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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Utility Service program "to provide capital funding to connect all remote rural households and businesses and upgrade outdated technology and infrastructure, prioritizing funding for existing co-ops and small rural utilities."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.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Monday December 09 2019, @07:47PM (24 children)
To the contrary, if the legal environment rewards it, and the competition is doing it, then it IS something you have to do.
The incentives must be changed. Sanders seems to understand that fairly well.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by barbara hudson on Monday December 09 2019, @08:00PM (6 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Monday December 09 2019, @08:07PM (5 children)
Big media would never allow that!
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 09 2019, @08:33PM
exactly. how are they going to turn the internet into cable tv if people can just serve their own content?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 09 2019, @08:35PM (1 child)
A Russian asset (Sanders) would though. If not for him taking orders from Putin we would have a woman president.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 09 2019, @11:39PM
Not just Sanders, but the entire Republican party too: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/07/20/the-entire-republican-party-is-becoming-a-russian-asset/ [washingtonpost.com]
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday December 09 2019, @08:45PM (1 child)
Zzzzz ... wait, huh? You're saying September is over [wikipedia.org]?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday December 09 2019, @09:42PM
Yeah, we're in reruns...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday December 09 2019, @09:27PM (9 children)
The post I replied to stated that if Bernie nationalised or regulated the US ISPs then there would be a shortage of Internet (somehow).
I was making the point that the result did not have to be bad, despite what your right-wing media will tell you.
I am unsure of the point of your reply. You appear to be agreeing with me. Plenty of countries have heavily regulated Internet, and it can be made to work well.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday December 09 2019, @09:50PM (2 children)
Plenty of countries have heavily regulated Internet
Yeah, but most of them are regulating content, ordering the ISPs to block "offensive" sites.
More than a regulated internet, we need an open internet, with mandated symmetrical up/downloads, community service provision, robust against any price gouging and censorship
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday December 09 2019, @10:06PM
Most of them? Maybe.
Regulating the ISPs does not mean you also have to block sites as well. It would be easy to do one and not the other.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday December 10 2019, @06:43AM
Judging by how net neutrality has been playing out, the private companies are pretty eager to block sites they find offensive, like Bernie's servers if he's not careful, as well as any competition.
Here in Canada, the ISP's (mostly Bell) just got a court order for them to block some site that shared URL's where pirating was happening, a bad precedent that the ISP's have been pushing for for quite a while. We do have net neutrality which is one of the reasons for the court order.
I'd trust my government further then I'd trust Bell or Rogers. Do you trust your big ISP's?
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday December 10 2019, @12:02AM (5 children)
Yes, but. It takes more than requiring to get fast transmission speeds. Of course, he didn't talk about addressing lag...so maybe.
But basically he promised fiber optic speeds to remote households...and that's expensive. It's a LOT cheaper/user to do that in areas where you've got lots of customers close together.
OTOH, the FCC could do a lot to improve things. If they just break the grip of monopolies and effectively eliminate lying in advertisements they'd be doing a lot to make things better, and that wouldn't require any additional money at all.
Or maybe he's counting on StarLink to deliver his election promises. That could work for downloads and uploads. It might even not make lag terrible.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday December 10 2019, @12:32AM (3 children)
I found this on the Internet:
You could give everybody a fibre connection for that, no problem, because fibre is not that expensive anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 10 2019, @09:56AM (2 children)
Look up what gross profit means.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:15PM
I couldn't find a reference to their net profit. $24 billion profit for one quarter ought to be plenty of money for everyone in america to get a nice fast fibre connection to their home.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @01:21PM
It doesn't just mean "really big" profit?
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday December 10 2019, @12:38AM
Actually, that's more of a state/local issue than a Federal one.
Despite all the hate on the FCC (as Pai-hole is a fucktard whore for the telecoms), Internet franchises/monopolies/duopolies/blocking of municipal broadband, etc., etc. is a function of state and local governments which are *much* more corrupt than the Feds.
Write your city council member, your state assemblyman, etc. They're the ones that are fucking you in the ass without lube on this one.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 10 2019, @01:57AM (6 children)
Yeah, but, socialism. Sanders is promising stuff that he doesn't have, hoping that he can take it away from someone else.
You know that I'm no fan of the telcos. In fact, I despise them because they are constantly ripping us off. But, Bernie doesn't own a telco of his own, so he can't give service away.
What I'd like to see, is for Ajit Pai to disappear, and the new head come from a consumer advocacy background. Almost overnight the FCC would get out of bed with AT&T and the rest, and maybe start enforcing old stuff. Like, all those billions given to the telcos to build that last mile? I want to see that last mile. If that involves breaking up telcos that won't cooperate, then fine.
But, really, Bernie can't give away any internet.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by lentilla on Tuesday December 10 2019, @05:00AM
This is about setting the standard to which sellers must adhere if they wish to call their product "broadband". Bernie is not putting on green leggings and doing a Robin Hood.
In an ideal market, competition would ensure that quality Internet was available at a fair price. Unfortunately, the incumbent players have formed an oligopoly and have successfully infiltrated the FCC, turning it into their lap-dog. As a result corrective action needs to be taken.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:46PM (3 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:05PM (2 children)
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.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:36PM (1 child)
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
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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:51PM
Yeah, but, socialism isn't always a dirty word except to greedy assholes.
And your formula therefore applies to all regulations. Government can't give anything away, so let's just get rid of it, mmmkay?