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good morning on Tuesday December 14th a date that will live in infamy in Internet infamy I'm BVG it's the 359 podcast episode 333 the finale of the 2017 season your host today are alfred Inge and Ben Fox Ruben it's Thursday my dudes know it's Thursday my dude not one more before the end of the year yeah so everybody knows what we have to talk about today so just go ahead and shuffle that way yeah this is gonna be a big show I mean we've been talking about net neutrality pretty much like all year long you know just taking a look at the protests the different issues that have been going along with it I was in cons yes pros so you know today's the day they're going to vote on it at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time or at least that's one of the FCC's a monthly meeting will start and we'll be following along as it goes on but we did want to get through a lot of talking points on our show today and we'll also be talking about a Disney's big acquisition they now own Fox which included oh no no there's they agreed to purchase them okay hasn't happened yet oh it hasn't gone through yet okay thanks for clarifying Ben semantics so yeah do you want to jump into it or yeah let's go ahead and dive right in the votes gonna take place any minute now so uh let's have a podcast and after four minutes where the headlines will join all of you back in the chat for an unseasonable early morning for us and we'll take some questions and comments about net neutrality and other things and that will be it for 2017 in the 359 podcast so thanks everybody for joining in we'll see you back in the chat in 3 minutes and 59 seconds from 3 to welcome to the 359 I'm Alfred Eng I'm Ben Fox ribbon after months of protests online and in person on every web site from Google Reddit and Twitter to steps on Capitol Hill and outside politicians offices the big day has finally arrived the FCC is voting today on net neutrality regulations that essentially guarantee the Internet service providers need to treat all traffic on the internet equally meaning Verizon Comcast spectrum whatever would have to give Google the same treatment as no Ben Fox Rubin shop comm order any small website John Ben Fox Rubin shop comm the regulations are meant to keep the internet open and fair but the FCC's Ajit paw has come out and argued that net neutrality stifles innovation and investments and saying that getting rid of these regulations would actually lead to a better internet experience Ben this is a monumental decision in internet history I mean when we look back on this from the 359 episode two million I mean what do you what do you think the Internet is going to look like I mean I don't really it's it's a very good question and good job really explaining a lot of what net neutrality is is a pretty complicated issue it's it's hard to say really what this is going to do and that's why I'm certainly curious to see whether the vote actually does go through today because it has been scheduled but there's been a lot of pushback to delay the vote and it's unclear how exactly this is all going to shake out and whether it's going to impact consumers in any significant way whether a new administration with a new FCC chairman or chairwoman would end up just bringing back net neutrality so there are a lot of questions as far as what's actually gonna happen here you know the New York Attorney General's Office actually warned yesterday that two million of the comments on the FCC's website you know commenting on this vote had come from stolen identities or were fake some of them had come from people that were like had just died a month before they made the comment and you know the FCC rejected requests from the New York Attorney General's Office as well as 28 senators I'm assuming including one today from Senator Susan Collins yeah I might be 29 with Susan yes but to delay this vote until you know this is properly investigated it seems that every attempt you know including the protests to stop or delay this vote has kind of been unheard I mean why do you think the FCC is so determined to push ahead with this I don't really see a situation where the FCC which is basically controlled by three Republicans at this point versus two Democrats that sit on the FCC board what delay would actually do in changing the calculus and their decision to repeal net neutrality they view this as stifling regulation going too far whether the vote happens today or a month from now I I don't I don't know that why would they actually like make a different determination with that so that's probably why they decided against delaying it because it's just gonna create more protests and add more pressure on to them and yeah it's not it's not going to change their ultimate decision and you know we talked about how there's there's going to be changes on this but a GPI has said in another interview talking about how it's not gonna be like y2k where everyone gets out and it's like an apocalypse on the internet all of a sudden but there are there are definitely going to be certain gradual changes I mean when do you think the general public is going to feel its effects and you know kind of realize you know do you think it's gonna take for it to hit their wallets or anything like that yeah I I think the general public overall is is somewhat vaguely aware that net neutrality exists and what's been going on there but until it actually impacts people's wallets I don't think that they're really gonna be that involved or at least most people yeah also in lighter news but also important Disney signed a deal to acquire Fox in a major deal that basically means that the x-men and The Simpsons are now Disney owned along will be will be Disney owned along with a lot of other Fox products I think that means that Marge Simpson is a Disney princess now oh my god that is that's fantastic also game on Netflix I mean like that seems to be a big reason for this yeah we're following and covering the vote on net neutrality as it goes on throughout the day please be sure to check back with cnn.com for the latest updates that's all the time we had on our show today if you liked what you heard check us out on CNET I'm Alfred a I'm Ben Fox Ruben thanks for listening so I was actually one of those whose identity was compromised in part of the the FCC commentary that did take place I I submitted my own comment manually in favor of maintaining net neutrality humanly human human as human as bonds much of a human as I am thus far and I there was somebody built an algorithm or and a tool or an app or something like that that was connected through the FCC site I honestly don't remember what the URL to it was right now if I could find it I'll put it in the show notes although it's kind of too late now because this has already been well-documented uncovered and you ran this and what it did was it skimmed all of the comments the millions of millions of comments and it found my name three or four times submitted so every submitted your name three or four times it did and although what was strange to me is that no point did it change the tone at one of them essentially copy pasted my original comments several the other two were in the same favor of maintaining net neutrality but they were different like not not my words at all so that was my experience I mean I wonder though what if there's just a lot of Brian in fact elders in New York out there that build with why they're not oh I talked about this before you mentioned that the bots armies that have attacked the FCC website with these comments have come from both sides right yeah and we also don't know it so there's been a lot of investigations on this where you know the Department of Homeland Security has actually asked the FCC basically because when when their website that came down or when all these comments came they said oh this was a DDoS attack on us what the thing was was they didn't really provide any proof of it aspect especially when investigators had asked can you provide us with the data that you were receiving so we can look into this more like it was weird that they didn't want to provide that data it's after claiming that they had been attacked do you think that Schneiderman and those senators have a reasonable argument to call for a delay because so many of those comments yeah I think we're you know I think if you're going to rely on a public comment system and say hey let us know what you guys think but then you know not actually get a look at it or not actually you know have a sheep even yea not appreciate the legitimacy of it I think that's kind of making a mockery of the system that you're saying oh everyone has it has the ability to give us their opinions on it just yeah I I hear you on that it's basically asking people to put in you know submit their comments into a comments box that's that one yeah for actually yes right it's absurd it's kind of making a mockery of the system that they they say you know we heard all your voices except no we didn't the thing is is that I think we all understand that they they brought up the point the new FCC board brought up the point that look we're gonna we're gonna take up a repealing net neutrality which means that they are probably going to do it and it would have really surprised me if they said you know cheese Brian made some really good points in his letter and we're not gonna do this anymore yes it's a lot of it really just has to do with like they're the folks that are in power right now and that's what they want to do mm-hmm all right it's time to take a look at the chat I'm excited to say that we have fantastic reputation representation on both sides of the net neutrality repeal as always our audience is fantastically awesome we'll get to some of those specifics later right now I want to address a question or more of a comment from pella who says I think 5g is gonna make customers have a wide variety of internet providers and this seems relevant across the board in relation to what's going on there's going to be big competition then which is essentially what this vote is all about I mean I think I think that's that would be nice but I think you also have to consider who's going to be controlling and in charge of the 5g it's which would be Verizon AT&T t-mobile etc and from a very personal note yeah non-affiliated opinion opinion I've had bad experiences with service providers and that's what makes me nervous as a card-carrying mean lord but but when you say so as providers you mean broadband providers like somebody like Comcast or spectrum yeah okay yeah totally so that's what makes me nervous is because I because I don't rush the man they've been vilified for years there is a lot of opportunity for folks like Verizon derive it Verizon and t-mobile I don't I don't dispute that at all but folks like Verizon and t-mobile at least at the moment have pretty good consumer reputations maybe people would would argue that Verizon charges a lot more money and I'm a Verizon customer so I don't personally like that as much but there is an opportunity going into Pelley's comment to for those companies to actually try to steal customers from the incumbents because there a lot of people really do not like their cable providers sure and let's just I mean let's put this all out in front Street as far as this entire conversation goes this isn't about who's right or wrong now it's about opening a Pandora's box that will be borderline impossible to shut again at least without significant efforts up yea upward battle about where this goes from here this isn't like automatically everybody's internet now cost double and you can't go to porn sites this is now somebody else has the keys to that car let's see what they do with it yeah my biggest oh god I think you know it's going to get to a point because this continues - you know ping pong back and forth between yeah we are like you know we are for net neutrality and then you know a new administration comes as I open know if we're gonna repeal it I don't think I think it's going to get to a point where senators and Congress members are going to have to get involved with this basically saying we're going to sign a bill you know basically designating this as opposed to you know it changing every time yeah yeah yeah which is which is understandable why a lot of people really deem that as being very undemocratic because AGID pie and the other FCC folks on the board were not voted in yeah they're they're brought in vibe and that's why they're able to take measures like these without kind of you know fearing you know oh we're gonna be up for election or something like that it's kind of they're not acting in the public's interest on this that's debatable I mean I wouldn't I wouldn't go that far but going back I wanted to make one other mention from Pelley's point which is one of the biggest concerns relating to repealing net neutrality has a lot to do with with the fact that a lot of regional players are essentially monopolies if 5g and it's not coming quite yet yes 5g does open up those monopolies and actually create some real competition then the potential of you having to pay an extra $10 to your broadband provider or for Netflix would would be reduced yeah thanks to market forces so here's hoping that does actually happen but it's still again a lot of this stuff is really in question it's hard to me whether it's actually gonna happen one way or talking about 5g and kind of mobile data providers so you can kind of already see like a version of you know an internet without net neutrality is like I mean considering that you know you unlike if you have t-mobile you can get like netflix for free or like like it doesn't affect your data plan at least like you still pay for a Netflix account but the data like it's not affected by that I mean I'm sure that you know Netflix or t-mobile have some kind of deal for that and that's not exactly like net neutrality and in that aspect yeah but it's it's I appreciate what you said as far as that is that giving Netflix an extra boost yeah an extra benefit from from a certain perspective I think it's like if I were if I were using t-mobile right and I had both a Netflix and a Hulu account but I know that Netflix doesn't bite into my data plan like why would I ever watch anything on on Hulu and that kind of like tanks business for them what because hulu has Futurama on it which is a good show so it is 10:37 a.m. Eastern Standard Time the FCC has convened yeah do we have any real-time updates watching a live stream right now right they're currently talking about the 911 call system so it's not yet well I don't have it in front of me because I've got everything else in front of me so yeah ice actually sent you the live stream on slack oh yeah well I'm not gonna go to that read yeah anyways let's take some more questions and comments serene joy when FCC gets barraged with the inevitable lawsuit posts with this vote how slow were those lawsuits be moving to take any significant effect that's super hard to tell because I like what he's saying totally I think the problem is is that whether a judge would actually grant an injunction or not yeah if an injunction is allowed then the net neutrality repeal would be barred or held until the actual lawsuit I I also yeah I also think the lawsuits would probably be thrown out in the same way that you can't sue your senators for voting on something that affected you negatively mmm I don't really think that this is something that it's a tactic yeah I mean that's I think though I don't think I don't think any court would like take that case at the same time I do think that it seems inevitable that the loss it's will be filed there are a lot of folks that have argued very strongly against this and to at least try to take it to the you know judicial system and see what they can get out of that I wouldn't be surprised if it went in that direction taking some more from the Chad to keep the conversation going Christopher Burke what effect will the lack of net neutrality have on non-us ISPs now we've had this conversation several times on the show before it's a great question keeps getting brought up and people like obsessive Burnett think oh this isn't going to affect me in the UK well you know my answer to this you you go for it I'm not gonna respond this is your show I don't know your answer for this I don't think I was on the show when you gave it I've said this I've said this before but and I'll say it again it is a very good question is that a lot of regulatory regulatory internationally look to the United States because the United States is often viewed as a gold standard for a lot of regulatory regimes so it's possible that also for hamburgers right absolutely so it's possible that the u.s. is position and you know influencing other decisions but every you know sovereign state is different so is the UK going to get affected in the short term probably not I don't I don't think that the same conversations are going on in the UK right now not necessarily the ISPs but a lot of the media actually consume the information the data consumed on the internet might in fact be affected if it originates within US borders the other way of looking at this too is that if there's a significant backlash and the internet is seen as being significantly eroded by the repeal of net neutrality then obviously other sovereign states are going to look at this experiment that the United States decided to do with bringing net neutrality and then we're appealing it a couple years later and decide on I don't know some other tactic because nobody wants to see the internet significantly diminish mm-hmm Riki Brito is the net neutral Newton the Type O net nutritional bill I think we're on to a different topic perhaps no I think it was a nutrition I think that was a but I could not help but acknowledge it because that was great and made my day it's the net neutrality bill going to apply to wireless networks as well I don't think so I think that's a different network entirely but I wish Roger was here because he knows the answer to that well somebody had to take a vacation nice and early this year good man oh they're sorry Roger I love you Josh boy do you think this will give Google Fiber a second chance ooh silver lining yeah I was I was don't laugh at me no no I'm trying to be optimistic for the first time on this show it's very optimistic to think that Google Fiber is gonna get a shot in the arm from this yeah I would argue I would say that Google Fiber kind of died out though because of you know local legislation they had tried going on I believe it was Nashville where they had tried setting up but then all the ISPs there were basically saying no you can't come in here and you know there were a lot of like arguments you know at there like on the state government level just about whether or not Google is like trying to intrude on like these territories I guess set up by by Comcast and all that and then they were kind of eventually driven out of town so I mean the argument about you know oh there's not that much tech innovation because of all these regulations and yet Google is trying to come in and they weren't even driven out because of you know net neutrality regulations they were kind of driven out because of ISPs that didn't want the competition so I think that if there is a potential white knight in this situation it would probably be 5g what Harvey Dent or Harvey done absolutely but with Verizon t-mobile Sprint jumping in to the fray that seems more likely because Google Fiber didn't really work out Verizon FiOS isn't expanding anymore and that's because it's really expensive and time-consuming and sometimes very difficult on the local level to expand fiber systems the fiber optic systems so it's much easier to do it wirelessly with 5g and that's why I would expect 5g to if there's gonna be new competition in the market it's gonna come from there well said let's take one more question from net neutrality position before we move on we are getting low on time but we're gonna try to hang out and see if there's anything developing Alfred nothing yet still on the NYPD currently and the 911 emergency system understandable fair enough topic to occupy some time we'll have continuing coverage as the day continues sir enjoy can this be an opportunity for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who are Pro net neutrality launched new ISPs that brag of equal internet surely they will do they will get good hedge funds yeah I think the Google Fiber to a certain extent was exactly that you know that was that was a major Silicon Valley company that was investing significantly in a new concept and it didn't really pan out yeah that's the craziest thing to me that you know we we we've always looked at Google as kind of this like major like corporation but the fact that they can't beat red tape and I guess be lobbyists is nothing beats the government yeah that's it's insane and you know I don't even think getting rid of you know I mean if we're going with the FCC's argument here or a gpi's argument about you know there hasn't been that much innovation because of all this like red tape and regulations but the thing is like the things that he's like changing doesn't like help Google Fiber or any new ISPs come out there so it's you know the the innovation that he's talking about like is not like boosted by repealing net neutrality so it's absurd you tell me how you really feel it's absurd it's all right lost legacy he's got a good question here do you think that Apple will buy netflix to compete with Disney buying Fox that would be like such like why brain explode ow my brain would explode if Apple bought Netflix and I feel like that's like one of the many like acquisition parlor games that a lot of folks play would be like forever correct me if I'm wrong but somebody tried to buy Netflix a minute ago didn't they and didn't not blockbuster a few years ago was it no it's not definitely not blockbuster there's something tickling in the back of my brain that's making me recall but somebody made like I don't know if it was a formal offer or it was like we're considering it kind of thing and Netflix just kind of laughed at it I don't my way off on that one today I don't know yeah no it's it's entirely possible but it doesn't it doesn't strike any memories okay never mind I'm million brain out of my element here anyways I thought that was kind of funny like imagine the the war of the major networks buying these young whippersnappers and Netflix is like so expensive though what is it what's its market cap I don't really know it might be somewhere to the tune of 70 billion obviously Apple could afford it the question is I don't think they'd be able to yeah more cheaply and would Netflix want to be yeah just as a more important part there is a common saying that it was blockbuster it depends on how long ago were looking at so so Netflix did offer this was like when Netflix was still like the DVD model only where they'd send it and I think they like offered to sell de to Blockbuster for like a very low price like something like a million or two million dollars and blockbuster is this energy warning people people like to leave their home so yeah that's that's what happened with blockbuster if there was something recent though I wouldn't I wouldn't know about that okay yeah this wasn't anything recent if something I think I remember hearing about in the earlier days of Netflix when before they dominated everything but anyways let's talk I can't pronounce the screen name at all but they asked if Family Guy was part of the deal so Family Guy would be part of the deal as far as an IP goes but being the Family Guy exists on the television network Fox maintains ownership and control of our TV broadcasting so that's going to be one of those weird gray areas just kind of like The Simpsons to really think about it but I think that opens up a lot of doors for creative crossover as far as characters encountering each other in movies and I don't know word in the comic book realm right yeah but I mean what are some of the IPS that are that we really think about this we said Simpsons we got x-men but I heard that there were some kind of shake up with x-men and Fantastic Four and it might not be as simple as like okay now they exist in Marvel verse or in the Feige verse right now what else because Fox is maintaining news and sports but everything in the entertainment division is essentially up in the air at this point Disney is purchasing Fox Studios which does include The Simpsons there they're also getting like the movie studio that's why x-men fans had or yeah Fantastic Four and Deadpool are they gonna rejoin the Marvel Universe those are those are some of the bigger headless they might be there in the reboot I don't think they'll be there for like infinity Wars no I'm sorry going on no but like cuz it's supposed to be like a two-part thing but like the whole thing like 15 bars but the thing is like if they're talking about like so the whole MCU is essentially about like world building and stuff right where it's like oh this happened and then Doctor Strange happened to be there but he was like in the background or something like that and I don't think you can't just bring the x-men in because like it would have just been you know where the hell were you this whole time when you know New York was getting attacked and like you but I believe Xavier Academy or whatever is like supposed to be in upstate New York so it's just you know if the mechs Manchester never they were busy to just make up an excuse there's like okay cool like all this stuff was happening and the x-men were just like we got class yeah they were there stuck in traffic at this point if the end result is they all get to show you the screen will buy whatever excuse yeah the only the only crossover that I could see happening is like Deadpool kind of just like breaking the fourth wall and absolutely yeah and just like popping oh hey guys what's up and then just like leaving like that way people are concerned however if Deadpool is going to get neutered and going to a Disney on yeah that's interesting not interesting and kind of like pretty much a guarantee if he is though I mean did she has me Disney has made oh you did not go there Disney has made r-rated films in the past usually through their subsidiaries Miramax and so on but it's not unheard of but Deadpool belongs in the r-rated realm that's all that people are worried about yeah any news and updates on FCC while the testimonies from the NYPD the the family of a slain NYPD officer have stopped talking now the FCC is back just commenting about a blue alert switch which is actually pretty important but it is not you know landmark internet stuff this is this is really important though yeah but like this is also reminiscent of like I used to be a local news reporter and this is what agendas look like even though everybody's like all eyes are directed at the FCC at this point they're gonna go through their agenda and usually it's like the very last item on the agenda that's the important thing I mean it's really it's physician really sell ads in between these like they should put like ad breaks in these hearings they could make a lot of money for like Verizon or just I don't know yeah but like they already take our money like they just take a surtax a just saying if they're making us wait for this big climactic conclusion you know this is this is TV 101 they should know this it's true they should have a lot of commercial breaks yep brought to you by Charmin so we're still gonna be waiting yeah how long do you think we're gonna be sitting i I can check what's on their agenda to see how many items they have to go through this would be really funny if we just kept the podcast going until the vote happened but we might be stuck here for a while so yeah I thought we were kind of anticipating the night let's wait let's say let's see it's what I were you a new emergency alert system for blue alerts then rural health care support mechanism followed by Twilight towers public notice then restoring Internet freedom I believe that is the right then CMRS presumption report and order peace electronic delivery of cable communications and then national television multiple ownership rule which is also an important vote yeah it's so it's right smack in the middle and we're I think we're at it we're only at the first item buried eye socket number two number one yeah we're yeah docket number 15 - 94 okay people net neutrality is number three in the no agenda for you said for I think I think it's four out of this is which is better than I do a marathon it's number four out of seven items guys we don't have anything you're stretching right yeah no we're stretching at this point no it's I wish we could sit around for this entire thing and wait and catch it in real-time but I don't think it's gonna be in the cars put the live stream on on our channel yeah cuz that's legal it's the FCC exactly anyway alright I think that we've been we've we've dragged this on long enough yeah sorry everybody we wish we could sit around but unfortunately I have to move on to another project at 11:00 and we've had problems with it go go we hit up a G on Twitter and tell him he's too slow and we will have a lot of coverage on this yesterday on CNN sock constantly check it out seen that's definitely not ignoring this we just have to end the podcast because we have to end the podcast yeah and on that no it is the final live podcast of 2017 so I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you very much mr. Brian BVG my pleasure were your very capable and I dare I even say cram Yulin efforts as the producer and we wouldn't be here without you so yeah those times it like the microphones broke and it's it's usually happens on like the most important days but I will forgive you a million times over yeah I don't know how you do without killing us it's not you it's everybody else around me and of course we want to say thank you to everybody that comes and listens and shows up and asks questions and it's been really great having people come back over and over and over again and you know I we follow a lot of people back and forth on Twitter now and it's been great to keep that conversation going I don't know how you do without killing us that's true and you know we we try to answer as many of your questions as we can sometimes we got them right sometimes we don't know the answer we try it on you hate a shout out name a few Michael Brown Pele sir enjoy our new buddies friend Roy imagine soggy Charlie toms Danny Green Tammy Thompson Matt your ham Allah Pamela yeah we have some fantastic loyalists and we always love seeing the new faces too so from our home we live here is our podcast yeah thank you and of course if we forgot anybody you know with that we're flawed human beings as obviously demonstrated on a daily basis here so on that note we will have a couple of filler episodes to kind of supplant and next week hopefully you enjoy those on YouTube live stream and otherwise but until then yeah that's it for the year why don't you do it you got the yeah if you liked what you heard the 359 podcast is available on iTunes tune in stitcher Feedburner google play music and of course cnet.com it's usually a lot of the Amazon echo but we're not putting today's episode on our maybe ok we might anyway this is a really good way to end the year with like just like fumbling arrests sloppy and a purchase Lee left it out and was not a fumble that's okay it was a mulligan yeah I don't know what that is thanks everybody happy whatever holidays are on your docket Happy New Year we'll see you from the CES stage in 2018 looking forward to it happy new year take care you