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Bernie Sanders Vows to Break up Huge ISPs and Regulate Broadband Prices

posted by martyb on Monday December 09 2019, @07:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the snowballs-chance dept.

Freeman writes:

Presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders yesterday released a plan to overhaul the US broadband market by breaking up giant providers, outlawing data caps, regulating broadband prices, and providing $150 billion to build publicly owned networks.

[...]Sanders said he would "eliminate data caps and ban throttling" and "instruct the FCC to regulate broadband Internet rates so households and small businesses are connected affordably." This would include a requirement "that all Internet service providers offer a Basic Internet Plan that provides quality broadband speeds at an affordable price."

[...]Sanders' $150 billion proposal includes a Department of Agriculture Rural Utility Service program "to provide capital funding to connect all remote rural households and businesses and upgrade outdated technology and infrastructure, prioritizing funding for existing co-ops and small rural utilities." Sanders said that $7.5 billion should be set aside for tribal areas and that all public housing should provide free broadband to residents.

[...]Sanders also wants the FCC to define broadband as a minimum of 100Mbps download speeds and 10Mbps uploads, instead of the current 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up. Sanders would also "reinstate and expand privacy protection rules," reversing the Trump-era decision to eliminate broadband-privacy rules.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/bernie-sanders-vows-to-break-up-huge-isps-and-regulate-broadband-prices/

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  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:05PM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:05PM (#930589) Journal

    Sounds good. But, let's remember that Bernie is a rich old white guy, and a member of the Good Old Boy's Club. He isn't going to play hard ball with other rich old white men.

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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:36PM (1 child)

    by Arik (4543) on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:36PM (#930722) Journal
    I'm afraid there may be *some* truth to that.

    Watch him in the debates - he can't attack. Everybody up there are his friends. Even if it's completely one-sided, they obviously don't think of him as a friend. He's a genuinely nice guy, and that's not always a good thing, but it's not always a bad thing either. A nice guy he might be, but put him in a position to get something done and line up all those 'friends' on the other side as obstructionists and we might see him snap a little. Only time will tell for sure.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @01:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @01:49PM (#931036)

      Well, we saw what happened when we put a "not-nice guy" in the WH.

      I'm game for putting a nice guy in there instead.