Publicly owned broadband would serve city best

[GAspnes]

From the STrib: http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5533895.html

On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled that cable companies have the sole authority to decide who may use their high-speed communications networks. They can decide what information to transmit, and what information they will refuse to transmit.

The decision clears the way for the FCC to allow phone companies to monopolize their own information highways. And it underscores the need for communities to build their own information infrastructure.

Both cable and phone companies want to sign up as many Internet subscribers as possible because in the near future, phone, television and Internet will all be offered through the same broadband connection. The market is huge. If current trends continue, households will spend more on information services than on energy within a few years.

Since all information networks use or cross public spaces, our local governments are involved in decisions about the design and ownership of our information futures. In April, Minneapolis declared its intention to build a new, privately owned and operated, citywide broadband network. The network will create a citywide wireless cloud, and will require substantial and expensive upgrades to the city's fiber optic backbone. Within weeks, the City Council will vote on whether to enter contract negotiations with a single provider.

For those of us living in the city, it's time to contact your city council member and push for this. As the article points out, Time-Warner hasn't lived up to their side of the cable TV contract. Minneapolis shouldn't trust them to be a sole-provider network resource.

[shoelace414]

1. in Wisconsin...

it's against state law for cities to provide internet access.

because it would be cheaper and better, obvously.

[hobbit709]

2. That sentence scares me

"If current trends continue, households will spend more on information services than on energy within a few years."

I pay $120 a month for DirecTV, my SBC phone, SBC-DSL and my VOIP line.
My utility bills run from $150/mo to $300/mo. Takes a lot of AC in the summer here in Austin(and summer lasts about 7 months)

[GAspnes]

3. Yes, that line bothered me, too

My Dad was a librarian and argued regularly and vociferously that all information should be free. I can see some of the economic difficulties with that but I can't argue with the premise.

[wli]

4. that's the idea

They want to price the internet out of the reach of the masses, so they are strictly confined within the thrall of MSM propaganda.