Monthly Archives: January 2014

Net Neutrality and What it Means to You

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     The use of the Internet has grown by leaps and bounds since its pubic and commercial inception in 1995. Since then, nearly 79 percent of the population in North America uses the Internet on a regular basis. Currently, the top three Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) in the United States, AT&T, Verizon, and Century Link, control nearly 40% of the overall market.

     As a result of this shrinking market-share, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted what is known as “Net Neutrality standards”, which gave the agency regulatory power to protect the free flow of information over the Internet. The possibility of regulations designed to mandate the neutrality of the Internet has been subject to fierce debate, especially in the United States. In 2005, the FCC issued a Broadband Policy Statement, which lists four principles of open Internet summarized as “any lawful content, any lawful application, any lawful device, and any provider”.

So What Exactly is Net Neutrality Again?

net-neutrality for dummies

     Essentially, Net Neutrality means that all content on the Internet must be treated equally. That is, one particular digital content provider can’t strike a deal with an ISP for its content to be loaded faster than another digital content provider. If that were to happen, sites like Amazon, with far greater resources than say TMZ, would have its content loaded lightning fast while TMZ’s content would have noticeably longer loading times.  The FCC’s goal was to prevent ISP’s from impeding or “unreasonably discriminating” against digital content providers or applications. In its attempt to regulate equal access to all digital content providers, the FCC created the Net Neutrality Standards discussed above. Many feel that in 2014, equal access to digital content over the Internet should be considered a human right and not be subject to pre-negotiated contracts between ISP’s and digital content providers.

     However, unsurprisingly, one of the nation’s largest ISP’s, Verizon, brought suit in the federal court of appeals challenging the FCC’s authority to regulate the flow of information over the net. Ultimately, in an eighty-one page ruling, the federal appeals court sided with Verizon over the way the FCC’s new rules were drafted. The court determinately pointed out that the FCC is assigned with regulating essential utilities like telecommunication services and electricity, and consequently, the Internet isn’t considered to be one of those utilities under current law. Specifically, the court found that the FCC could not regulate broadband under common carrier rules as it had argued, because it had not classified the service as a telecommunications service. The court relied on antiquated regulations that primarily regulated old modem dial-up connections as opposed to newer fiber optic backbone transmissions that are in use today.

So What Does this Mean to You and Me?

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     As of now, nothing. The major ISP players all issued statements on the court of appeals ruling saying they don’t have plans to change anything based on the court’s decision. The FCC has not ruled out appealing the court of appeals decision to the Supreme Court, or alternatively, rewriting its antiquated rules regulating Internet use.  ISP’s such as Verizon, claim the FCC’s rules are overly broad and violate free-enterprise, essentially arguing that since they provide a service to consumers, they and they alone should be able to dictate how those services are administered. Net Neutrality proponents fear that ISP’s will create two-tiers of Internet, a faster tier for paid content, versus a slower tier for all the rest. They also point out consumers will ultimately bear the brunt of the costs as digital content providers  undoubtedly pass those associated fees down to their consumers.

     The Internet, much like cable television, and air travel has increasingly seen its market-share dwindle over recent years with consolidation, take-overs, and buy-outs. Without regulation, in my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before only a few large ISP’s will remain. It’s American capitalism 101, companies will undoubtedly get larger and seek to continue to maximize profits for their shareholders. In the end, the American consumers will be left holding a bag full of commercial content bought and paid for by the highest bidder.

     Eventually, Congress will need to step in and set a standard of regulation for U.S. Internet Service Providers. Unfortunately, members of Congress understand little about advancing technology and heavily rely on the steady supply of talking points and “research” provided to them by lobbyist. Until we can rid ourselves of the current “do-nothing” Congress, expect little movement on this by our legislative branch of government. Consequently, relying on the Judiciary, armed with antiquated laws, to set standards for existing and future technology that has far surpassed the laws that govern it.  Needless to say, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this evolving contemporary issue as both technology and public sentiment grows.

Private Prisons, Fleecing American Tax-Payers

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PRIVATE PRISONS COSTS US ALL

Here in the United States, we have the largest prison population in the entire world. Although prison populations have increased throughout civilized nations, the U.S. outpaces all other industrialized countries incarceration rates by nearly 5 to 1! Simply put, the natural incarceration rate among other modern nations similar to the U.S. trends at 100 prisoners per 100,000 residents, however, here in the United States, the rate is over 500 prisoners per 100,000 residents which equates to 1.6 million prisoners according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

What may be even more troubling are the disparities among ethnic minorities and racial classifications. Black men are incarcerated at rates of 3,074 per 100,000 residents, and Latinos at rates of 1,258 per 100,000, compared to white men who are incarcerated at just 459 per 100,000 residents. Invariably, young black men (ages 18-34) are at least six times more likely to be incarcerated than young white men, according to a recent analysis by Becky Pettit, a University of Washington sociologist.

It is no question that people of color are disproportionately affected by mass incarceration in the United States. However, all Americans bear the brunt of the crippling costs associated with increasing prison populations that saddles both federal and state government budgets across the nation. Many government agencies have turned to the private prison industry for relief from rising costs.

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Privatization to the Rescue

The privatization of U.S. prisons has become a booming private enterprise. Gaining popularity since the early 1980’s, coincidentally, coinciding with the increase of the war on drugs. The U.S. Department of Justice own reports, show U.S. private prison populations have grown 37 percent from 2002 to 2009 alone. At the heart of it all, private prison industry lobbying, has grown exponentially by 165 percent.

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As ThinkProgress reported, private prisons haven’t just expanded their political influence by expending lobbying dollars, they’ve also been remarkably apt at placing friendly lawyers and lobbyists in the offices of major decision-makers like Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ), famous for executing the now infamous Senate Bill, SB1070, a harsh anti-immigrant law designed to increase prison populations.

The number of private prisons operating in the U.S. has increased from 5 in 1998 to 100 by 2008. Leading the pack, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison corporation, has seen over 500 percent profit growth over the last twenty years. As reported, in 2010, the two largest private prison corporations alone received nearly $3 billion in revenue, while their top executives each received annual compensation packages worth well over $3 million.

As Brave New Foundation’s Jesse Lava puts it, the privatization of federal and state prisons “illustrates how greed has become a major driver of mass incarceration—and how the system is more vast [sic] than most citizens imagine.”

States Must Promise to Keep Occupancy Rates at 90% or Above

The Nation reported that CCA officials sent letters to forty-eight governors, offering to take their prison systems off state hands in exchange for a guarantee that their states would keep their facilities up to ninety percent full—regardless of crime rates. Essentially, states in keeping up with their promises, demand higher conviction rates from state and local prosecutors, judges and lawmakers.  Even where criminal activity has diminished, and prison populations reduced, private prison corporations continue to demand bed guarantee provisions in their contracts. These types of guarantee’s made by state officials only serve to exacerbate the already existing inequalities in the U.S. justice system

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But Less Government Oversight Increases Efficiency, Right?

Wrong! Facilities run by private prison corporations are not subjected to the same oversight as state and federal prisons. Lack of transparency, regulation and oversight has only led to deteriorating conditions which in turn, has led to a multitude of multi-million dollar lawsuits and government fines. All of which, invariably makes its way out of tax-payer’s pockets.  As Alex Friedmann, editor of Prison Legal News, who himself was once incarcerated at a private prison has pointed out, “the private prison industry operates in secrecy while being funded almost entirely with public taxpayer money.” In September Bloomberg reported that “the federal government provided almost 43 percent of [CCA’s] $1.76 billion of revenue in 2012, according to its annual report.”

According to the Nation, CCA, and Geo Group, the second largest private prison corporation, have become notorious for providing substandard and sometimes harrowing living conditions to their prisoners. State and federal regulation is necessary to equalize the vast disparities in dollar-for-dollar spending costs on public and privately ran prisons. However, lawmakers are slow to react, if not turning a blind eye all together. As the Arizona Republic’s editorial board pointed out, in a bill passed in 2012, Arizona’s overwhelmingly Republican Legislature effectively eliminated the statutory requirement for the Arizona Department of Corrections to do a cost comparison between public and private prisons. Furthermore, it eliminated the previous statutory requirement for regular comparisons of services provided by private and public prisons, including a hard look at servces such as; security, prisoner health and the safety of facilities. It was signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, who has long been a supporter of private prisons. Transparency will be the key element to shedding light on the billions of tax-payer dollars lining the pockets of wealthy investors and share-holders.

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Progress, Slow but Progress Nonetheless

While there remains much work to be done in reforming America’s love affair with the capitalization of bondage, some progress is being pursued. For instance, the Private Prison Information Act, legislation first introduced over nine years ago, has again garnered support for its reintroduction. Specifically, Texas Congressional Representative, Sheila Jackson Lee, has reintroduced the failed legislation attempt that would require anyone with a federal prison contract—to “make the same information available to the public that Federal prisons and correctional facilities are required to make available.”

In addition, baby steps have also been made by other federal agencies reigning in run-away profits off the prison industry. Pointedly, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has finally capped the seemingly unlimited astronomical rates charged by private telecommunications providers to inmates in order to communicate with loved ones on the outside world.

Moreover, Idaho’s Department of Corrections have recently announced that it will take back control of its privately ran prison industry citing over a decade of mismanagement and other problems at the facility including multiple lawsuits alleging rampant violence, under-staffing, gang activity and contract fraud by CCA.

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Conclusion

The Privatization of essential public functions, such as healthcare, incarceration, and rehabilitation have all had the polar opposite effects of their intentions, driving down costs. When you place profits above all else, undoubtedly, the cost of doing business will rise. Footing the bill for this privatization craze are the American tax-payers like you and me who end up paying far more for far less.

Many will attempt turn these debates into arguments over being “tough on crime,” or the inefficiency of government, however, those arguments have failed in the past and will continue to fail whenever we place profits above people. Those who stand to benefit from de-privatization are not just criminals, but the hard working American people who are seeing their tax dollars funneled into private bank accounts.