[IP] Outsourcing privacy, broadband subsidies for the rich + death of competition
Begin forwarded message:
From: Adam Peake <ajp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 17, 2004 12:24:17 PM GMT+01:00
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Outsourcing privacy, broadband subsidies for the rich + death
of competition
Three summaries from Broadband Reports
Outsourcing your privacy
<http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/55632 >
Global Information Group Ltd.
Washington Post reports on a new company headed by the man touched by
the Bush administration to Data Mine for the feds. Since the taxpayer
funded onshore system has not gone live due to concerns from civil
liberties advocates, Ben H. Bell III has taken his knowledge and set up
an offshore system where he presumably he feels he can do the same job,
and make a profit selling the data, without having to worry about pesky
lawmakers.
complete story at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36853-2004Oct15.html>
or
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1804&e=1&u=/washpost/
a36853_2004oct15>
and
Rural Broadband Funds Sidetracked
<http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/55586>
Affluent Texas homes get earmarked funds
Nearly $23 million earmarked to bring broadband to rural America will
instead be loaned
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&e=9&u=/nm/
congress_delay_dc> to ETS Telephone & Subsidiaries, a Texas telecom
firm that offers service to affluent Houston suburbs represented by
House Republican Leader Tom DeLay. Noting that farmers near the upscale
complexes wouldn't see service, the National Farmers Union issued a
statement saying "It doesn't seem ... bedroom communities would be the
highest priority". As we've mentioned in the past, many of these loans
to wire America had been targeted by the Bush administration as
budgetary fat <http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41407>.
and
The Death of Competition
<http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/55595>
A step closer to 'two company domination'
The Consumer's Federation of America isn't impressed with the FCC's
decision yesterday to keep competitors off telco next-generation fiber
networks. "The FCC today took our country one giant step closer toward
solidifying a two-company domination the local cable and telephone
providers -- over the consumer Internet market," said Gene Kimmelman,
Senior Policy Director for Consumers Union in a prepared statement(pdf)
<http://www.consumerfed.org/
Consumers_Face_Higher_Internet_Prices_10.14.pdf>. "As both industries
tighten their hold on high-speed Internet (broadband) access, consumers
will see their choices diminish and their bills skyrocket."
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