In a remarkable showing of Irish bull , AT&T announced todaythat it ’s joining tomorrow ’s net disinterest dissent — a “ Day of Action ” when a collection of tech companies will throw their weight behind an effort to block Trump ’s FCC from rewrite the 2015 rules that protect net neutrality and the hereafter of the overt internet .
Major technical school firm like Amazon and Google have sign on to participate in the Day of Action , organized by non - profit Fight for the Future . Why is it so bizarre to see AT&T protesting the push back rules intended to prevent internet service providers from throttling dealings to particular websites and services ? Because , asTechdirtnotes , AT&T has spend over a ten fighting against final neutrality and bear to profit from the crash of the 2015 rules .
Here ’s AT&T ’s senior executive vice President of the United States of external and legislative affair Bob Quinn with an account of the caller ’s decisiveness to “ support ” the objection .
This may seem like an anomaly to many mass who might question why AT&T is conjoin with those who have differing viewpoints on how to ensure an open and liberal cyberspace . But that ’s on the nose the point – we all agree that an open internet is critical for ensuring exemption of expression and a free flow of idea and Commerce Department in the United States and around the world . We agree that no society should be allowed to stop content or bound the download amphetamine of subject matter in a discriminatory mode . So , we are joining this feat because it ’s coherent with AT&T ’s lofty history of championing our customer ’ right to an open cyberspace and entree to the internet content , software and devices of their choosing .
This is all , of course , quite disingenuous . The record shows that AT&T does n’t have a “ majestic history ” of supporting an open net . AT&T ’s then - CEO Ed Whitacre proudly proclaimed in 2005 that he wanted to charge net society like Google and Yahoo a toll to send data over AT&T base . “ Why should they be earmark to employ my pipes ? The Internet ca n’t be complimentary in that sense , because we and the cable companies have made an investing and for a Google or Yahoo ! or Vonage or anybody to look to apply these pipe [ for ] gratis is nuts ! ” he toldBloomberg .
More recently , AT&T has lobbied against the FCC ’s 2015 net neutrality pattern and sued to get them turn over . “ AT&T profess to care about an open cyberspace is like Dracula sudden profess a heartfelt concern for the plight of blood donors , ” Techdirt ’s Karl Bode write .
In his mail , Quinn call on Congress to ordain unexampled last neutrality rules , rather than leaving rule - making to the FCC . Ajit Pai , the FCC chairman appointed by President Trump , hasspearheaded an effortto squelch the strictnet neutrality rulesenacted by his harbinger , Tom Wheeler , under the Obama administration .
[ Techdirt;AT&T ]
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