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Monday, September 17, 2012

Why I Have No Cellphone Contract



I pay for time as I need it. I use T-Mobile, and I have done so for 10 years or more, and I have an old Nokia cellphone I inherited from my daughter when she Blackberry-ized upwards: her old Nokia has a screen picture of a teddy bear smiling... which I left on it, at first not knowing how to change the image, then not caring to change it.
I mean, once people see me carrying around a cellphone that is at least 12 years old, I am sure that they would expect me to have a picture of a smiley bear on it.

I do not trust the present day mindset of the communications industry, and I probably never will. I suppose this may tie in with my previous post about Steve Jobs: how a real visionary does things versus how most of the feudal minded rest of the economy is run.

Anyway, Verizon...
http://www.freepress.net/blog/2012/09/13/fcc-defends-net-neutrality-says-verizon-no-internet-editor?akid=3839.9948461.dlcU0w&rd=1&t=2
In July, Verizon teamed up with wireless carrier MetroPCS to challenge the FCC’s right to craft and enforce Net Neutrality rules. After attacking the agency’s legal authority to adopt even basic consumer protections for broadband access, these companies went on to claim that they themselves have the right to edit the Internet.
The companies are currently arguing their case in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Acknowledging that their clients “transmit the speech of … millions of individuals” every day, their lawyers claimed that “broadband providers possess editorial discretion” to feature some speakers — and block others.
That wasn’t their only breathtaking assertion. The lawyers insisted that Net Neutrality rules amount to government seizure of property that rightfully belongs to the Internet service providers. The lawyers also characterized Internet users’ communications as electronic signals that “physically invade” and “permanently occupy” ISPs’ networks...
(emphasis mine)

I remember writing about Wi-Fi and the physical invasion of one's space, and whether it was ethical to use someone else's Wi-Fi for free.

Verizon itself does physically invade my domicile with their electronic signals.
Therefore, by their own logic, they should be paying me for this usage of space.
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