More than a dozen online and paper publications have been tracking and commenting on the decision of Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania to sign a Verizon-backed bill that places restrictions on municipal broadband rollouts. Here are just a few:More than a dozen online and paper publications have been tracking and commenting on the decision of Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania to sign a Verizon-backed bill that places restrictions on municipal broadband rollouts. Here are just a few:
CARRIERS THROW THEIR WEIGHT AROUND TOWNS
As competition between cable and phone companies becomes increasingly cutthroat, these arch-rivals are shelving their differences, teaming up to derail community broadband projects. This alliance of odd couples is making a multipronged attack, from lobbying state legislators to ban government-run broadband networks, to flooding airwaves and mailboxes with messages against these projects. As evidence of their success, the incumbents won a huge victory in the spring when the US Supreme Court ruled that states can pass laws barring municipalities from building broadband networks that could compete with private companies. “The issue is (that the municipalities) control rights of way, and to regulate us at same time they’re competing with us is a recipe for trouble,” said Dave Pacholczyk, an SBC spokesman.
[To read the rest of the article, go to C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Jim Hu]
FAST INTERNET SERVICE FOR THE PEOPLE
Consumer advocates denounce the new Pennsylvania law restricting municipal broadband networks. They say it amounts to governments now needing a permission slip from entrenched cable and telephone monopolies to put a vital economic and educational tool within everyone’s reach. Government has a long history of providing essential public services, these advocates remind, pointing to national highways or electricity in rural areas. “The Internet . . . is a true global public utility,” said Jeffrey Chester, director of the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocate for consumer rights online. “We should be trying to provide it for free.” Harold J. Feld, associate director of the Media Access Project, a consumer-media advocacy group, said a phone or cable company could always come in and provide a wireless network, competing on price and service with any municipal offering. “But who gets to decide what municipalities can do?” Feld said. “Will it be corporations?” Companies such as Verizon, which helped shape the Pennsylvania law, argue that telecommunications firms would have little incentive to build networks if they have to compete with government-subsidized service.
[To read the rest of the article, go to Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim]
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