5 ms·

This isn't about run-of-the-mill discrimination, this is about the companies receiving government money to build out broadband to areas and then just not doing

This isn't about run-of-the-mill discrimination, this is about the companies receiving government money to build out broadband to areas and then just not doing it. The government should just claw back the money and impose fines on top of that but the regulatory agencies in charge are corrupt.

gruez 3y ago
>this is about the companies receiving government money to build out broadband to areas and then just not doing it. I see this repeated often, but I've seen very little in the way of details. What was the government program that gave ISPs money? Were there any strings attached?
- mannyv 3y ago
  The FCC has spent tons of money on rural and underserved broadband. Search and ye shall find. Imo it was ridiculous that spacex got dinged in the program. Plenty of pigs at the trough have been promising and not delivering. Starlink has been delivering yet wasn't good enough...go figure.
  - inemesitaffia 3y ago
    SpaceX messed up their application
  - gruez 3y ago
    > The FCC has spent tons of money on rural and underserved broadband. Search and ye shall find. I did a search for "fcc rural broadband funding" and all that showed up was a bunch of programs from the post-pandemic era, and those have specific targets attached. Moreover, the programs in question are only a few years old so it seems a bit premature to conclude that the ISPs are not building out broadband. Finally this meme predates the pandemic by years, so I'm still at a loss as to whether the claim of "FCC gave a bunch of money to ISPs and they didn't do anything with it" is actually true or not.
    - nemothekid 3y ago
      There have been several programs over the years - most recently you can look at the Biden's "Infrastructure bill" (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) which $65B for broadband. Older than 2020 has been: 1. Connect America Fund (https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf) which has been around 2011 2. Obama's stimulus package of 2009 which allocated $8B (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest...) I'm pulling these acts from this book: http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ and cross referencing them with wikipedia or other sites. People have been really sore about since the breakup of Ma Bell in 1984. The fact that so much money was spent and America isn't covered in Fiber is a real tragedy.
      - gruez 3y ago
        >1. Connect America Fund (https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf) which has been around 2011 The FCC website seems to suggest the funds were given in exchange for ISPs providing internet in an given internet. Did the ISPs not follow through? If so, is there more on this? >2. Obama's stimulus package of 2009 which allocated $8B (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest...) The linked wikipedia page just lists a dollar amount with no accompanying detail, and google doesn't turn up much either, so it's unclear under what conditions the money was given out. >I'm pulling these acts from this book: http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ I didn't feel like reading all 581 pages of the book, so I looked at the summary instead. Based on my quick skim, there's little in the way of details in terms of actual examples of government money being handed out with the expectation of it being used for broadband, and the ISPs not following through. There were however, many examples of ISPs failing to meet their broadband expansion plans, which is a slightly different claim.
        lukeschlather 3y ago
        https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/att-took-283-million-but-didnt-deploy-required-broadband-mississippi-says/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/att-took-283-mil... This is one fairly recent example. They didn't just get provided "money to use for broadband." They were expected to provide service within an area, and they didn't actually provide service to people they said they were capable of serving.
cscurmudgeon 3y ago
Then go after them for violation of those contracts. Why do we need a new rule/law?
- lukeschlather 3y ago
  LA can independently go after local scofflaws because the Federal agencies tasked with enforcing the federal rules are corrupt and not doing their job.
  - cscurmudgeon 3y ago
    So may fix the Federal corruption first? Also, LA is also known for corruption: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-14/a-guide-to-los-angeles-city-council-scandals https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-14/a-guide-... LA has standing to act and file a suit to do that if they have evidence of corruption.

gruez 3y ago

>this is about the companies receiving government money to build out broadband to areas and then just not doing it. I see this repeated often, but I've seen very little in the way of details. What was the government program that gave ISPs money? Were there any strings attached?

mannyv 3y ago
The FCC has spent tons of money on rural and underserved broadband. Search and ye shall find. Imo it was ridiculous that spacex got dinged in the program. Plenty of pigs at the trough have been promising and not delivering. Starlink has been delivering yet wasn't good enough...go figure.
- inemesitaffia 3y ago
  SpaceX messed up their application
- gruez 3y ago
  > The FCC has spent tons of money on rural and underserved broadband. Search and ye shall find. I did a search for "fcc rural broadband funding" and all that showed up was a bunch of programs from the post-pandemic era, and those have specific targets attached. Moreover, the programs in question are only a few years old so it seems a bit premature to conclude that the ISPs are not building out broadband. Finally this meme predates the pandemic by years, so I'm still at a loss as to whether the claim of "FCC gave a bunch of money to ISPs and they didn't do anything with it" is actually true or not.
  - nemothekid 3y ago
    There have been several programs over the years - most recently you can look at the Biden's "Infrastructure bill" (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) which $65B for broadband. Older than 2020 has been: 1. Connect America Fund (https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf) which has been around 2011 2. Obama's stimulus package of 2009 which allocated $8B (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest...) I'm pulling these acts from this book: http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ and cross referencing them with wikipedia or other sites. People have been really sore about since the breakup of Ma Bell in 1984. The fact that so much money was spent and America isn't covered in Fiber is a real tragedy.
    - gruez 3y ago
      >1. Connect America Fund (https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf) which has been around 2011 The FCC website seems to suggest the funds were given in exchange for ISPs providing internet in an given internet. Did the ISPs not follow through? If so, is there more on this? >2. Obama's stimulus package of 2009 which allocated $8B (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest...) The linked wikipedia page just lists a dollar amount with no accompanying detail, and google doesn't turn up much either, so it's unclear under what conditions the money was given out. >I'm pulling these acts from this book: http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ http://irregulators.org/bookofbrokenpromises/ I didn't feel like reading all 581 pages of the book, so I looked at the summary instead. Based on my quick skim, there's little in the way of details in terms of actual examples of government money being handed out with the expectation of it being used for broadband, and the ISPs not following through. There were however, many examples of ISPs failing to meet their broadband expansion plans, which is a slightly different claim.
      - lukeschlather 3y ago
        https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/att-took-283-million-but-didnt-deploy-required-broadband-mississippi-says/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/att-took-283-mil... This is one fairly recent example. They didn't just get provided "money to use for broadband." They were expected to provide service within an area, and they didn't actually provide service to people they said they were capable of serving.

cscurmudgeon 3y ago

Then go after them for violation of those contracts. Why do we need a new rule/law?

lukeschlather 3y ago
LA can independently go after local scofflaws because the Federal agencies tasked with enforcing the federal rules are corrupt and not doing their job.
- cscurmudgeon 3y ago
  So may fix the Federal corruption first? Also, LA is also known for corruption: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-14/a-guide-to-los-angeles-city-council-scandals https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-14/a-guide-... LA has standing to act and file a suit to do that if they have evidence of corruption.