Three ISPs Have Spent $572 Million to Kill Net Neutrality Since 2008
by Karl Bode
Tuesday Jul 11 2017 17:35 EDT
A study by Maplight indicates that for every one comment submitted to the FCC on net neutrality (and there have been roughly 5 million so far), the telecom industry has spent $100 in lobbying to crush the open internet. The group found that Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) have spent $572 million on attempts to influence the FCC and other government agencies since 2008.
And, with a former Verizon lawyer leading the FCC's assault on popular net neutrality protections, it's obvious these efforts have clearly paid off after a rocky start.
"The FCC’s decision, slated to be announced later this summer, will be a clear indicator of the power of corporate cash in a Trump administration," notes the report. "Public sentiment is on the side of keeping the Obama administration’s net neutrality policies, which prevented internet companies from blocking, slowing or giving priority to different websites."
Congressional lobbying forms indicate that Comcast alone has spent nearly $4 million on lobbying Congress on net neutrality issues from the end of 2014 through the first quarter of 2017. Comcast was, of course, an early player in the conversation after it was caught repeatedly lying about throttling all upstream BitTorrent connections back in 2008.
more
https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/3-ISPs-Have-Spent-572-Million-to-Kill-Net-Neutrality-Since-2008-139931
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