Enrolling ISP's into the Service of Big Brother

Here's an issue you will never find on a South Park episode. The latest political controversy to grab my attention is a move by Lamar Smith (R-Tx) to require ISP's to keep two years' worth of logs on their customers. I don't like that one bit, because I don't trust the government nor the big corporations not to spy on us. They will find one excuse or another, but they will mine that data looking for wrong-doing of some kind. This legislation is getting closer to a future where it will be easy to profile people based upon what web sites they visit in order to detect people's political sympathies. We are getting closer and closer to George Orwell's Big Brother state, and the Republicans seem to be the ones dragging us to that deplorable destiny.

This latest legislation will greatly enhance the capability of the corporations to file lawsuits against folks that get involved in any kind of file-sharing. Such lawsuits cost families up to ten thousand dollars a pop, often because the children were trading pop songs on P2P networks without knowing that their actions were being monitored.

Serves 'em right, you say? Then you must be a Republican, because Republicans believe quite strongly in punishing "wrong-doers." The urge to punish other people is strong in the Ape family, and all of us are subject to it to an extent. The wrong-doers in this case, the illegal file-sharers, are overwhelmingly poor and middle-class, and they mostly can't afford to hire fancy lawyers to bail their butts out of the fire. The rich can hire fancy lobbyists and lawyers to get bail-outs from the federal government whenever they make a mistake.

Republicans want strict rules for the lower classes, but meanwhile the rich get away with every sort of atrocity under the Sun, stealing billions of dollars from investors and even hitting the government up for bail-outs. Why is it that the lower classes are the ones that get tough love, and the rich get all the rewards and none of the punishments?

I would like to see the government take action on internet concerns, but I think Lamar Smith picked the wrong one. There are many more pressing concerns that are not being addressed by politicians like Lamar Smith, because Republicans like him do not represent people like me. Instead, they represent the rich. I think this is pretty obvious.

Here is a list of issues that Lamar Smith should be working on, if he were really all about serving the country instead of his wealthy friends:

1. The government should examine the recent decision among many ISP's to curtail support for Usenet. If an ISP drops support for Usenet without warning in mid-contract, it should be required to refund 50% of the bill. Corollary to this: if an ISP throttles the bandwidth of a customer for any reason, it should be required to lower the bill according to the percentage that the bandwidth was decreased. These ISP's are using public land to deliver their services, and they are taking advantage of research and development that was funded by the U.S. taxpayer. Much of the Internet was pioneered by government agencies, not by the corporations that profit from the Internet today.

2. Many of us would like to see more competition among ISP's. What we face today is a virtual monopoly in many areas, where ISP's act arbitrarily with little regard for the customer. In areas where there is only one ISP offering broadband, the government should step in and offer broadband service for a reasonable fee.

3. Rural customers should be guaranteed broadband internet access by the telephone and/or cable companies. Most people I know (including many conservative Republicans) who live out in the country have to pay a bundle for satellite broadband, which is inferior in every way to DSL or cable. Most of them resort to using telephone dial-up. Imagine that, in 2009! Broadband internet should, by this day and age, have been extended to every family in the United States. I believe broadband internet is far more useful, informative, and educational than television.

4. All the ISP cares about is milking the cash cows of existing technology. They want to postpone any investment in new technology. Whatever happened to fiber optic broadband? Why are most of us stuck with the slower speeds of DSL and cable? Why are ISP's allowed to charge more for the higher speeds? They should offer the maximum available speed to every customer, and they should quit dragging their feet on fiber optic technology. The U.S. government gives them a virtual monopoly in most areas and does not impose nearly enough oversight and regulation to ensure they don't rip their customers off.

To me the solution is simple: vote for Democrats in every election where there is a choice. I wish it could be said that Democrats always try to protect the lower classes, but that is not the case either. It's just that over the long run, the Democrats have a better track record, in general, and they at least speak a good piece. Although I don't always agree with Democrats, there's no doubt in my mind that the country was better off financially and in every conceivable way under Democratic economic policies and oversight. Democrats are more likely to take the long view and think about the health and welfare of the people. Republicans just think about their cronies and to hell with everyone else. What we need in Congress is more liberals--people that want to improve the world--not people whose only mission is to help the rich get richer.