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Kansas Delays Municipal Broadband Ban

Posted by Soulskill on from the hold-up-cowboy dept.

Mokurai writes with an update to a story from last week about legislation in Kansas that would have banned most municipal broadband, including the expansion of Google Fiber. Now, after the public backlash that erupted online, government officials have postponed the legislation's hearings, putting it on hold indefinitely. From the article: "Senate Bill 304 would prohibit cities and counties from building public broadband networks. The Commerce Committee, which [Sen. Julia Lynn] chairs, was scheduled to have a hearing Tuesday, but Lynn released a statement that hearings have been postponed indefinitely. 'Based on the concerns I heard last week, I visited with industry representatives and they have agreed to spend some time gathering input before we move forward with a public hearing,' Lynn said in a statement. 'We'll revisit the topic when some of these initial concerns have been addressed.' Lynn elaborated while exiting a Senate Judiciary hearing. The senator said she has instructed 'the parties' involved with the bill to address the public’s concerns. The bill was introduced by John Federico, a cable industry lobbyist."

6 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Translation by Art+Challenor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'We'll revisit the topic when some of these initial concerns have been addressed.'

    We're going to keep introducing this legislation until people stop watching and we can pass it (see also SOPA).

    1. Re:Translation by c0lo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Did they pass SOPA when I wasn't looking?

      They "distilled" it into TPP.
      In a sudden burst of common sense, seems that that (the/some/idnk-what-percentage) Dems are opposing Obama on this one.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    2. Re:Translation by jxander · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think that the introduction of ANY competition would make the system cheaper and higher quality.

      The only thing preventing progress is collusion. Cox, Time Warner, Comcast, etc have agreed not to step on each others toes. Only 1 provider available in most markets means a functional monopoly.

      I think the government would be hard pressed to provide something WORSE than the current offerings. Seriously, they'd have to make a valiant effort to fuck it up that badly. And even a marginally better solution would cause a pretty large exodus from the current companies. Forcing them to improve their product (or lower their prices)

      --
      This signature is false.
  2. Re:We elect the greediest, most ill-informed... by tripleevenfall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No one votes on issues anymore. Everyone has been conditioned to vote based on identity politics.

    const "I am a (voting_block_01), therefore, I vote for (party_01)."

  3. Come on Common Carrier! by ArhcAngel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The sooner these bastards get labeled common carriers the better.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  4. Re:Good by wizkid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Say what you will about the big telcos that have buildings and pop's in the area. They won't provide broadband. Yes they're there and selling services to businesses. they won't touch broadband though. That would create competition. The only way to open up competition will be to encourage small business to come in and provide a better product. The telco's would rather spend money on lobbyists then put fiber in the ground.

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    I take no responsibility for what I say. Even though I'm never wrong :)