How Big Telecom Smothers Municipal Broadband

Rick Zeman writes: The Center for Public Integrity has a comprehensive article showing how Big Telecom (aka, AT&T, Comcast, Charter, Time Warner) use lobbyists, paid-for politicians, and lawsuits (both actual and the threat thereof) in their efforts to kill municipal broadband. From the article: "The companies have also used traditional campaign tactics such as newspaper ads, push polls, direct mail and door-to-door canvassing to block municipal networks. And they've tried to undermine the appetite for municipal broadband by paying for research from think tanks and front groups to portray the networks as unreliable and costly."

Comments

Terrible idea

[Dega704]

Municipalities providing a critical infrastructure? What Lunacy! That will never work! What other crazy ideas do these municipalities have in store for us? Electricity? Running water and sewage? Gas heating? Paved roads? Balderdash! Best to leave these things to the large corporations and eliminate all of the regulations since they have nothing but the public's best interests at heart. To the free market fairy we pray for forgiveness. Amen.

Re:um

[mvdwege]

You forgot to mention Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi.