Verizon is somewhat upset that Cumberland, Maryland, has deployed a wireless broadband net throughout the town. This is apparently not an isolated problem.
When the city of Bristol, Va., grew tired of waiting for fast Internet connections and rolled out its own wireless broadband service to residents, the state's telecommunications companies protested and the Virginia legislature passed a law effectively forbidding municipalities to provide Internet services. Similar battles are taking place in several other states. [The Peanut Gallery]
My question is why is it not obvious that an important government role is to provide high-speed access to its citizens, if possible. So if the cable companies and the phone companies can't get on the stick, then what are the rural communities supposed to do? Wait patiently?
Let's say that back in the 1930's that communities wanted to build roads to create access. And what if construction companies resorted to laws to argue that only they could provide the access (but, by the way, they weren't in a hurry to do it 'cause it wasn't profitable yet). Wouldn't people have thought they were nuts? Why don't we think the same thing here? Because we've gotten used to laws that don't make any sense. Or maybe the law is simply being distorted. Well, we're used to that too.
7:23:17 PM
Music Copyright Infringement site
This site, run by the Columbia School of Law is a good one to bookmark if you're interested in music copyright issues. They have every significant music copyright case grouped by decades. I'm adding this one to my blog roll.
