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The Misleading Fliers Comcast Used To Kill Off a Local Internet Competitor

Posted by Unknown on from the muni-broadband-madness! dept.

Jason Koebler (3528235) writes In the months and weeks leading up to a referendum vote that would have established a locally owned fiber network in three small Illinois cities, Comcast and SBC (now AT&T) bombarded residents and city council members with disinformation, exaggerations, and outright lies to ensure the measure failed. The series of two-sided postcards painted municipal broadband as a foolhardy endeavor unfit for adults, responsible people, and perhaps as not something a smart woman would do. Municipal fiber was a gamble, a high-wire act, a game, something as "SCARY" as a ghost. Why build a municipal fiber network, one asked, when "internet service [is] already offered by two respectable private businesses?" In the corner, in tiny print, each postcard said "paid for by SBC" or "paid for by Comcast." The postcards are pretty absurd and worth a look.

4 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Get used to this... by SoCalChris · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, he's associating it with Citizen's United v. FEC

  2. Re:If... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What this means is that people have absolutely no idea what the internet is, how it works and how any of it affects them. Computers are still magic to most people. I used to hope that as more and more people grow up with computers, computer literacy would improve. Nothing of the sort happened. These people use computers more, but they accept them as quasi-intelligent/magic devices. They don't even understand the fundamental difference between Facebook/Twitter and the open web, even though that's hardly a technological thing. They perceive big businesses as relatively safe havens. Diversity and choice in a field where they can only make random decisions based on no understanding is plain scary. They don't want choice, they don't want freedom. They are not equipped to handle it.

  3. Re:Appropriate punishment by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    They were not stating *facts*, but rather their opinion.

    Did you look at the fliers?

    There's this quote:

    "internet service [is] already offered by two respectable private businesses?"

    I'm pretty sure referring to Comcast as a "respectable business" is about as fraudulent as it gets. I'm surprised these fliers didn't burst into flames before the shills could hand them out.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. I WAS THERE. IT'S ALL TRUE. by PeteCollins · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All: Feel free to hit me up with any questions. Either here, via email, or phone. Pete Collins I.T. Manager City of Geneva, Illinois pcollins@geneva.il.us 630.232.1743