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PSA: Bill HB282 would make it illegal in Georgia for anybody to compete against ISPs

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Anonemous

Diamond Member
So with all this internet talk about capping and what not... anybody following the Georgia bill which will prohibit any of the towns from setting up their own fiber/internet services?

http://www.muninetworks.org/content/community-leaders-testify-against-hb-282-bill-passes-anyway

Community leaders from several Georgia cities made the trek to Atlanta to oppose HB 282 on Thursday, February 28th. Opposition to this bill to limit investment in Internet networks includes community leaders, high tech companies, and citizens all over the state. Nevertheless, legislators on the House Energy, Utilities, and Telecom Committee chose to ignore the needs of communities, prefering to tell them from afar how to run their towns. Winners? Incumbents Windstream, AT&T, CenturyLink, and Comcast.
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Guess which state is going to be next?
 
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We seriously need a revolution. When are we, the people, will be fed up?

In case you haven't noticed, they're taking all your guns away, too.
 
Heaven forbid we leave it up to the local municipalities to decide if they want to upgrade/offer internet. Everyone knows we already have far too many options and competition among ISP providers as it is 🙄
 
Georgia isn't the first state to ban municipal telecom/broadband. Actually they haven't passed the bill yet, its just made it out of committe in their house chamber. It has quite a ways to go before final passage.

But you can blame SCotUS for allowing it, as well as people who think municipal utilities are socialism.

Current title of thread is misleading. It makes it sound like no one can compete with the ISPs, which is not the case, only political subdivisions of the state will be forbidden from competing. The titles should be, "Georgia bill would ban Municipal ISPs from competing with Private Businesses."
 
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SSSnail said:
We seriously need a revolution. When are we, the people, will be fed up?

In case you haven't noticed, they're taking all your guns away, too.
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yep take away the guns, then you have a population that cant ever rise up easily.

undercut education so the poeple are too stupid to realize they are being screwed over,

use mass media to make people believe the government is good for them and that anyone anti government is a traitor and un patriotic,

make whole food prices high so lower class people have to eat shit food and arnt healthy enough to take care of themselves.

inflate cost of living like gas and housing so people make just enough to work.

A working serf class keeps the elite commerce moving and controls resistant population. People will be less wiling to fight back when they have more to lose. If you can barely survive then boycotting work, or rights is alot harder. you are much more limited in what you can use to survive. So with less options comes less items to sacrifice.
 
Wow, that sucks.

I can already see it happen, the RIAA/MPAA will buy up the few ISPs left, and run the entire show. One state today, the world tomorrow.
 
I don't get it, so they are cutting expansion of DSL and internet services (AT&T and Windstream) and they don't want the towns with crappy or no service to help themselves...

http://www.muninetworks.org/content/georgia-bill-aims-limit-investment-internet-networks

Guess if this passes, Georgia will be left behind.

You also see stuff like this going to happen to everyone soon...

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/0...n-to-rob-americans-of-a-public-telco-network/
AT&T has a sneaky plan.

It wants to exploit a loophole in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s rules to kill what remains of the public telecommunications network — and all of the consumer protections that go with it. It’s the final step in AT&T’s decade-long effort to end all telecommunications regulation, and the simplicity of the plan highlights a dysfunction unique to the American regulatory system.
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Exterous said:
Heaven forbid we leave it up to the local municipalities to decide if they want to upgrade/offer internet. Everyone knows we already have far too many options and competition among ISP providers as it is 🙄
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The problem is if a political subdivision of a state fails, it is the state that ends up bailing them out. I can see the states interests in preventing a municipality from racking up tons of debt. Shouldn't be a blanket ban though.
 
Anonemous said:
I don't get it, so they are cutting expansion of DSL and internet services (AT&T and Windstream) and they don't want the towns with crappy or no service to help themselves...

http://www.muninetworks.org/content/georgia-bill-aims-limit-investment-internet-networks

Guess if this passes, Georgia will be left behind.

You also see stuff like this going to happen to everyone soon...

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/0...n-to-rob-americans-of-a-public-telco-network/
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You need to change that to only crappy broadband, as the bill allows for municipal broadband in un-served areas.

The only people that have the power to change this is Congress. Their poorly written bills were what allowed SCotUS to allow states to ban public telecom.
 
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There was a similar bill passed in NC after Wilson, NC rolled out their own local Internet and cable service. Petition your local congressman, but the bill will likely pass. It's also really short sighted. The whole industry will be run and regulated like the utility companies within 20 years. Internet access has become less of a luxury and more a necessity in this day and age.
 
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