Small but important victory

“Tethering” is a feature of a mobile data device like a smartphone by which the device acts as an access point allowing other computers locally to connect to the internet through its mobile data (such as 4G) connection.

One would think that, if a device such as a smartphone, is capable of providing such a function, that it would not be restricted by the mobile data provider. But this is America. And mobile data providers like Verizon, AT&T, and definitely others, are all dirty.

Verizon decided that it would find a way to force users of mobile data devices with 4G plans to pay extra for the tethering feature. This is complete bullshit. It shows unequivocally how rotten modern American industry has become, how it has stifled innovation in favor of scams, scheming, and extortion to make money.

But then along came the Obama administration and the Federal Communications Administration to rule that what Verizon was attempting to do is bullshit. Data is data. If you pay for it, its yours. No company can scam you and suddenly scheme to find ways to force you to pay money because a packet of data coming through the connection you paid for is different than another packet.

This is a significant and important victory. This is probably what it is going to look like if America is capable of beginning to win the fight of information freedom, which touches all the way to the core of personal and social information logos and the wars with Big Media and Big Internet.

People really need to take note and understand that if Republicans were in control, this most certainly would not have happened. I hope this is the kind of change Obama meant when he said “…the ship of State is an ocean liner, not a speed boat, things done today will last decades.”