[ceejayoz]

That has nothing to do with whether or not it's a utility. They're clearly already capable of doing so.

[thissideup]

Explain how the two ideas aren't related.

[ceejayoz]

Classifying the Internet as a utility doesn't change the various Three Letter Agencies' ability nor motiviations to surveil traffic.

[thissideup]

You are restating exactly what you already said. Maybe you didn't understand.

Taxation implies increased tracking and auditing of the good being taxed, in this context surveillance could be justifiable.

Perhaps you're unable to imagine these consequences, but your claim that they have nothing to do with one another is just ignorant.

[ceejayoz]

Our Internet traffic is already heavily surveilled without this entirely hypothetical Internet tax you're proposing.

The phone system is a utility, and it's certainly not the fact that it's taxable that makes the TLAs interested in wiretapping it.

[thissideup]

Sorry, I did not mean to imply that taxation is necessary for surveillance.

What I'm proposing is that regulation is one way of legitimizing the role of surveillance. The government has a reason to be involved by virtue of the fact that it's made regulations.

I did a bad job in conveying that idea above. It's certainly possible my analysis is utterly incorrect as well.

[metaphorm]

that's not how this works. you're the one that made the original unsubstantiated claim. the burden is now on you to substantiate your original claim.

explain the mechanism by which classifying internet service as a utility enhances the ability of the NSA to record that data.

[rabbyte]

Public safety and homeland security are primary functions of the FCC. When government decides to censor, surveil, or manipulate information in the future it seems likely it will be instrumented through the FCC as that relationship was used to do the same for radio and television in the past.

[thissideup]

I already did. Read the comment thread.

It's pretty obvious, but if no one wants to think about it I can't make them.

[robertfw]

I'd be interested to hear you explain how they are