Minn. Supreme Court Upholds City's Right To Build Own Network

BcNexus writes with news from Minnesota that may have significance for cities around the US where municipal networks are either in place or planned: "Here's the latest development in a fight pitting a telecommunication company against government competition. The telco, TDS, took its fight all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court because it thought the city had no right to serve people's internet, voice and television needs with its own network, but has failed." Also from Minnesota today, BcNexus writes "The State of Minnesota was the first to blink and chose to avoid a court showdown when it dropped its attempt to block online gambling sites."

Comments

Re:Free markets

[JJNess]

Trouble is, I'm sure there's some bit of our tax money being used to make this failnet, whether or not we as citizens use it. If my city decides to do something like this, I'll be sure to attend every city council meeting and read everything I can about it to try to gauge how well-built the network will be.

Re:Fail?

[ArsonSmith]

Will it fail just like municipal electric, water, sewer, and telephone?

Probably. All of the above, except maybe sewer but I don't pay much attention to that, have failed.

Electricity ... better done privately (ohh, but ever deregulation always stirred up some kind of trouble...no, there was transition problems, but better service afterward.)
Water ... If your only level of success is "Mostly safe to drink" or "Doesn't kill most people" then yes. Otherwise I buy most of my water from private industries.
Sewer ... Like I said I may give you this one as I rarely hear of the shit backing up to bad.
Telephone ... Being replaced by commercial cell towers.

Re:The Gov't does not have 'Rights'

[gregulator]

So, you do not understand the Constitutional limits of the Government? If 74% of the population voted that we should be able to own slaves, you think the Gov't should enforce that? We do NOT live in a democracy (mob rule) we live in a Republic (law rules.) And as such, the powers of what the Gov't can do are limited by law, and not what the people vote.

!Competition

[MSTCrow5429]

We call it something else when someone steals money from you, and then uses your stolen money to buy something, and then sets up shop in opposition to those in civil society, i.e. those who only ask for your money, and don't take it from you at gunpoint.