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more on WHY YOUR BROADBAND SUCKS
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 16:54:54 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Robert Lee <robertslee () verizon net> Reply-To: <robertslee () verizon net> Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 12:09:30 -0500 To: <dave () farber net> Subject: RE: [IP] WHY YOUR BROADBAND SUCKS Funny article. With regard to "the fire department". In my early 20's I bought a house that had a colorful plaque on the front. I inquired and was told that in the old days there was no public fire department, that entrepreneurs started local fire companies and that you subscribed to one. I was amazed. I never did the research that the subject deserves but two decades later I found myself buying an old firehouse to rehab for my business. We actually called it the firehouse, as did our 4,000 clients. When I told people that I had bought a firehouse they screwed up their faces and said, "What for?" I told them, "I am going into the fire putting out business. I am going to have two revenue models. The first is subscription. You pay me so much every month and if your house starts to burn I will be there lickety split. They second model is you don't pay me anything, your house starts to burn, you call me, and we negotiate. For X number of dollars we will leave right away and drive above the speed limit, for Y number of dollars we will leave in 20 minutes and drive the speed limit, ...etc." These laws preventing the public sector from offering broadband are not only repugnant, they depend on the most faithless federal court decision that redefines the wording of the Telecom Act of 1996 that said "any entity" can string communications lines and offer services. The federal court agreed with the Bells that "any entity" was not actually "any" entity but simply private entities. I lived in Philadelphia when RCN spent millions of dollars trying to compete with Comcast, which is one of Philadelphia's largest taxpayers. City Council ran them around for 18 months until they simply pulled out. The papers dutifully ran the stories, explaining the malicious red tape, but without much characterization, and there was no outcry. In my opinion, for business and political issues that are not transparent and exciting to the average unsophisticated citizen, it is necessary for the news media to react emotionally, to lead the citizenry. They did not do it when City Council ran RCN out of town and they certainly did not do it when Mayor Street got Philadelphia excluded from the state law. Interesting concept when you think about it. No city but Philadelphia can build a telecom infrastructure (I say telecom because I am not a lawyer and cannot afford one to come up with the wording that would satisfy the DC circuit court and Michael Powell). Wires. Lines. Transmitters. Things that broadcast and conduct STUFF. Robert Lee -----Original Message----- From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On Behalf Of David Farber Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 1:09 PM To: Ip Subject: [IP] WHY YOUR BROADBAND SUCKS ------ Forwarded Message From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Reply-To: <dewayne () warpspeed com> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 09:49:20 -0800 To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] WHY YOUR BROADBAND SUCKS [Note: Lessig likes to put into practice what he preaches. For over a year now, he's been supporting SFLan <http://www.sflan.org>, a wireless community network in San Francisco, which covers the entire city. DLH] WHY YOUR BROADBAND SUCKS [Commentary] City leaders stepping in to provide cheap broadband when the market hasn't? What's next -- providing street lights when private interests don't? This sort of insanity is raging across the US today. Pushed by lobbyists, at least 14 states have passed legislation similar to Pennsylvania's that blocks municipal Internet networks. Lessig says he's always wondered what almost $1 billion spent on lobbying state lawmakers gets you. Now we're beginning to see. He concludes: City and state politicians should have the backbone to stand up to self-serving lobbyists. Citizens everywhere should punish telecom toadies who don't. Backwater broad-band has been our fate long enough. Let the markets, both private and public, compete to provide the service that telecom and cable has not. [SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Lawrence Lessig lawrence_lessig () wiredmag com (You saw him on West Wing, but didn't he look like the guy from Taxi?)] <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/view.html?pg=5> Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net> [Note: Requires registration] Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com> ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as robertslee () verizon net To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on WHY YOUR BROADBAND SUCKS David Farber (Mar 01)