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FCC Cancels Free Internet Vote
Earlier this year we discussed a proposal from the FCC which would have required winning bidders for a portion of the wireless spectrum to use some of that bandwidth for free internet access. A vote for the plan was scheduled for next Thursday, but now the FCC has canceled those plans, facing "opposition from several top officials, wireless providers, and even civil rights groups." The internet access would have had some level of filtering, to which privacy groups took exception, and the Bush administration objected to forcing requirements on the winners of the spectrum auction. Others simply asked the FCC not to take on such a major project as the transition between analog and digital television transmissions looms.
> Wasn't there a U.S. city that recently was sued by a telecom because they had the unmitigated gall to actually make plans to build their own fiber network for use by their residents, because that telecom didn't want to be bothered to build the infrastructure themselves?
There are many. Here's a few:
Utah's Utopia project vs. Qwest: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/99301 and http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/97502
Utah's iProvo deployment (which is weird because a company, Broadweave, bought the entire muni deployment): http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/94208
Powell, WY vs. Qwest and Bresnan Comm.: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/94814
Monticello, MN vs. TDS Telecom: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/98320
Vermont vs. ...themselves: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/94893
There's also the fibre ownership ordeal in Ottawa, but that's a little different (no lawsuits): http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/96618