Archives and past articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly. FCC Chair Ajit Pai Cant Come Up With a Single Plausible Reason Not to Screw Up the Entire US Internet. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, ISP endorsed frontman and villain of a theoretical future Revenge of the Nerds reboot, is trying to dupe everyone into believing abandoning open internet principles is inevitable because no opponents have any convincing arguments. At an FCC oversight hearing with the House Commerce Committee this week, Democratic Rep. Michael Doyle challenged Pai to present any sort of willingness to consider the evidence offered by net neutrality supporters, Ars Technica reported. What kind of comment would cause you to change your mind Doyle asked. Pai offered the mind blowing response that he would need to see economic analysis that shows credibly that theres infrastructure investment that has increased dramatically since the enactment of Barack Obama era neutrality rules, or any evidence showing a future economy or consumers experience would be worse without the regulations. Its an insidious response that gets more insidious the further its probed. Network neutrality is the simple principle that common carriers ISPs must treat all traffic on their networks on an equitable basis, whether its newspapers, porn, or a competitors video platform. It does not require anyone to build new infrastructurethough because traffic discrimination is not allowed, these rules of the game force ISPs to act like utilities and upgrade their networks to deal with higher traffic, or they will simply get slower and slower. The idea that because US ISPs have chosen to continue offering subpar services at some of the most expensive rates in the world disproves the principle and thus they should be allowed to set up a tiered system is essentially endorsing a race to the bottom. But its even worse than that. As Techdirt noted earlier this year, ISPs are notorious for taking billions of dollars in government contracts to expand service and then finding various contractual loopholes to pocket as much of the funds as possible. Pais answer simply rewards this behavior, and frankly incentivizes them to present their own subpar services as evidence of the need for further deregulation. A recent report by Free Press also found publicly traded ISPs do not seem to think open network principles are a threat to investment in new infrastructure, according to their own statements to investors. Felix The Cat Saves Christmas Theater Movie on this page. Free Press also disputes Pais account, saying their numbers show investment has increased. As for the implication no one has done convincing research on open network principles and their impact on the economy, there is an incredible wealth of academic and nonprofit research on net neutrality. Pai, who should be responsible for absorbing at least some of this and literally has a policy division at his agency, is citing his own supposed lack of insighta convenient position, since he can always choose to remain unconvinced. Ars Technica. Its hard to look at the movieor any of Cassinis hauntingly beautiful imagesand not think of something appropriately morose for its Grand Finale. The Hollywood Reporter is your source for breaking news about Hollywood and entertainment, including movies, TV, reviews and industry blogs. Greetings andor salutations, people Welcome to io9s occasionally weekly mail column, where I solve the mysteries of the world of nerddom to you, both fictional. Find listings of daytime and primetime ABC TV shows, movies and specials. Get links to your favorite show pages. Get the latest Rolling Stone new music news, song and album reviews, free music downloads, artist videos pictures, playlists and more. Get the latest news and analysis in the stock market today, including national and world stock market news, business news, financial news and more. A comprehensive guide to all Peanuts Charlie Brown and Snoopy television specials, including titles, descriptions, trivia, broadcast and video information. Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get. D23 is upon us this weekend, and with it, a new behindthescenes glimpse at the next chapter in the Star Wars saga. But although the movie didnt offer us a full.