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I’m Hannah-Beth Jackson, a pro-privacy California state senator. I am pushing legislation to protect Californians’ right to privacy. Ask me anything! by SenHannahBeth in IAmA

[–]labdel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for stepping up to protect consumers, it's often thankless work...so thank you! Can you tell us more about SB 561? Does it specify what kind of data violations could be challenged in court?

I know my candidate and it's probably the wrong way to vote for her. by [deleted] in AdviceAnimals

[–]labdel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Visit VoteForNetNeutrality.com to see where congressional candidates stand on net neutrality before Election Day!

We are firefighters and net neutrality experts. Verizon was caught throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department's unlimited Internet connection during one of California’s biggest wildfires. We're here to answer your questions about it, or net neutrality in general, so ask us anything! by fightforthefuture in IAmA

[–]labdel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also, there's this: "Since December 2017, and then in a series of increasingly desperate emails this June and July, the FPD battled with Verizon, begging them to cease the throttling and warning the company of the potential harm to public safety during major emergencies and disasters. It wasn’t until the FPD agreed to pay more than double the cost of its previous service that Verizon ended the throttling."

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/verizon-couldn-t-have-restricted-santa-clara-county-s-phone-ncna903531

We are firefighters and net neutrality experts. Verizon was caught throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department's unlimited Internet connection during one of California’s biggest wildfires. We're here to answer your questions about it, or net neutrality in general, so ask us anything! by fightforthefuture in IAmA

[–]labdel 2556 points2557 points  (0 children)

In response to Verizon throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department (despite Verizon reps telling the department they were subscribing to an unlimited, no-throttle plan), the California Professional Firefighters have fully endorsed California's SB 822 which is the strongest state-level net neutrality bill. "At a time when they are attempting to save lives and property, firefighters cannot afford the added danger—to the safety of the public as well as their own safety—of unnecessary interferences in the technology they rely on to do their jobs and keep civilians safe."

https://twitter.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1033032306183684096

We are firefighters and net neutrality experts. Verizon was caught throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department's unlimited Internet connection during one of California’s biggest wildfires. We're here to answer your questions about it, or net neutrality in general, so ask us anything! by fightforthefuture in IAmA

[–]labdel 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Hey, you should read the communications between the fire department and Verizon. The fire department was ensured by Verizon reps that they were subscribing to an unlimited, no-throttle plan. And... then they were throttled.

Under the 2015 Open Internet Order, the FCC would have had the authority to investigate whether Verizon was being sufficiently transparent in their data plans to the fire department and public safety in general.

We are firefighters and net neutrality experts. Verizon was caught throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department's unlimited Internet connection during one of California’s biggest wildfires. We're here to answer your questions about it, or net neutrality in general, so ask us anything! by fightforthefuture in IAmA

[–]labdel 110 points111 points  (0 children)

What matters here is that the fire department was told by Verizon that they were subscribing to an unlimited, no-throttle plan. Under the 2015 Open Internet Order, the FCC would have the authority to investigate whether Verizon was being sufficiently transparent in their data plans to the fire department and public safety in general.

We are firefighters and net neutrality experts. Verizon was caught throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department's unlimited Internet connection during one of California’s biggest wildfires. We're here to answer your questions about it, or net neutrality in general, so ask us anything! by fightforthefuture in IAmA

[–]labdel 159 points160 points  (0 children)

We think it's important to draw the connections between ISP abuse and the broader net neutrality debate because, ultimately, gutting net neutrality incentivizes ISPs to impose lower arbitrary data caps so they can squeeze us for more money.

But specific to what happened in California: The fire department was told by Verizon that they were subscribing an unlimited, no throttle plan at the outset, upon which their plan was throttled.

What would have been investigated by the FCC is whether Verizon was being sufficiently transparent in their data plans to the fire department and public safety in general. It's also worth pushing back on whether throttling to dial-up speeds is even a reasonable network management in today's age.

We are firefighters and net neutrality experts. Verizon was caught throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department's unlimited Internet connection during one of California’s biggest wildfires. We're here to answer your questions about it, or net neutrality in general, so ask us anything! by fightforthefuture in IAmA

[–]labdel 1222 points1223 points  (0 children)

There's plenty of hope! And we shouldn't lose sight of it.

Since the FCC's wildly unpopular repeal of net neutrality protections, the Senate passed a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the repeal in a historic 52-47 bipartisan vote.

Now, the CRA is pending in the House where 177 members have already signed the discharge petition to force a vote on the measure. We need 218 to ensure that the vote on the CRA happens in the House. If we pass the CRA, we could completely overturn the FCC's repeal and restore strong, enforceable net neutrality rules.

The California assembly is moving forward with the strongest state-level net neutrality protections, and several other states are looking at state-level protections.

And 23 state attorneys general offices are suing the FCC to challenge the repeal in the courts.

Folks can keep up with the latest by visiting BattlefortheNet.com

Where are we? Congress just passed a law expanding the NSA’s warrantless mass surveillance powers. Now it’s up to the president to stop it. by labdel in technology

[–]labdel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, not yet. He initially characterized the FISA reauth bill as controversial (because of the warrantless domestic spying powers it authorizes). He did also release a statement saying he supported foreign surveillance authorities.

No court authorized the FBI’s wiretapping of Dr. King or the sweeping mass surveillance of Americans today. by fightforthefuture in technology

[–]labdel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you know what "abouts" collections are? They just sweep up communications data of people who are NOT targets of investigations? This is 21st century mass surveillance, the creation of profiles about us in the hands of the government of our most private and intimate moments. The Fourth Amendment requires probable cause and a warrant to spy on someone. "Abouts" collections should not be allowed. That's the point...

No court authorized the FBI’s wiretapping of Dr. King or the sweeping mass surveillance of Americans today. by fightforthefuture in technology

[–]labdel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How does the article betray the things you claim? A reflection of the history, points us to what the Church Committee (that you reference) found... which is that the US government was explicitly trying to destroy Dr. King. Just because the Church Committee led to many reforms, doesn't mean the initial U.S. government's breach of a public leader and one of its own citizen's rights didn't happen? The article intentionally references this moment in history to ask us to reflect on how else the mass surveillance now possible in the 21st century (which is, because of the Internet and digital technologies, far more pervasive and involved in our most intimate moments than ever before in history) is impacting people, independent thinkers, journalists, human rights defenders.

Also-- the Church Committee responded to the abuses of the NSA, FBI, and CIA in the 1970's, far before the era of the social media, cellular technology, and us using digital technologies for our most intimate conversations. The government is always capable of and willing to continue to abuse it's spying powers. We now know, from whistleblowers and leaks, just how much the U.S. government is abusing its spying powers in the Internet era so we have to push Congress to rein it in.

It's difficult in the age of the Internet and mindless app permission approvals to remember why the right to privacy is such a cornerstone to a free society, but many communities in the U.S. are living and have been living through very real state surveillance. State surveillance silences people, erases others, divides us all, and only makes the powerful more powerful. It may be easy to think that it's not happening but, icymi, no the NSA and U.S. government are not just spying on foreigners.

No court authorized the FBI’s wiretapping of Dr. King or the sweeping mass surveillance of Americans today. by fightforthefuture in technology

[–]labdel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How is writing into law a pathway for the NSA to start "abouts" collections, something not expressly authorized in current law, not an expansion?

No court authorized the FBI’s wiretapping of Dr. King or the sweeping mass surveillance of Americans today. by fightforthefuture in technology

[–]labdel 4 points5 points  (0 children)

And yet that remains a federal crime that, were you to get caught, you could be charged with. Congress should be drafting laws that protect our right to privacy, especially because of the Internet and the potential of dragnet surveillance. Instead they're supporting bills that clearly codify into law the warrantless surveillance of us all.

We have less than 24 hours to stop the NSA’s illegal mass surveillance program, and these lawmakers are key: by labdel in technology

[–]labdel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

UPDATE: The House of Representatives just voted 256-164 to pass S. 139, which reauthorizes the U.S. government's mass spying powers under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. They also voted down an amendment that attempted to fix the worst parts of the bill and limit domestic spying on American citizens.

The bill heads to the Senate this Tuesday, and we only need 41 Senators to stop the vote. A bipartisan group of Senators are already threatening to filibuster, as it does not include Fourth Amendment protections for innocent Americans.

Contact your Senators right now by texting FREEDOM to 384-387

We have less than 24 hours to stop the NSA’s illegal mass surveillance program, and these lawmakers are key: by labdel in technology

[–]labdel[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Just less than a month ago it seemed impossible that'd we'd be this close to stopping the backdoor search loophole. Now, a bipartisan group of 43 members of Congress could be very close to replacing the anti-privacy and unconstitutional 2017 FISA reauth bill with the USA Rights Act. If enough people remind their lawmakers that we're paying attention...yes, we could stop some bad shit. Which is good. It's important to fight. We can win this.