The United States has a problem – our Internet costs far too much for speeds that barely amount to anything. The FCC engineered a plan to get us on the right track with the National Broadband Plan, but not a lot has come of it yet. Now one Internet fairness proponent has come out swinging in favor of cheaper Internet for all.
Susan Crawford, former special assistant to President Obama for science, technology and innovation, recently went on air with veteran journalist Bill Moyers to talk about the current state of the Internet in the U.S. Here’s what you can expect to hear about:
“Government has allowed a few powerful media conglomerates to put profit ahead of the public interest – rigging the rules, raising prices, and stifling competition. As a result, Crawford says, all of us are at the mercy of the biggest business monopoly since Standard Oil in the first Gilded Age a hundred years ago.”
Susan Crawford on Why U.S. Internet Access is Slow, Costly, and Unfair from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.
If you want to learn more about Internet monopolies and how it affects our economy, Crawford has written a book about it called Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age.
[h/t: Gizmodo]