"Save the Internet" (New Book calls Americans a "Captive Audience) ---Tim Karr

Published on Friday, February 1, 2013 by SavetheInternet
A Call to Action for Our Internet
by Timothy Karr

"Truly high-speed wired Internet access is as basic to innovation, economic growth, social communication, and the country's competitiveness as electricity was a century ago," Crawford writes, "but a limited number of Americans have access to it, many can't afford it, and the country has handed control of it over to Comcast and a few other companies."

Captive Audience illustrates how federal bureaucrats have allowed phone and cable companies to dictate Internet policy. FCC regulators who roll over for these powerful incumbents are often rewarded at the end of their tenure with plum jobs at these same companies.

The result is a corrupted system that puts profits before the public interest. For proof, just look at the international rankings for broadband access and services, which show the United States falling far behind other developed nations. The failures of American broadband are directly linked to policies that favored a handful of network providers.

The tendency among the many PR operatives who work for the likes of Comcast and AT&T (and who have been especially active this month denouncing Crawford's book on Amazon and in other media) is to fault excessive regulations: If only we unchained the invisible hand of the marketplace, they argue, then the American Internet would be numero uno.

More...good read..

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/01-8