The Sunlight Foundation recentlypublished a series of graphicsshowing lobbyist spending from companies that support and oppose net neutrality . From 2003 to 2013 , anti - net neutrality groups issued nearly three times as many lobbying reports mention last neutrality as those that fend for it , like AOL , Google , and Microsoft . Verizon and AT&T alone each issued 119 account , while Google issued less than 25 . None of this is surprising , though , because big telecom companieswere spending millions on lobbyingbefore companies like Google even hire lobbyists .
It ’s unmanageable to boil this all down into a dollar amount , though . While the Sunlight Foundation breaks out these companies ’ full spending on lobbying to reveal that anti - net disinterest groups out spend pro - net neutrality grouping by a five - to - one ratio , that graph fails to discern that all of these companies rent lobbyists to do more than fight for or against net neutrality . The sharp increase in total spending from anti - net neutrality groups is , nevertheless , undeniable .
This is only the beginning . Now that the FCChas force forward with a frightful set of proposed net neutrality rulesthat would allow net fast lane for those who paid for them , we ’re going to hear more and more about how the war for a free and open up the net hinge upon a battle over net margins . Companies like Verizon and AT&T stand to make more money if the FCC plough its proposed rules into policy , while startup that ca n’t even afford lobbyists in the first blank space stick out to lose out .
But hey , why would n’t the FCC bend to adult telecom interests ? After all , high - paying jobs with big telecommunication companiesare a pop destination for extroverted commissioner . FCC chairman Tom Wheeler himself is a former big telecom lobbyist . The elected official on Capitol Hill ca n’t be buy and sell so like a shot ( we hope ) so it ’s only innate that big telecom would shovel tenner of million of lobbyist clam in their direction . Wemust just look like a clump of idiotsfor countenance them . [ Sunlight Foundation ]
https://gizmodo.com/the-fcc-thinks-were-all-idiots-1577638316
epitome viaShutterstock
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