The FCC can now punish telecom providers for charging customers more for less::The Federal Communications Commission has passed new digital discrimination rules that hold telecom providers accountable for not providing equal internet access.
edit:2 words
Seems like a positive, good on FCC.
Seems to not be a race problem, it is more on working class vs. wealthy class problem.
Wealthier neigborhoods vs. working class neigborhoods.
Interesting news to follow, can’t wait for independent yters and the like to start commenting on this.
Seems to not be a race problem, it is more on working class vs. wealthy class problem.
Those are interlinked, though. Due to centuries of institutionalised racism and related inequities, people of color are extremely overrepresented amongst the poor. As a result, what hurts the poor in general hurts more people of color than white people.
Yes, but the racism is a smaller portion of the overall problem so labeling it as race discrimination narrows it. While it transitively is racist, labeling it as such narrows it to only a portion of the problem. It’s unlikely the execs of the companies are saying “let’s charge white people less”, they’re doing it by area and income. If that unintentionally becomes racist, going after them for racism won’t get anywhere.
If two people in neighboring communities are paying drastically differently for the same service, but they’re both the same race, there’s still a problem but it’s not racist.
We should be trying to just give all Americans equivalent internet options, regardless of race. The race part is just one piece of the overall problem and the outcome of of a different problem.
I get what you’re saying and I partially agree, but here’s how I see it:
Class struggle is race struggle and vice versa. You can’t help or hurt all poor people without helping or hurting a lot of people of color and anyone who’s paying attention knows that.
Why does that matter, you may ask? Because, while the false notion that systemic economic inequality is the fault of impoverished individuals more than the system and those in charge of it is still widely believed, holding the same notions about racial inequality is deservedly regarded as abhorrent.
The rich and powerful disproportionately abusing the working poor doesn’t inspire anywhere near as much righteous indignation as them disproportionately abusing people of color, even though the actions themselves are identical.
Regardless of intention, racist outcomes are a stronger argument for systemic change than anti-worker outcomes when it comes to countries like the US where regulatory capture and demagoguery favoring money and power over humanity IS the system.
This Democrat Majority FCC is INFRINGING on my Freedoms to pay whatever the Telecom Provider wants to charge me!
@L4s so does this mean I can no longer threaten to cancel my service and get an offer to pay 50% for 2x the speed? There might be an element of agism or elder abuse happening here too. When I check on what my parents pay for internet, they will just keep paying the marked up cost for slow service. They end up paying 2-3x more than someone who calls for new service and for a plan so slow the provider no longer offers it.
I currently pay $45/mo for 75/20 DSL over 1960s copper. 3 streets over, they’re paying $45/mo for 300/300 fiber from the same ISP. You tellin’ me the FCC can punish them for that?
I’m probably also paying 2x what a new customer is paying because I’m too lazy to switch or threaten cancellation. It’s a bait and switch as far as I’m concerned. Introductory pricing needs to go. Sign-up bonuses (that don’t lead to increased costs down the road) are fine, but none of this 12-month rate lock bullshit. You shouldn’t have to call up anyone (and literally, you can’t do a lot of this stuff except on the phone) to say please don’t charge me more.
I’m paying $115mo for whatever the cable crossing a nearby interstate can offer my small neighborhood. I’ve been told by a frustrated service worker that until Xfinity is willing to replace the lines our service will continue to fluctuate. Most of the time it’s just ok, but we have spikes of great connection or barely connected. This effects the whole neighborhood, but many are older residents who I might guess rely on the Internet less.
