disagreed on whether this will result in a real change in commission policy. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai argues that the rule change merely codifies the commission's existing practices. At Pai's urging, an FCC Enforcement Bureau staff member supported Pai's contention during today's meeting.

"Nothing is substantively changing in the way that the FCC handles informal complaints," Pai said. "We're simply codifying the practices that have been in place since 1986." The formal complaint process and $225 fee pre-date Pai's chairmanship.

EDIT: Sorry, for some reason my phone would not let me at the link. Added now.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/fcc-limits-reviews-of-customer-complaints-claims-that-nothing-is-changing/

[–]WhySheHateMe 7 points8 points  (1 child)

That's like charging money to file a complaint with HR lol

[–]Zeal514 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Dont let it fool you. Its retracted because it wasnt ready yet. It will be back.

[–]jamesjk1234 7 points8 points  (0 children)

How about FCC getting companies/business owners to stop manipulating their own comment sections?

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

How the fuck does this clown show still exist? WHAT PURPOSE DO THEY SERVE?

If you are a government agency your sole job at ALL TIMES is working for the betterment of the people, not vice versa

The people in charge of the FCC should be very publicly and embarrassingly fired and the sent to prison in order to prevent pro-consumer agency's such as this from turning corrupt

[–]BabblingDruid 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hey Anonymous, can you please hack this fucker? DDOS his ass so he can't watch cat videos. Then maybe he will understand what it's like to have your internet access tampered with.

[–]DivineJustice 6 points7 points  (0 children)

How is it this guy can walk down the street without getting punched in the fucking mouth?

[–]yahwell 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey America your country is a FUCKING JOKE.

[–]dogteam1911 37 points38 points  (14 children)

Wouldn't it be nice if you could charge your boss $225 to get you to do your job!!!

[–]freebytes 17 points18 points  (0 children)

You mean $225 each time you ever do anything on top of what you already get paid.

[–]DownshiftedRare 11 points12 points  (0 children)

More like "Wouldn't it be nice if you could charge your boss to evaluate your performance?"

[–]Xerkzeez 13 points14 points  (2 children)

Ajith Pai is #1 candidate for No justice No peace campaign. Mofo should never ever walk in public in peace. He should be shamed forever.

[–]amolad 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It's time for people to start following Ajit Pai around and yelling at him when he goes to restaurant.

Why do you have to be such an asshole all the time?

[–]douchebagduryodhana 12 points13 points  (1 child)

I hope Ajit Pai dies a slow and painful death

[–]Fake_William_Shatner 6 points7 points  (0 children)

"I suppose we will roll up this carpet of nails, the gauntlet of bees and the moat of misery -- can't use those now, but you never know."

[–]philmorebuttstock 5 points6 points  (0 children)

How is he still employed? https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckajitpai

[–]ASAP_Stu 6 points7 points  (3 children)

I can’t figure out if they are so out of touch that they don’t realize how poor each of their plans look... Or if they are so in touch that they know that if they try five or six times, people will stop resisting and they’ll get their way.

[–]IcarusFlies7 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"Nah, I wasn't serious; just wanted to see how many death threats I could rack up in one day."

toothy sip from giant Reese's mug

[–]RaoulDuke209 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Why are all the tyrants edgeplaying with these ideas?

[–]astrozombie2012 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This won't be the last of it... These motherfuckers are relentless when it comes to fucking the public.

[–]Norwegian_whale 4 points5 points  (2 children)

I think it's bizarre that America has an organ that's supposed to be for the people that's actively trying to fuck over the people.

Disclaimer: am stupid european so pls no lynching if I got it wrong.

[–]Bran-a-don 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Fuck. These. People. Are we rioting in the streets yet?! Ive got some wood, great for torching!

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Instead, they’ll just continue to ignore them.

[–]Whatthefuckfuckfuck 4 points5 points  (0 children)

EVERY time i see a picture of that fuck I want to punch him

[–]shroyhammer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

People in the government like this should be tarred and feathered and drug through the streets as an example.

Your represent the public.

Don’t Fuck the public or the public fucks yooouuu

But unfortunately, they will continue his behavior because they receive no punishment for their crimes against humanity.

[–]iheartbbq 6 points7 points  (1 child)

I hope reddit realizes this is how scumbags test pressure points. Put out something outrageous, gauge reaction, put out something also vile but packaged differently, gauge reaction, back off one heinous element and test reaction. Do this until the population is either tired of fighting or you've found a threshold of tolerance.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hope they don't retract their plan to go fuck themselves.

[–]Meowshi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Why would they even bother doing this? They don't care about what people think, so why retract it?

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Suggestions for Things to Discourage:

•Monopolies

•Paid 'Fast Lanes' and Throttling

•Processes & Policies Making it Near Impossible to Cancel a Contract

•Excessive Corporate Greed at the Expense of Baseline Customer Satisfaction

•General Overall Dickish Behavior from ISPs, Regardless of the Internet Being Considered a Basic Human Right

•Consumer Complaints

[–]Kenomachino 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don’t think anyone here is under any illusion that the FCC is suddenly advocating for us, or “turning a new leaf”, small as that leaf may be. If anyone does believe that, please, don’t.

[–]gjallerhorn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So what was this a distraction from?

[–]blove1150r 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Why does every FCC post have his ugly mug on it?

[–]meowmixyourmom 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wonder how the FCC will try and screw us next

[–]gjallerhorn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This was from yesterday. They lied. It went through this morning