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Friday, June 09, 2006
So the House passed a bill that leaves open the possibility that the telcos will rearrange the net to give good delivery for those who pay them and, well, do their best with the rest of the world. Notes Joe Trippi.com (quoting the Nation) how it came about:Bowing to an intense lobbying campaign that spent tens of millions of dollars – and held out the promise of hefty campaign contributions for those members who did the bidding of interested firms – the House voted 321 to 101 for the disingenuously-named Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE). That bill, which does not include meaningful network-neutrality protections creates an opening that powerful telephone and cable companies hope to exploit by expanding their reach while doing away with requirements that they maintain a level playing field for access to Internet sites. This shows us a couple things: 1) The folks in government are more than happy to help their friends in big business grab ahold of anything where individual citizens who don't make contributions in the thousands are getting a voice or a foothold. 2) Big business, with its eyes ever on profit, realizes that owning the government is a better way to secure a revenue stream than fussing with appealing to consumers.
If there were a way to set it up, we'd do well for the next Congress to be evenly divided between the Libertarians and the Socialists. Maybe the gridlock plus Bush not having to worry about hurting irresponsible Republicans feelings with a veto would at least slow down the theft of our dollars and the encroachment of business upon the direction of a government ostensibly of the people.
This wouldn't be happening if the Republicans controlled Congress! Or the Presidency! Or the Courts! Oh, wait...
posted by gbarto at 11:17 AM
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