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Verizon-Pushed WiFi Bill Becomes Law in PA
Cryofan writes "A Wall Street Journal article (via freepress) tells the sad tale of how legislation barring PA municipalities from offering paid telecom services was signed into law. 'Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell said late Tuesday night that he had signed into law a large telecommunications bill placing severe restrictions on the ability of cities and towns to offer telecommunications services, an item that was heavily lobbied by Verizon Communications Inc. and other big telephone companies in similar legislation across the country.'" (Also mentioned last week.)
How does Governor Ed Rendell spin this bill on behalf of his Pennsylvania constutents? Since he anticipates Verizon waiving its right to stop local competition, and likes a "lucrative provision giving phone companies like Verizon large incentives to promise to modernize their networks", he'll just tell Pennsylvanians that if they bribed him as well as Verizon, they might get him to answer their calls, too.
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make install -not war
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Oh my God you are so right!
I can't believe the government is funding public libraries, they're taking money from commercial bookstores. Like, OmiGod! And the streets! Woah, they should let go of city maintenance and allow the commercial road surfacing companies to fill in the potholes on the street... But wait, there's more! Why is the police allowed to operate, don't they know that they're taking money away from commercial security providers? Heck why do we have cities to begin with, we could just outsource everything to India...
Wait...
I'm dashing off to the patent office with a big grin on my face...
"Piter, too, is dead."
I can hear the conversation now:
..etc...
VZ: Wi-Fi for every citizen, what a great Idea!
PA: Yeah, we're going to give it away to attract
a modern crowd.
VZ: Oh, yeah, the billions in infrastructure that
we put into your state, the jobs, tax revenue,
all that stuff, you still want that don't you?
It's not necessarily 'selling out', or 'paid off politicians', just legit local politics. States and towns have been whoring to business forever, in various incarnations. In the poli minds, it's better to have positive corporate presence than a few towns with wi-fi. Especially since the assets will be trash in 10 years, as wireless high-speed internet supplants it, delivered by none other than VZ.
Is there even a reason we vote anymore. I think I am about to become a principled non-voter based on the fact that our government is now so corrupt we only help legitimize it by voting. I think I will start a public ad drive next election cycle to encourage people not to vote with the goal of keeping the voting population below 50% and therefore keep our government illegitimate.
Its not so much like this is a bad law so much as corporations really have taken over (in place of the big churches) because they pay almost no taxes (because they know how to work the system) and they are both considered persons under the law regarding free expression but also act as a shield by their owners and executives through which great personal wealth can be created with no personal responsibility.
Lets face it. The BOD of Verizon or Haliburton could order me killed tommorrow and they would probably never even be charged. So much for a system of laws.
You mean just keep on giving Verizon my tax dollars in the form of gov't subsidies so that they can continue not delivering on their promises of expanding broadband coverage in Pennsyvania and just pocket my money in the end anyway. Thanks but I've seen Verizon in action...
What does it fucking matter?
I mean, the trend is leaning more and more corporate every year. When is voting going to become a show when what really matters is corporate backing? Oh wait, its half way there already.
Don't like what your customers are doing with your products? Write a law against them, push it through the court. Soon, your opposition is arrested or forced to stop doing what you don't like.
Don't like another business? Write a law against them, push it through the court. Soon, your opposition is arrested or forced out of business.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
That's not competition, that's a tax-funded program. How is verizon (or any other carrier) supposed to compete against that? Verizon can't take the money from you against your will, like the government can. Verizon can't force you to be a customer.
And when the big corporations lobby for preferential legislation (which they do frequently), it's not capitalism, it's socialism. In capitalism the government can't hinder or support any private entity: their fates are left to the market to decide.
The city of Philadelphia made a deal with Verizon to let them break new PA communication laws?
Can I make a deal with Smith & Wesson to legally shoot the people who made those laws?
More seriously - if this is a law generally governing how the government can (or can't) compete with commercial wireless services, how the hell can one company give the city the OK to break the law? If the law is actually written to prevent competition with Verizon specifically, how can PA citizens not be rebelling?
That's not competition, that's a tax-funded program. How is verizon (or any other carrier) supposed to compete against that? Verizon can't take the money from you against your will, like the government can. Verizon can't force you to be a customer.
Have you lost sight of the fact that Verizon is just not some private sector company? The government(s) have given the phone company MONOPOLY status. This same Verizon has done everything in its lobbying power to prevent other private companies from competing with them. I think there is a pretty long history that demonstrates Verizon has no interest in serving the public in a broad approach; they just want to skim the 'cheaper to service' customers. The PA initiative is visionary--like rural electrification. It realizes, to use the words of the business person, that in order to be competitive in todays global enconomy in an information age, residents of the city need to be part of the information haves, not have nots.
Remember that Verizon fought tooth and nail in the states it 'serves' to prevent ISDN (and later DSL) from being considering a non-discretionary service subject to public utility regulation which I think would have resulted in much broader roll-out. Now that a city realizes that Verizon has no plans to roll out service to everyone, they want to provide it themselves as an infrastructure.
Philly is just trying to be competitive. Its just like how cities/states give tax incentives for people to move their businesses there.
The monolopy Verizon has is absurd. Here in Maryland, a long time ago, Verizon upgraded from analog to digital switches (SS7). The cost of that upgrade was allowed to be pass on to the rate payer with promises of new digital features for POTS and ISDN capability. Despite the ratepayer paying for the SS7 infrastructue, Verizon started charging outrageous fees ($3.50 for Caller ID per month, etc) for software capabilities we had to pay for. Verizon has no real interest in serving all the people in Philly--they would much rather implement 'caller ringtones' that they can charge $2 bucks a month for. I wish I had a money machine like that.