Democrats used to be sound on Internet issues. They joined in on a number of bills in the old days that helped the Internet grow to be the huge economic driver that it is today. One of those was the Internet tax moratorium, preventing a pile of taxes from being placed on Internet access.
Now Democrats are standing aside to let a big middle-class tax hike come on Internet access.
The Internet tax moratorium was never permanent. It’s needed to be renewed every few years, but until now, that’s not been much of a problem. But despite House Republicans getting the job done now with a permanent renewal, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and the Democrats are dragging their feet.
Democrats are trying to tie this issue to the unrelated issue of interstate sales taxation, and trying to pass that Big Box Overreach bill that would vastly overcomplicate the whole situation even as it shoved sales tax down the throats of non-sales tax states.
Why we can’t just ratify the Streamlined Sales Tax interstate compact, letting states opt into the Internet sales tax plan if they want, I’ll never get. Why we can’t just renew the moratorium on taxing people for basic Internet access, I’ll never get.
They’re Democrats. Who can tell what they’re thinking? People tell me there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans, but once again we see a big difference.
Kids are recording each other in the bathroom and putting those videos online. And they tell me we need Wifi in schools.
I do disagree with this cbit piece which supports a “clean” STELA bill, instead of including int he bill reforms to the way cable and satellite providers pay for access to channels. Right now local broadcasters get special monopolies, and I think it would make sense to start to deregulate that.
We’re under attack online all the time. That’s why we need CISA and NSA.
FCC can’t run a website but wants to regulate the Internet.
And yes, FCC’s plans to regulate the Internet via Net Neutrality are a bad idea.
Not only is it a bad idea, but it’s probably illegal, too.
Though Democrats want it to go even further and turn your ISP into the phone company.
I can’t believe we’re seeing Republicans sign onto the Local Radio Freedom Act, a bill that would cement in place the special permission terrestrial radio stations have to avoid paying for the music they broadcast in the same way that Internet radio has to. Completely unfair, completely anti-copyright.
The Eurocensorship of Google is being monitored.
Julian Assange still must answer to the rape charges facing him.