The Internet is cool because it’s open to all. But cable companies and telecoms want to change that by ending net neutrality, the practice of handling all data at equal speeds. Without net neutrality, your provider could charge more for fast access to your favorite websites, or charge sites like Cutetropolis for premium access to you.
That’s not fair, and it would end the very openness that made the Internet what it is today. That’s why Cutetropolis is joining a day of action to protect the ‘net. Learn more at BattleForTheNet.com and tell your friends and representatives.
Otherwise, meet our new mascot: Buffery, the slow-loading content cat.
Via Tumblr.
This is oddly mesmerizing.
What!? I am disgusted, but not totally surprised, by this grab for profit. Isn’t that what America has become–Land of Profit over People??
My favorite is when local governments realize ISPs are gouging customers, and start looking into providing municipal internet service. This inevitably ends with ISPs lobbying state government (usually successfully) to ban local governments from becoming ISPs. It’s just so nakedly cynical and vampiric it becomes self-satire, like a senator filibustering his own bill (this actually happened).
Re: the post, nothing like an animal that can amuse itself. 😀
FYI…That senator would be Mitch McConnell, who proposed a bill to raise the debt ceiling (to avoid gov’t shutdown) and filibustered it when the democrats were ready to take him up on it.? He’s also voted to raise his own salary 6 times while voting against increases in minimum wage. Among many other hypocritical things…
Ol’ Turtle Face is definitely what in polite society would be politely referred to by the initials POS.
Hey now, I think turtles would resent that comparison!
I’m guessing POS does not stand for Point of Service. (jk; IKWYM)
Pawn Of Satan??
(J/k)
@6rabbits
Oh I know McConnel was the filibusterbator (and also the “not a factual statement” guy) I was just being oblique to avoid seeming too partisan.
Slightly OT…earlier this month when You-know-who’s ‘Voter Fraud Committee’ sent notices to all 50 states, demanding HUGE amounts of citizens’ personal info, I was heartened to see that at least 44 states refused to comply.
And it wasn’t along partisan lines either – it was both Dems and Repubs. I think it was the Attorney General of Mississippi who told them, in writing, to “jump in the Gulf of Mexico.”
We’ve been so divided that it made me super proud and happy to know that both sides can (generally, more-or-less) agree on something. Yay! (waving teeny flag).
?
HILL—AIR—EEEEEE—O–U–S ! ! ! !
Nobody is talking about stopping net neutrality in Canada so I’ll just keep looking at the new mascot and the ball going around and around and around ….
I wish America was more like Canada in many ways…*sigh*
You’re not the only one… *double sigh*
Ayup.
Gigi, can you sponsor me for Canadian citizenship? Only half-kidding.
Gigi is not the only Canadian here…
The spinning ball of doom has never been so cute!
OMG, my cat is doing the same thing at this moment, with the same toy!!! I guess she’s not the only lazybutt cat around… 😀
Oooo some kind of quantum singularity razzmatazz stuff going on I’ll betcha!
Gilbert does it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ8ANhFmUtw
However my fave is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O7ByRnvgzA
WE LOVE THAT TOY. Mind you, our newer cat (Rosie: she’s the one who was posted her jumping on to the window sill after much noise) doesn’t see the allure at all.
Makes me happy to look at the Gillie videos today actually: he has been quite ill (but is hopefully on the mend).
I went to the link Mike provided and sent a letter to the FCC and Congress. It’s super easy to do, everybody!
Easy peasy.
I did it earlier, since I got a letter from one of my senators about it first thing this morning. One of the advantages of living where I do is knowing that my Senators and Congressional Rep are on the side of the angels (meaning that I can support almost all of their decisions without worry). When I moved, I actually made sure that my new home would still be in my Rep’s district.
At the link Mike provided not only can you send a letter but they make it very easy to call (and leave a message of course!) the appropriate reps and senators for your zip code. Actually left a personal message for dear Paul Ryan!
I am afraid I would have trouble leaving a civil message for dear Paul Ryan but good for you!
I hope this kitty’s hoomin gave him a snuggle after they recorded this.
Yes me too. Aww poor puss looks so woebegone…
Hey I remember computer punch cards. I’m of the opinion that, with all its flaws, the Internet is one of the best things for humans since the invention of fire, the wheel, metal and printing etc. The ability of individuals being able to communicate on a global scale is going to determine if we and all other species let alone the planet survives. All content should be treated equally.
Kitty is gonna need a reboot or refresh or reformatting or reproachment or retooling or some such.
Faye, yes to all of your comment!
My husband had an ARPAnet email address, back before there WAS an internet. I’ve been online since 1990. In that time, the entire way I access information, and the amount of knowledge I’ve been able to gain, has grown exponentially! For my work, where I used to spend hours searching through medical or Latin dictionaries or calling research librarians or anywhere else I might get the terms I needed (once I called a feed store to try to get the name of a breed of cattle I’d never heard of — and they were very helpful, fortunately), now I just search online and voilà, I find out within moments.
Kids from poor societies or areas, given internet access, help change the world for the better. We all benefit by talking to people from around the world. Look how many different countries are represented just amongst the Cutropolitans, for example!
Open and equal access to knowledge is the future of the Earth. Limiting knowledge is the tool of dictators and totalitarians. I am 100% in favor of net neutrality, and have written my support to the FCC and Congress. And I’ll keep doing it as often as I need to. Heck, if I have to do in on paper and mail it, I’ll do it that way if it helps them to listen!
In any case, it won’t work in the U.S. We’re too used to having access; people will just find ways around any limitations imposed by giant corporations. We don’t respond well to being restricted in many ways. Look at what happened during Prohibition! Unequal net access will produce the same thing! They may impose it, for a time, but it will neer work….
I sure hope you’re right about it not working. Because I couldn’t agree with you more about the importance of net neutrality.
Ditto!
Yeah, I suspect this will end with a proliferation of affordable and easy to use VPN services, which I’m sure will give the alphabet soup agencies some institutional gray hairs.
This is why catnip should be a controlled substance.
I went check on my friend’s cat yesterday and found a little baggie of ‘nip on the kitchen floor. So I sent him a picture and suggested an intervention. He said it was in the cabinet. I don’t know which cabinet or how she got in it. But I guess you do what you gotta do.
Here’s how I first found out about today’s protest:
Another meme from https://www.battleforthenet.com/july12/ :
Very informative!
Mike, I just want to say a big THANK YOU for bringing this to my attention today. I feel strongly about net neutrality, but had No Idea today was a day of official protest, and due to your heads up I could participate. ? Dankë?Mercí?Gracias? ?
I did my part by sending a letter but I couldn’t do the call portion because I was at work at the time. It’s heartening to see my fellow Cutetropolitans participating as well.