Save the Kittens — Save the Internet

Will the end of net neutrality be the end of Cutetropolis?

Wye yoo kills net noo-tral-i-tee? Wye?

The Federal Communications Commission plans to end “net neutrality” rules for the Internet in the USA. Net neutrality requires data carriers to treat all traffic at the same speed, but providers who want to divide the ‘Net into “fast lanes” and “slow lanes” are poised to get an early holiday present from the FCC.

This could be bad news for Cutetropolis and thousands of websites just like it. You pay your Internet provider for access to Cutetropolis, but soon your provider could choose to slow down Cutetropolis — even block it completely — unless I pay them too. I can’t afford to do that, so your Cutetropolis experience may be different in the future.

Providers could take advantage of the lack of regulations to cut the Internet into “packages” like cable TV. Internet users have raised their voices before, and it’s time to raise them again to keep the Internet just the way it is. Call the FCC at (202) 418-2000 or write to Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov to express your concerns. Thank you.

(Photo: Cat on laptop, by dougwoods, licensed under CC BY 2.0)

(This post has been updated to remove references to MEO, a mobile service provider in Portugal. Thanks to reader Mariana for clarifying.)

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48 thoughts on “Save the Kittens — Save the Internet

  1. debg November 21, 2017 / 2:29 pm

    Mike, thanks for providing ways to speak out. I wouldn’t be able to survive a day without Cutetropolis and my fellow Cutetropolitans.

  2. Blue Footed Booby November 21, 2017 / 2:43 pm

    This isn’t the proper venue for a huge political rant, so I’m just going to say I dislike Ajit Pai a whole lot.

    • debg November 21, 2017 / 4:57 pm

      Oh, please, rant away.

      • Blue Footed Booby November 21, 2017 / 6:47 pm

        https://gizmodo.com/everything-ajit-pai-has-fucked-up-in-the-last-three-mon-1794499353 Note the date on the article. Pai has not stopped doing horrible things; this is just a good, concise series of examples.

        The man is a simpering, nihilistic snake who will tell any lie, slander any cause, and sell any soul–his or anyone else’s–if it’ll bring in gold for Mammon’s throne. Any policy he proposes or kills, ask yourself who profits, and you will *always* find some big tech company that’s up to something both evil and stupid.

        He’s nowhere near the most destructive person in this godforsaken raft of morons currently frittering away decades of policy, diplomacy, investment, and the hegemony they bought, but he’s easily the most galling. All Pai has to do is get in bed with different devils. There’s a legion of tech companies that would sell their collective first born for the opportunity to make him richer than Crassus, but he’s backed the ones hell-bent on defeating the point of the internet and driving Silicon Valley overseas. He’s looking to not just kill the goose that laid the golden egg, but do things that’ll not only launch a thousand episodes of Law and Order: SVU, but inspire an HBO only spin-off.

        • Blue Footed Booby November 21, 2017 / 6:48 pm

          Dear Mr. Pai,
          Hate. Let me tell you how much I’ve come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word ‘hate’ was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate.

        • Dubravkamcvmd November 21, 2017 / 7:47 pm

          I have a theory that our current worldwide descent into catastrophe and horror is a matter of math, statistics, probability. There are now 7.6 billion people on the planet. A certain percentage of people are moronic thugs. Whatever that percentage is of 7.6 billion people is a lot of moronic thugs. Ergo, we’ve reached a tipping point.

          • L November 22, 2017 / 4:50 pm

            Ah, so that’s what’s going on. I knew there had to be some explanation.

    • Luv Bunny November 21, 2017 / 6:41 pm

      Me too, and me three, four………??????

    • Mal November 21, 2017 / 7:59 pm

      By all means rant. There’s really no plus side to killing net neutrality, unless you happen to be a soulless behemoth corporation hellbent on monetizing every aspect of human experience. (I’m guessing there are only a few of those following Cutetropolis.)

      Mike, I appreciate that once in a while, you’re willing to step away from the careful (and welcoming) non-ranty space of Cutetropolis, when a topic affects its existence.

  3. Marianne November 21, 2017 / 2:52 pm

    Grrrr. I assumed we–the American public–had made our wishes known the Last Time This Came Up!!
    GRRR!
    Thanks for the information and the web address.

    • kodalai November 21, 2017 / 3:50 pm

      I think that we should institute a rule that every time someone wants to re-introduce a bill that has been shouted down by widespread popular opposition, they should either have to wait a year, or pay an increasing magnitude of fines.

      • debg November 21, 2017 / 4:57 pm

        Yes. That’s a great idea!

      • 6rabbits November 21, 2017 / 6:13 pm

        Oooooooo, ? great idea!?

  4. LunaChickFringe November 21, 2017 / 3:00 pm

    This is the only time I voted “down” to show my anger about this. Trying to get the average Joe to pay attention to this is like spitting into a hurricane! It makes me so mad! They’ll pay attention after it’s too late.

    • Mal November 21, 2017 / 8:03 pm

      We are all distracted by all the stories of ill-behaved howler monkeys who can’t resist picking nits off parakeets in the workplace without asking first. What a zoo.

  5. Nancy November 21, 2017 / 3:47 pm

    Tried to call the phone number you posted, received a message that that number had been disconnected….

  6. Gigi the cat lady November 21, 2017 / 3:48 pm

    Net nutrality is protected in Canada but I wonder if the US end net neutrality if it will affect us Canadians when we surf American website like Cutetropolis.

    • Not That Mike The Other Mike November 21, 2017 / 3:55 pm

      Probably not. The issue revolves around Internet providers who are the “last mile” — the provider closest to end users like you. These providers have the technical ability to throttle any traffic they want. In the past, all providers refrained from using this ability, but now they see additional profit opportunities in using it. That’s why Americans need protections like the ones you have now.

      • Duckie ? November 21, 2017 / 4:30 pm

        Mike, would it help if we Canadians said something? Or could that make it worse?

        • debg November 21, 2017 / 4:58 pm

          Duckie, can I just come and live with you?

          • Duckie ? November 21, 2017 / 8:46 pm

            Sure.

      • Blue Footed Booby November 21, 2017 / 6:59 pm

        Call me crazy, but it seems to me that the ability of American ISPs to interfere with companies’ revenue stream in the US is fundamentally the ability to mess with companies anywhere in the world, as long as they care about access to the US market.

        • Not That Mike The Other Mike November 21, 2017 / 7:55 pm

          I agree with that, but I think the question was whether a user in Canada would see their incoming traffic throttled, and I assume Canadian ISPs aren’t allowed to do that.

          • Blue Footed Booby November 21, 2017 / 9:06 pm

            The problem is that content providers have ISPs too. It doesn’t matter if the end user in Canada is throttled if the server is in the US. I’m not a network person and I may be misunderstanding something.

            • Not That Mike The Other Mike November 21, 2017 / 9:18 pm

              You’re correct about content providers; for example, I have to pay a company to host this website so people can read it. But my host would never dare slow down my outgoing or incoming traffic, because it’s too easy for me to find a new host if I’m dissatisfied.

              And this brings up a key issue: Most Americans have only one choice of broadband provider in their homes. This near monopoly gives providers the power to do as they like, aware that consumers can’t take their business elsewhere.

  7. Emsthemonster November 21, 2017 / 4:42 pm

    I am completely shocked. 🙁 I am a naive idealist : principles > money ( guess who didn’t make a fortune)
    I love Cutetropolis and kittens so I hope there will be some solution/workaround or simply enough protest against passing it.

  8. Elaine Williamson November 21, 2017 / 5:27 pm

    Even ISPs like AT&T are against the change. After all, they do not want angry customers, especially ones who might leave.

  9. murkle46 November 21, 2017 / 6:16 pm

    This is blatant ignoring of the responsibility of acting in the peoples interests to serve corporate interests instead.
    Ever since the seventies this is the course government has gone.

  10. JenDeyan November 21, 2017 / 8:22 pm

    I’m happy to see so much support for this issue here. I’ll be using the links on Battle for the Net to call my congressman. Cutetropolis is a haven for me and accessing it is important to me. Some business shouldn’t be able to decided for me what access is important.

  11. allein ? November 21, 2017 / 9:11 pm

    I’ll admit I never followed politics all that closely until the last year or so, but I am just so fucking tired. ?

    • dubravkamcvmd November 21, 2017 / 9:22 pm

      David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, wrote earlier this year that a great thing about living in a stable democracy is that you don’t have to pay attention to the government all the time. You go about your business and the government goes about its business, holding hearings, legislating, etc. Sometimes you do pay attention because of good or bad things, but mostly not. Now, unfortunately, it’s something bad and/or worrisome every day. You can’t look away.

      • allein ? November 21, 2017 / 9:47 pm

        It’s just so much I don’t know what I should truly be worried about and what is just…stuff.

      • JenDeyan November 21, 2017 / 10:57 pm

        Years ago, a friend of mine from Sweden noticed all the headlines about politicians we have and she told me. “Our politician are boring but they get the job done.” And I thought, “That’s what we need in the US. Boring politicians.”

        Unfortunately the politicians in both our countries have gotten more interesting since then.

  12. tara November 21, 2017 / 10:06 pm

    Thank you for posting this Mike. It is the first time I actually understand what is at stake here. “Net Neutrality” sounds good, no? It’s all neutral, right? But no it’s not neutral at all is it. Thank you for explaining in terms that this complete luddite finally got it.

    Now… where is my checkbook… gotta hit that tip jar. I don’t think I can make another year of this political climate without the wonderful Cutetropolis and all of it’s kind citizens. I don’t comment all the time… but certainly enjoy everyone else’s thoughts and comments. I check in at least a dozen time a day. Uh OK, probably more.

    Next – To Do List:
    call that number to assert my opposition
    call my senators to voice my opposition
    figure out how else I can assert my opposition.

    • tara November 21, 2017 / 10:30 pm

      Ha! Did a little more research… “Net Neutrality” is what we’re trying to KEEP! Not what the Slime Balls are calling it to trick us into being okay with it… okay. In my defense I clearly stated I was a luddite.

      • debg November 22, 2017 / 10:24 am

        Tara, it’s especially irritating because Pai put the word “freedom” in the name of his rules GUTTING net neutrality. Seriously.

        • allein ? November 22, 2017 / 10:26 am

          Freedom for the big companies who might profit from it.

  13. Mariana November 22, 2017 / 4:10 am

    I should mention, as a portuguese, that the article in the link misrepresents the situation in Portugal. the packages that are mentioned relate to mobile data usage. MEO (mobile service provider) is simply making it possible to use/choose your prefered apps apps and that usage won’t eat in to the 10Gb’s (or other package) you have each month for mobile internet. There is no restricion to any site. It may, in the long run twart competiton and make it more difficult for startups, I suppose but Portugal and ideed the EU have rules for net neutrality and against monopolies in place.

    • Gigi the cat lady November 22, 2017 / 8:41 am

      Thank you for the clarification.

    • Not That Mike The Other Mike November 22, 2017 / 11:38 am

      Thank you for telling us about that. I’ve updated the article to avoid spreading misinformation.

Comments are closed.