« Driven By A Little Old Lady On Sundays | Main | NToddcast: One Come A Day »
Thursday, June 09, 2005
PITA
A Texas Congressman has introduced a bill that impose a nationwide prohibition on municipally-sponsored networks.
Dubbed by the Author, Representative Pet Sessions (R-Texas), the Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act of 2005, the bill prohibits state and local governments from providing any telecommunications or information service that is "substantially similar" to services provided by private companies.
If a community wants to setup free WiFi, it has every fucking right to do so. If a private company wants to compete, then they can fucking compete. Keep your fucking hands off the fucking system you fucking greedy bastard parasite people.
Ahem.
ntodd
[Update: I just love how these assholes trumpet the free market, but then try to rig the game for their corporate buddies. Not unlike what Santorum has proposed to help his Weather Channel buddies. Welcome to the United States of WalMart.
And just remember that corporatism is a form of fascism.]
June 9, 2005 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c525c53ef00d83426be2653ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference PITA:
» Reverse Directory: Accurate Data Verification Services from Complete Planet
Directory of databases and specialty search engines from Bright Planet... [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 28, 2006 11:00:36 PM
Comments
Preserve the free market at all costs! Don't allow municipal WiFi! That would be communism!
I bet Sessions' #1 donors are from the telecommunications industry. What a fuckhead.
Posted by: Agitprop | Jun 9, 2005 3:14:37 PM
At least you have to admit that Sessions's bill has an apt acronym. It describes him pretty well, too.
I'm not yet among the unwired (maybe this year sometime), but I've been seeking out free WiFi spots in Houston for future reference. Ironically, the Harris County libraries are all free hotspots, but only one of 'em is within the city limits. (I wonder if Sessions intends to shut those down, including the one at the [ahem] Barbara Bush Library.) And the city libraries? they appear to be in no hurry. A lot of restaurants, coffee shops and a couple of pubs are starting to offer "free" WiFi with purchase. All in all, there seem to be well over a hundred free outlets here already. Rep. Sessions has a tough row to hoe.
Posted by: Steve Bates | Jun 9, 2005 5:22:52 PM
Not just WiFi -
Cox Cable and SBC are doing their damndest to derail a fiber to the household initiative in Lafayette, Louisiana. Lies, damned lies, and FUD are the only weapons they have, since they can't seem to offer more or better value than municipally-provided REAL broadband to the home.
Lafayette invested in a fiber ring years ago when expanding municipal utilities, and now it's time to reap the benefits of that money and work - and now some jerks from Cox, SBC (and now Sessions) wants to snuff it.
Screw 'em. Information should be accessible by the easiest means possible. Corporations should have no say in whether municipalities choose to provide broadband to citizens - NONE!
Makes me sick that companies lobby MY lawmakers to get crappy laws like this put forward. It's a joke - just not a very funny one.
Posted by: F'in Librul | Jun 9, 2005 7:57:03 PM
I posted about this on my blog yesterday afternoon, but it's stuck for some reason and won't show my posts. Grrrrr. We're working on it.
I could be wrong, but the way I'm reading it, the bill is not just about wi-fi; it's aimed directly at initiatives like Burlington Telecom. This kind of legislation could be very bad for Vermont, where rural communities are getting grants to fund wireless networks. Although I'm betting they're more concerned about the big urban areas. I know Verizon and Adelphia aren't eager to extend services into more rural and therefore more challenging parts of the state, and they'd probably welcome some municipal investment there. I bet they're making provisions for that in their legislation.
Posted by: cresmer | Jun 10, 2005 9:26:33 AM
That noise you hear is thousands of telecom providers stamping their feetsies because they blew the lock they hand on this country with poor service and coverage.
Posted by: LabKat | Jun 10, 2005 10:05:02 AM
Buy me stuff off my 
