Kiss net neutrality goodbye: AT&T is a major presence at the Democratic Convention
The conventional wisdom among my friends who are Net Neutrality fanatics is that a change of regime will finally bring about tough net neutrality legislation, ushering in a Golden Age of cutthroat competition in the US market for broadband services, leading to faster speeds, lower monthly costs for Internet access, no throttling, no deep packet inspection, no blocking of applications and so on.
I have serious doubts about my friends’ fantasies, especially after reading this AP news article which reports that AT&T has a huge presence at the Democratic Convention: “It is virtually everywhere, wining and dining delegates and members of Congress with a relentless schedule of luncheons and evening parties. AT&T has the most high-profile corporate presence in Denver . . .” Of course, they’re probably wining and dining our friends in Washington DC all the time so doing it in Denver means only business as usual.
While you and I may cast our votes in November in the hope that US broadband will stop its precipitous decline into oblivion in comparison to other countries, our elected officials may not necessarily be thinking of our generous support when it comes time to pass laws that mean true net neutrality and open access.
Muniwireless readers are a cynical lot: 53% say that an Obama Administration will NOT mean cheaper, faster broadband (see poll on the right side of the page).
Related posts:
Loading ...
AT&T has lots of reasons to wine ‘n dine the Dems, because if Obama wins there is a better-than-even chance that net neutrality laws will get passed in 2009, according to folks we interviewed for our Sidecut Net Neutrality Report. No surprise that Ma Bell is spreading a little dough around just in case the “other side” wins this election.
[...] What this means for net nuetrality [...]
Absolutly ridiculous that corporations and their control over legislation can take away our very right to communicate with each other. I am looking for work in media reform asap because this is the most important fight we face today.
Clearwire has AT&T and like on run,
Wi-Max is going to KILL the old Biz model they are built on.
Voip is robbing them of the LOng Distance mins, there Bread N Butter.
Next comes Wi-Max (Clearwire) taking the DSL customers and the Home Phone (Why do you think CoxCable is in on the New Clearwire)
They will be pushing IPTV to folks no need to ask a city or pay a fee.
No pole cost, no CPE CAPX.
AT&T Dog Slow DSL @ 25.00 a mth or a 6 meg Wi-Max for 19.95 UM …let me think….
Yea AT&T had better be looking for friends in high places.
Anyone who thinks net neutrality will be _given_ to us just by electing Ds instead of Rs is kidding themselves and always was. But that is true for every issue.
This is not something settled by electing “the right people” and then going home. Representative democracy only works when citizens stay engaged. Electing Democrats and Obama makes it easier for ideological reasons and because Obama is much more likely to appoint better folks in the exec branch (from my perspective). So the election does indeed make a huge difference.
But in the end, this only works if people want it and fight for it. Otherwise, why should anyone care what you think?
Net neutrality must be made law, the ISP’s word is not insurance enough. Users should be able to use the bandwith which they paid for in the way they want to without restriction.