The FCC plans to destroy the internet as we know it with their vote on repealing the 2015 Open Internet order that enacted strong network neutrality regulations, so it's time to clog up the phone lines of the three anti-internet freedom FCC Commissioners. These would be FCC Chair Ajit Pai at 202.418.1000, Michael O'Rielly at 202.418.2300, and Brendan Carr at 202.418.2200. I know, I know, we all participated in the official public commenting process already, but the FCC didn't listen to them unless they "introduced new facts into the record or made serious legal arguments." Thus the FCC gives a massive middle finger to the popular will, and I can't imagine that going over well in whichever court or courts this net neutrality repeal effort will wind up. And using this logic, couldn't an arsonist justify burning down a house by saying all the people telling him not to burn down the house weren't telling him anything "new," or weren't speaking his preferred dialect of hifalutin? Really, what more do you need to say other than burning down houses is bad? And why do you need to learn legalese to do that? Isn't that, you know, elitist? If not un-American?
Meanwhile, Uber has apparently outdone Equifax in the "exposing good folks' personal data to unscrupulous actors" department -- and that's no small feat! -- not just by exposing the personal data of some 57 million drivers and riders, but by not telling anyone about it, and then paying the hackers who stole the data $100,000 to give it back, which I guess they decided meant it was all no-harm-no-foul. All praise the new economy! Oh, and our Federal Trade Commission was investigating Uber for (wait for it) failing to secure customer data at the time. You think maybe they should have come clean with the FTC, since the FTC does, at least nominally, work for the American people? But I know who else, at least nominally, works for the American people: our Representatives in Congress, who failed to put forth strong data security legislation even in the wake of Equifax's massive data breach earlier this year. Hence Consumers Union helps you tell your Congressfolk to investigate the Uber breach and enact strong legislation protecting consumers' personal data. And don't tolerate any "nothing's private on the internet" backtalk, because that's not the attitude that ended slavery or passed the Voting Rights Act.
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