To recognize the Internet as part of the Post Road, as described in the First Article, Section 8, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution, and for other purposes.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Recognize the Internet as Part of the Post Road Act.”
SEC. 2. RECOGNIZE THE INTERNET AS PART OF THE POST ROAD ACT
(a) Change Internet Right of way control.—Contracts with local authorities currently held by private Internet providers of cable Internet will not be renewed. The United State Post Service (USPS) will assume those contracts when they expire.
(b) Provide constitutional protections.—All information exchanged on the Internet will be protected by the Constitution, particularly regarding privacy and free speech.
(c) Fund the Internet as the Post Road.—Funds for acquiring and maintaining the equipment for the USPS Internet system will be provided directly from the U.S. Treasury. The value of the asset will back the currency created for the acquisition.
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Inspection of Code.—All code used to create Internet sites and platforms and all email readers and other services provided to the the public online will require (computerized) inspection from the United States Postmaster.
(b) Code that Collects Data.—If code is inspected and it is discovered that it functions to collect private data or to suppress speech, the service will be prevented from operating until the code is removed. The responsible party will be fined some percentage of the party’s gross income for that service for each offense.
(c) Recourse for harmed individuals.—Any individual aggrieved by the the violation of his/her Constitutional rights online shall have a cause of action to seek appropriate relief.
SEC. 4. LOCAL MANAGEMENT.
(a) Operation of USPS Internet—All operations will be regulated by local stakeholders by public vote.
(b) Fund the USPS Internet—As with the USPS mail service, users will pay fees to use the USPS Internet service.
“Change Internet Right of way control” Most of all the backbone of the Internet is held by private Enterprise, they don’t need permission.
”Provide constitutional protections” Well the sucess of the Internet is because it’s not controlled, now individual platforms can, such as Google, Facebook, etc. and I agree, there is a problem as to how they are designated either as just a go between and not responsible for content, or publishers who can be sued for their content. Unfortunately the FCC allows them to be both depending on which argument they want to use
”Fund the Internet as the Post Road” As I mentioned most of the backbone and even last miles are owned by private enterprise, so the government would have to cough up trillions of dollars to buy them all out, even if they wanted to sell. Of course you could become dictator and governmentalize them all (he he)
Enforcement:
”If code is inspected” The federal government does have the tools to review everything that is written, an insurmountable task, best left to be self regulated, in my humble opinion. Although perhaps AI could be taught to do the task? OMG we would need a giant (multiple government data center to house all the computer power required (he he)
“Recourse for harmed individuals” I do believe we have existing laws to protect harmed individuals, just saying….
”USPS Internet” I believe that was already considered and turned out to be a monumental task, that the USPS wasn’t capable of, not to mention, when has the government ever been able to run any kind of business efficiently???
And then there “the USPS Internet”, which would put it in direct competition with private enterprise, a violation of the law. And don’t tell me that they already are. in completion with UPS, FedEx etc., then they don’t deliver mail everyday to people’ homes either. And yes, the USPS is supposed to be an autonomous entity and run on it’s own profits, and not be funded by the government, but they are continuously in debt by the $Billions, and government lends them the money to bail them out, which they don’t have to repay LoL …
