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Tauzin-Dingell Up for Vote Soon
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Just received this letter from my ISP, one of the oldest in existence. A study here lays out the basics on the bill and why it's a bad idea. The bill retracts the telecommunications act of '96 which forces the phone giants to share the nation's phone lines (which are in public trust). Looks like it's time to write those pesky congressmen again." Too late to write. Call. Tauzin-Dingell, up for vote on Wednesday, would eliminate all the requirements on the four remaining Baby Bells to play fair with competing telecom providers. "Sure Covad, you can co-locate your DSL equipment in our switching offices - our deregulated rate is only $10,000/day/piece of equipment." It's instant death for all DSL providers except Verizon, SBC, Qwest and BellSouth.
As a denizen of D.C., I've been seeing regular commercials for/against Tauzin-Dingell for well over a year now. Yes, it's been in preparation that long. This is one of the really big fights of the year, and *the* bill of most interest to Slashdot readership. Of course the Slashdot posters wouldn't write up anything about it until it was too late.
Idiots. Well, let's hope the Slashdotters with heads stuck in the sand don't have DSL.
Fortunately, you misspelled important. That will truly impress the illeterate slugs who actually read Congresspeople's mail. Also, pointing out that you are a student and your granfather is a hick comissioner of a backasswards little town will also surely impress the illiterate paragons of civil service.
That is, they will be impressed when they are done eating pigs' hoof and moonpies, washed down with some Red Bull.
This is truly a shining example of representative democracy in action!
you are a total fucking idiot. every day, i see your pointless shit posted all over slashdot. jesus fuck are you annoying.
Oops, I misspelled illiterate. Surely it will be comedy gold for someone to point that out!!!
We could send our hockey teams down to kick some ass :).
the problem is nothing. get the government out of the markets and let the strong survive. if the indies want to sell dsl or anything else for that matter let them build their own centers and sell from there and stop leeching on the back of those who have spent the capital in the first place. its like having the government tell you that you have to let someone else into your bedroom so they can ask yet another person if they would like to sleep in your bed.
yeah yeah yeah, of course you're right. now shut it then.
Now, it's debatable whether or not DSL is a neccesary public service or a luxury good, but the fact is is that people back in the day decided that everyone having telephones would be in the public interest, and therefore used government power to make it possible. It's a similiar situation with radio/TV and cable channels. it's a public good, regulated and controlled by the government, for the greater good of society, because the private sector cannot be trusted to act in the best interests of society as a whole - that whole profit imperative thing.