May 11, 2006: Verizon lineman Joe DeBonis connects fiber optic cable to a North Bellmore, N.Y. home. Verizon is alone among the major phone companies in severing copper lines from telephone poles to residences.
AP Photo

"Fiber Is the Key to U.S. Telecom Diet"

Op-Ed, WIRED

July 4, 2012

Author: Susan P. Crawford, Former Faculty Affiliate, Information and Communications Technology and Public Policy Project, January–December 2012

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Information and Communications Technology and Public Policy; Science, Technology, and Public Policy

It's big news that a 68-year-old bus monitor has been gifted more than half a million dollars by the People of the Internet. The online headlines are full of the Obama-Romney tussle, even though we have months to go before the election itself. Meanwhile, an extraordinary story that will actually have an impact on the day-to-day lives of tens of millions of Americans is rolling efficiently forward in dozens of state legislatures. And neither mainstream media nor the public is paying much attention.

The National Regulatory Review Institute reported earlier this month that between January 2010 and April 2012 intense industry lobbying had resulted in passage of laws removing or reducing oversight of telecommunications providers in 20 states. It's a deregulatory tsunami. So many state bills are pending that it's hard to keep up: 14 more states are now considering legislation, and new bills are likely before the end of the year in several other places....

Continue reading: http://www.wired.com/business/2012/07/telecom-regs/

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