I mean why in the world in 2017 are we so apathetic about something so important? We were up in arms about in 2013 and stopped SOPA then!!!

Also, I think people are so emotionally worn out by the mass distraction machine that is the Trump presidency, the over-saturation of outrage in the media, and the fact that so many democratic and political institutions are under attack that people either can't keep track of each one, feel hopeless, or have just tuned it all out for their own sanity.

The reason it's not working this time around is because you have an FCC chair whose not really interested in what the public thinks - you're not his constituents, and you're not the constituents of the people who put him in power.

Note that the constituents of Republicans are honestly mostly wealthy donors by this point - I doubt they care too much what their voters think beyond ensuring that they don't screw them over directly (e.g. via increased taxes or decreased entitlements)

This effectively drowns out the opposition. Proponents of Net Neutrality already flooded the FCC with fake comments as the guy above noted they stole his identity. What makes you think they don’t have an army of an army fake social media commenters to shape the conversation in their favor? Especially on influential tech sites like this!

Glad to hear Reddit isnt being passive!

You say we should be up in arms, but realistically, what can we do? I'm pretty sure I've literally done everything I can do given my personal and financial situation. I've read through all the comments and while potentially helpful for my situation, none actually address what can be done for Net Neutrality. So I'm just going to repeat, what can I/we even do anymore?

It would ensure who you say you are on the Internet. YOu could still comment anonymously, but what you say anonymously wouldn't hold as much weight vs. when you use your real verified identity!

it is not that people do not care; it is that they do not understand how to use force to achieve their goals. they do not understand how to contest the government's exclusive claim to rights like management of the internet, etc.

or they must show up for work and don't have the time to make physical appearances in places that create inconvenience-- fundamentally refusing to accept that their duty as citizens to contest government overreach is more important than their own personal life running smoothly.

May be a long shot but the more people know about what's actually happening then the more pressure they can put on their congress critter to do something.

Not sure how much good it would do though.

Playing by the rules is not always the best way to serve the public interest.

Nawh, they are following the power delegation given to them by congress. They dont have to do fuck all for public comments, other then recieve them, document them, and say "we got feedback but fuck yall we going forward"

That's not true. As a nonpartisan federal agency, the must show how they accounted for public comment and why the choice they made is either in line with the public comments or why it is justified to not be in line.

They have to do more than just accept the comments.

But by allowing all the fake comments, they were able to say "see everyone wants this, what we are doing is in line with the public comments".

http://www.emprata.com/reports/fcc-restoring-internet-freedo...

Or what?

There's no one enforcing rules in this administration.

They have to pass the crappy rules first so that someone who was harmed can sue them.

Congress can stop them now, and the judicial can stop them after the fact. Congress is corrupt, but thus far the judicial is not.

Still, the courts might help in this case.

Likewise, the executive branch is the one that decides to go after offenders based on profitability over public good (although you could also lay that on the legislative branch for allowing the executive to fund itself using fines in the first place).

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html