[Chtechcomm] Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act pending Federal legislation
Terri Buckner
tbuckner at ibiblio.org
Tue Aug 2 09:58:11 EDT 2005
John McCain is also sponsoring Senate Bill 1294, an amendment to the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, that will "preserve and protect the
ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and
services." The clear contradiction between these two bills sponsored by
the same individual is confusing and deserves more investigation. For
links to S 1294 and a concise review of Community Internet initiatives,
see http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet/.
The original Telecommunications Act as well the 1996 revisions have
failed to achieve their intended purposes of making cable services more
competitive, rather than regulated. The merging of technology,
specifically the Internet, and broadcast media is further confusing that
purpose. Big business vs open government vs knowledge economy...a debate
that will rage on for several more years.
I continue to believe that Chapel Hill should act quickly to put some
kind of municipal network in place as a contingency measure. In this
case, haste might avoid wasted opportunity.
Terri
Gregg Gerdau wrote:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/news/intheknow/intheknow-20050729#story2
is one of the better links, in my opinion, to information and analysis
of the Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act that was introduced
by Senators Ensign and McCain on July 27th. While there will be much
written about the loss of cable franchise fees (and the franchises
themselves) contemplated by this legislation, most disappointing is "A
state or local government seeking to provide a communications service
must give notice of and permit non-government entities to bid to provide
such service – preference is to be given to non-government entities.
Existing government owned network offerings are grandfathered." which
doesn't appear to be good news for municipal wi-fi projects.
Thanks to Bob Avery and Chad Johnston for the initial information.
Please share your further thoughts and additional links on this subject.
Gregg
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