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San Jose Mayor Quits FCC Advisory Committee, Says It is Dealing ISPs a 'Very Favorable Hand' (axios.com) 99

Posted by msmash from the major-claims dept.
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.
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San Jose Mayor Quits FCC Advisory Committee, Says It is Dealing ISPs a 'Very Favorable Hand' More

San Jose Mayor Quits FCC Advisory Committee, Says It is Dealing ISPs a 'Very Favorable Hand'

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  • Quelle Surprise! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Green Mountain Bot ( 4981769 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @01:07PM (#56000763)
    A Trump administration committee is advancing the interests of industry over the public. Who would ever have guessed?

    • Re:Quelle Surprise! (Score:4, Funny)

      by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @02:46PM (#56001823)

      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")

    • 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.

  • Quitting to Advance the Cause (Score:4, Insightful)

    by FrankHaynes ( 467244 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @01:19PM (#56000881)

    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)

      by ClickOnThis ( 137803 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @02:02PM (#56001311) Journal

      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.

      • 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)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @02:12PM (#56001427)

      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.

      • 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)

    by bogie ( 31020 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @01:26PM (#56000943) Journal

    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.

  • It's good that he sees through the bullshit and is willing to speak up about it, but it was the wrong move for him to resign from the committee; they'll just recruit someone who is a bobble-headed yes-man and will go along with the corporate cronyism, swamp-filling (as opposed to swamp-draining) bullshit that Ajit Pai is promoting. He should have stayed, and made it his mission to be the biggest pain in the ass the FCC has ever seen.

  • "FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's priority of making sure broadband internet reaches all Americans"

    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?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jd ( 1658 )

      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.

  • 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?

    • 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

  • The people of San Jose wisely understand the importance of using government resources to spread marxism into every last conceivable part of public policy.

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