« Mark and Carla on the Gadget Show | Main | Jesus loves me, but he can't stand you... »

Muni Wireless and Freedom to Connect in Texas

I just posted this at the EFF-Austin site:

Save Muni Wireless reports that HB 789 has died, also reported in the Austin American-Statesman. EFF-Austin (along with Common Cause formed the Save Muni Wireless coalition that opposed the bill's provision to prohibit municipalities from providing broadband services. We will continue to support the higher-level concept of freedom to connect and oppose any efforts to limit access to networks:

Too often the discussion of telecommunications policy turns on phrases like "overregulation," and "investment incentives." These are critical issues, to be sure, but like the term "last mile," such phrases frame the issues in network-centric terms. As more and more intelligence migrates to the edge of the network, users of the network need to be part of the policy debate. Let's put the user back into the picture. Freedom to Connect provides the frame.

Freedom to Connect begins with two assumptions. First, if some connectivity is good, then more connectivity is better. Second, if a connection that does one thing is good, then a connection that can do many things is better.

It is written that Freedom of the Press is only for those with presses. But Freedom to Connect is potentially available to everybody; the main economic limit is the need for sustainable networks that will improve as new technology becomes available....

jon posted this at 9:15 AM
Share on Facebook| email to a friend

 Subscribe to RSS feed for Weblogsky