San Jose Mayor Quits FCC Advisory Committee, Says It is Dealing ISPs a 'Very Favorable Hand' (axios.com) 99
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo resigned today from a panel that advises the Federal Communications Commission on broadband deployment, alleging that the committee is dealing internet service providers "a very favorable hand" of policy recommendations, Axios reports. From the report: The Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee is a key element of Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's priority of making sure broadband internet reaches all Americans. "It has become abundantly clear that despite the good intentions of several participants, the industry-heavy makeup of BDAC will simply relegate the body to being a vehicle for advancing the interests of the telecommunications industry over those of the public," said Liccardo, a Democrat, in his resignation letter. He told Axios that he thought that the committee's draft recommendations were trying to "steamroll cities" in favor of industry access to infrastructure. He pointed to a draft model law that would give states power over permitting for wireless broadband infrastructure at the expense, Liccardo says, of cities' interests.
Quelle Surprise! (Score:5, Insightful)
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Well, certainly his personal appointments that are shit-coated are his fault. Or is nothing Trump does or lies about a problem? That seems to be the Trump klan take. Teflon Dingleberry.
Re:Quelle Surprise! (Score:4, Interesting)
As was predicted during his campaign, it's not so much Trump, but the goons he installed as his lieutenants. Even if you cut out the associates of the Shadows, the tentacles remain and continue to grow throughout the body causing more problems.
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Lol. This CBTS thing is hilarious. Tell me more, please! I need a good laugh.
How does all the golf factor in I wonder?
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Everything bad is automatically Trump's fault.
It's the new "Thanks, Obama!"
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Everything bad is automatically Trump's fault.
Trump appointed this guy so he owns what he does. However in this case, I wonder exactly how this is bad....
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Shill detected
This made me laugh and realize we need a browser plug-in for this...
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Shill detected
Detected? My shill-meter exploded when it scanned the GP post.
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He'll never make it as far as a jail cell. He owes Russia too much now.
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Shill detected
What tipped you off? Was it "these companies can now earn fair and reasonable profits?"
Or was it the "I personally own massive holdings in telecom stocks?"
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it is not economically profitable for the government to build and maintain roads everywhere.
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Industry wants to provide broadband
If the industry could charge you for sending you a bill and doing nothing else, they would happily do that. They don't want to provide anything. They do as much as they must and not a bit more.
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> Industry wants to provide
Is THAT what they tell shareholders the goal is?
> fair and reasonable profit
Okay, we're done here.
Re:Quelle Surprise! (Score:5, Interesting)
1) "Over the holiday break, despite nine months of deliberations, a single industry representative completely rewrote a draft municipal code at the 11th hour, leaving municipal representatives scrambling with insufficient time to vet the hundreds of changes. That rewritten version closely resembled legislation that the industry pushed in 20 states across the country."
2) "The BDAC has focused on reducing municipal fees, and eliminating local control and discretion over where and how broadband infrastructure is deployed in the public right-of-way.
3) "The industry’s claim that reducing municipal lease rates on public infrastructure will help it better serve the 34 million Americans without broadband access bears little resemblance to patterns of industry investment in low-income neighborhoods and rural areas."
4) "[the industry] has sought to create a set of rules that will provide it with easy access to publicly-funded infrastructure at taxpayer-subsidized rates, without any obligation to provide broadband access to underserved residents."
5) "Below market rates and by-right access to public infrastructure also strip cities of the ability to hold companies accountable for building out networks to serve all areas of a city."
From where I sit, it sure looks like Liccardo has some valid points - points that are highly unlikely to be addressed at the state level.
Re: Quelle Surprise! (Score:1)
All those points could be addressed through either route... or by not appointing poachers to be gamekeepers in the first place.
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Re: Quelle Surprise! (Score:1)
Disingenuous bullshit.
Yes he was appointed as one of the commissioners by Obama, because FCC required a republican on the board. Ajit Pai was put forward by McConnell. And in this session Trump made the douche bag head of the FCC.
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Still, the anointed one DID appoint him...
Says the douchebag who didn't listen to the facts. Again.
Re:Quelle Surprise! (Score:4, Funny)
A Trump administration committee is advancing the interests of industry over the public. Who would ever have guessed?
Everyone at Veridian Dynamics:
"Money before people," that's the company motto. Engraved on the lobby floor. It just looks more heroic in Latin."
-- Veronica Palmer (Better Off Ted [wikipedia.org], Season 1 Episode 4: "Racial Sensitivity")
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A Trump administration committee is advancing the interests of industry over the public. Who would ever have guessed?
How is this industry interest over public interest?
Seriously... Exactly how is this what you describe? Could it possibly be that deregulating this industry will have the same effect that deregulating the airlines had? Where prices fell and seat availably climbed? In this case relaxing regulations worked out in both industry's and the public's interests.
Re:How does this solve anything? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you were really trying to help the public you would have stayed any fought your hardest at anything that comes though the committee.
Unless you can't actually do anything. I spoke with a CEO once who was on one of Trump's committees and he had some interesting things to say about when you should stay on these committees and when you should leave.
When you should stay: You feel like your voice is heard. You feel like your opinions have real influence. You feel like you're representing an interest and that you can prevent harm to that interest. You aren't going to get everything you want, but you still are able to make a difference.
When you should leave: You feel like you can't make a difference because the deck is stacked against you. You feel like the one liberal on a Fox News opinion panel (you were put there basically to rally everyone else against you). You're only there so they can claim a false "balance" of interests. You're there only so they can claim they listened to both sides when their intention was to ram through their original plan regardless of what comes up. You feel like your name is being appropriated for acts that you're strongly against, that your personal reputation is being tarnished by this association. You feel like you can do more with a protest quitting than you can by being sidelined on the inside.
Said CEO had clearly been thinking about this, because he left the committee shortly after.
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When your presence grants the appearance of legitimacy to an illegitimate process, you should remove your presence.
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We do have city-based water/sewer and power in a lot of places. And roads
None of which just go where they want to on their own. We do that because the city can control exactly where pipes and roads go. You can't do that with wireless.
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Directional antennas, bro.
In which case you have to have far more antennas than a city is likely to afford, or plenty of dark spots.
I think directional antennas are fantastic for connecting small numbers of people where laying cables is cost prohibitive, but I shudder at the idea of trying to connect a whole city with them.
Quitting to Advance the Cause (Score:4, Insightful)
I've never understood this move. So he gets his 15 minutes of "fame" and then is quickly forgotten. Meanwhile, the board/committee now has one less voice to advance the cause he represented. How is this effective?
And for those of you against "big government" (except when it serves your own interests), I will agree that regulations should be relaxed IF AND ONLY IF true, honest-to-goodness competition on the local level exists. It does not now and is unlikely to exist in the future because that last mile is a effective monopoly.
Of course, the solution to the Last Mile problem is to "nationalize" the infrastructure and let service providers compete without having to run a separate wire to your premise. But then this runs afoul of the "less government" crowd. So you can't win. They want to have their cake and eat it, too, but not only that they want extra icing.
Re:Quitting to Advance the Cause (Score:5, Insightful)
I've never understood this move. So he gets his 15 minutes of "fame" and then is quickly forgotten. Meanwhile, the board/committee now has one less voice to advance the cause he represented. How is this effective?
Apparently he felt his presence was giving the advisory committee an air of legitimacy that it did not deserve. So he quit. Makes sense to me.
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Obviously not, or he wouldn't have quit. You never get to hear the stories about micro-aggressions or harassment happening behind the scenes leading up to a high-profile departure like this.
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Right, and now he won't go down in history as a guy that helped the FCC fuck over Americans.
Re:Quitting to Advance the Cause (Score:4, Informative)
I've never understood this move. So he gets his 15 minutes of "fame" and then is quickly forgotten.
I live in San Jose, and I had no idea that Sam was on the FCC advisory committee. So if he hadn't resigned, I would have never known his position. Neither would you.
Sam is a moderate, and is actually considered "right-wing" by Bay Area standards, so his voice carries weight. He is not just a knee-jerk anti-Trump liberal.
the board/committee now has one less voice to advance the cause he represented.
Nobody was listening to dissenting voices anyway. The FCC is a victim of regulatory capture [wikipedia.org].
The real problem is not bad policies, but the corruption of the process of creating those policies.
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So, to take this to its absurd extreme, those voters who feel disenfranchised because of the election of Trump to the Presidency should all quit America? There are a great many who feel the electoral process is corrupted, making their votes worthless.
Vacating the premises removes them as constituents with the right to demand reform, so the corruption will only continue and likely worsen. I see no logic in this move. Even by remaining a mole in the system you can do something to improve the process, but by q
Pricing (Score:4, Insightful)
My favorite part about the scum bag ISPs is the pricing. Even though the pricing for transferring data has plummeted over the years the prices to the consumer have only gone up. Why aren't we paying $19 a month for unlimited Internet? Why aren't the states doing anything about this and protecting us from clear abuse? BTW for those of you with a lot of money to spare you can buy off of State Senators for a very very small amount of money just in case you were wondering.
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That requires US State Law to change.
Chattanooga needs to be able to sell Internet to whomever they damn well please and any other town in the US should have the absolute authority to do exactly the same. If it is truly we the people, then all people have the right to compete.
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https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of... [numbeo.com]
US is given as the 9th worst for cost out of the 90 countries measured.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/n... [forbes.com]
Forbes measures 196 countries and puts the US at 114th, so the 82nd worst in the world.
But what do you get for this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Wikipedia says it's the tenth fastest... out of a list of ten.
https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]
Statistica says the same.
https://www.fastmetrics.com/in... [fastmetrics.com]
Fastmetrics gives a shade of puke.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/k... [forbes.com]
Forbes
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Q. Why is Whopper-neutrality not a problem?
A. Because BK does not discriminate.
Q. Why are there no laws regulating burger-neutrality?
A. Because discrimination has not occurred and is not a problem.
Q. Why is Whopper-neutrality not a problem?
A. McDonalds, Wendy's, Jack-in-the-Box, Chic-fil-a, Taco Bell......
Net neutrality is just a (necessary) band-aid. The real solution is competition, lots of it. Federal, state and local governments should be doing everything possible to permit, encourage and enable
Agree with him, but wrong move to make (Score:1)
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Turn off the spellchecker on your phone; 'archiving' != 'achieving'.
Road Apple (Score:2)
That there is some pure, uncut horseshit, presented in this article without challenge.
Show of hands, please (Trumpers too!): Who here thinks "broadband reaching all Americans" is anywhere near a "priority" for Ajit Pai?
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Well, in a sense, it is. By downgrading the definition of broadband to two tin cans and a piece of string, he has ensured every American has access to it.
Why Quit? (Score:1)
I do not understand why he quit at all. If you are against something a committee is doing, why in the heck would you give up power by leaving the committee?
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I do not understand why he quit at all. If you are against something a committee is doing, why in the heck would you give up power by leaving the committee?
If the politician in question is actually in favor of a committee's actions but those making up his political base are not, then leaving the committee will provide political cover while not acting to oppose the committee.
Don't know if that's the case here, but there it is.
Strat
probably why he got elected !! (Score:1)