White House on Protecting Freedom of Speech!
Recently, White House CTO Andrew McLaughlin has issued remarks on the fact that many ISPs such as AT&T and Comcast are threatening freedom of speech on the internet and they are going to set some new rules to protect the internet citizens.
The telecom giant responded forcefully this week to remarks by White House deputy chief technology officer Andrew McLaughlin, who said that free speech and network neutrality are “intrinsically linked.” Net neutrality rules are being crafted by federal regulators that would restrict Internet service providers such as AT&T from blocking or prioritizing content on the Web.
Plus, Andrew McLaughlin compares the ISPs to China, where a lot of content are simply banned from the citizens.
“If it bothers you that the China government does it, it should bother you when your cable company does it,” McLaughlin said at the policy conference. The administration has made net neutrality a cornerstone of its technology agenda.
I have to agree that part of the reason why our current internet speeds are about decade behind the rest of the world is that ISPs are making enough money being lazy and not making technological advances. (plus the fact that they have a tight control over the internet)
I hope these new rules make the ISP market more competitive and not monopolized by a few ISPs and flourish the market so my internet can be faster.
AT&T’s Jim Cicconi responds in anger that they shouldn’t be compared to China’s censorship but then again, where are our super high-speed internet speeds? Monopoly has clearly detered the ISPs from providing faster internet and lower rates for consumers. For them, there’s no reason to improve things faster when they are already making a ton of money sitting on their arses. Mind you, I am fair though, if our internet was a little bit faster, perhaps rank at least in Top 3 in the world, I wouldn’t complain.
Those comments did not sit well with AT&T’s chief lobbyist, Jim Cicconi, who issued an angry response. He said it was “ill-considered and inflammatory” to connect censorship in China to the practices of American ISPs, whom he said do not threaten free speech.
The issue here is censorship but I highly believe it’s also tied closely with our slow internet speeds here in the U.S. It is highly disturing when one of the largest ISPs speak out against correcting their past mistakes, nevermind doing nothing about it.
And with that, GO WHITE HOUSE!
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