Image
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Susan Crawford's Captive Audience Book Reviewed
By
on
I quickly read the just-released Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, and came away quite excited by Susan Crawford's new book.
Susan Crawford has been supportive of community owned networks and a loud voice against the poor policies that have allowed a few massive cable and telephone companies to monopolize our telecommunications. Her new book is a good resource for those just getting interested in this issue.
After the book was released last week, Susan Crawford appeared on the Diane Rehm show -- an excellent 50 minute interview that comes highly recommended. Be aware that the cable/telephone industry is engaging in character assassination to prevent Susan's message from reverberating around the country.
The book led to Sam Gustin's article in Time, "Is Broadband Internet Access a Public Utility?"
State and local laws that make it difficult — if not impossible — for new competition to emerge in broadband markets should be reformed, according to Crawford. For example, many states make it very difficult for municipalities to create public wireless networks, thanks to decades of state-level lobbying by the industry giants. In order to help local governments upgrade their communications grids, Crawford is calling for an infrastructure bank to help cities obtain affordable financing to help build high-speed fiber networks for their citizens. Finally, U.S. regulators should apply real oversight to the broadband industry to ensure that these market behemoths abide by open Internet principles and don’t price gouge consumers.Art Brodsky also reviewed the book on the Huffington Post. He leads with a reminder of the damage done by the NFL's replacement refs, an apt comparison given how poorly the FCC and Congress have protected the public. Susan will be our guest for the Community Broadband Bits Podcast (episode 29) on Tuesday, Jan 15, and I will be offering periodic thoughts on passages from the book in coming days/weeks.
Related Stories
Maine, New Mexico Want Starlink Part of the Mix: Balancing Trade-Offs and Concerns
States wary about the restrictions and delays with looming federal broadband grants are poised to put significant taxpayer resources into Starlink and other low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. The problem: such services often aren’t affordable, raise environmental questions, and may struggle to keep pace with consumer capacity demand.
Boulder Strikes $9 Million Broadband Deal With ALLO
The Boulder, Colorado city council has voted unanimously in favor of striking a $9 million deal with Nebraska based ALLO Communications that should ultimately provide fast fiber access to most of the city’s 330,000 residents. As per the deal, ALLO will provide broadband service to 80 percent of the city by 2028 and 97 percent of the city by 2030.
‘Innovation’ Think Tank Pushes Lazy Smear Of Community Broadband
New “study” maligning municipal broadband doesn’t come as much of a surprise despite its sweeping and patently false claims about the entire sector.
Consumer Groups Upset About a Chairman Brendan Carr
Consumer advocacy groups that frequently appear before the Federal Communications Commission are not happy with President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the agency. Brendan Carr, the agency’s senior Republican who’s now set to take the reins in January, wrote the Project 2025 chapter on the FCC.
Survey Shows Rising Broadband Costs, Broad Support For Government Help
A recent U.S. News And World Report survey of U.S. broadband subscribers shows that Americans are increasingly paying more money for broadband access. The survey also indicates broad public support for the recently defunded Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and other government-backed efforts to cap soaring broadband subscription costs.
Post Election Broadband Redux
Now that the election has been settled, many in the broadband space are wondering what, if anything, will change with the incoming Trump administration. We have to entertain the possibility that BEAD will change substantially.