Telecommunications

I really do not need to comment here but as a local blogger friend of mine consistently says, it is time for the oligarchy to end. It is amazing to me how some huge mega companies can spend hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise and promote their product under the guise of making life easier while all the while they seem to be profiting at the expense of communities. What is more shameful is how some "elected" tolerate such activity seemingly ignorant of community voices by sponsoring legislation to encourage such corporate behavior. Here are some links that are well worth your time if you are interested in community media:

att-is-a-big-steaming-heap-of-failure

How NTIA dismantled public interest provisions

This PDF file Free Press Reply comments
In particular, pages 26-29 where Free Press examines Verizon's practice of dumping rural customers onto smaller companies who then go bankrupt.

link to apprising Whats wrong with the broadband

This is the NTIA PDF
BTOP RULES notice of funding availability

Short Deadlines for stimulus funds hits munis hard

Don't forget this is about your access to technology, to channels of communication, to community, to information, to be included. Make sure your legislators are not forgetting that.

Our Friend Chuck Sherwood, sent us this link that ties in PEG channel interest:
from Image and Media Partners
Enjoy!

For anyone wishing to present themselves as knowledgeable about what is going with broadband or cable issues, one must read, in my opinion is Bunnie's Blog You will need to read more. The National Cable Telecommunications Association (NCTA) recently produced a white paper on broadband deployment that read like Greek to her and it will to many. Apparently confusion is often a tool used by swindlers and some lobbyist. When I am in conversation with activist, many of them local, the saying which pops up often, usually masked as a joke, regarding legislative matters is that here in the US it's " the best legislation money can buy". I certainly know there are governments that are much worse.

Nahh... I am a big fan of Bunnie Riedel's blog. She is a strong advocate for public access. In her latest blog she writes, and I pretty much quote, " that in Maryland the Department of Commerce was instructed to commission the study and so they did with the University of Minnesota. And guess what the researchers found out? Come on…20 points for the right answer! Yep, competition doesn’t lower prices and video service providers cherry-pick service areas. “Statewide video franchising—or in some states the practice of state‐issued franchises—has led to an increase in new providers, but the numbers are underwhelming….Texas reports occurrences when cable companies requested amendments to remove cities and towns from their service area. In 2005 and 2006, no removals were recorded for municipalities in Texas.

I don't know about you but I am sick of hearing how these racketeers rip us all off and seem to get away with it. The response becomes "what are you going to do?...we have no power.." You know that is BS, legislators and ALL government leadership are supposed to be working for US, the people. How is it that so called leaders seem to forget that ?

A Summary on the Comcast/FCC Net Neutrality Hearing
Posted on February 27, 2008 - 12:10pm.

Comcast Threatens the Open Internet – FCC Hears Complaints
Last summer, users of Comcast internet services reported cut-offs and significant decreases in their download speeds when they were sharing large content such as video, audio and data files using a peer-to-peer sharing application known as Bit Torrent (www.bittorrent.com).
Here is a link to the scoop
Viva save access