Some more tech and media related legislation is making the rounds rounds through congress. John McCain and Frank Lautenberg have drafted a bill to allow communities to set up municipal WiFi networks (also here), which of course the broadband providers would rather not happen. To quote:
“Many of the countries outpacing the United States in the deployment of high speed Internet services, including Canada, Japan and South Korea, have successfully combined municipal systems with privately deployed networks to wire their countries,” McCain said. This, of course, flies in the face of legislation from other Republicans, including Texas Rep. Pete Sessions (a former SBC exec) and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who are working to ban municipal WiFi networks altogether.
On the other end of the spectrum is the vile Broadcast Flag, which the MPAA wants to get buried into the law books so they can tell you how long you’re allowed to keep that episode of the Simpsons you’ve recorded on your TiVo can stay there, among other general nastiness. Thankfully is has died on the vine once again, but this is not the last we’ll hear of it.
Tags: Media and Entertainment, Politics, Science and Technology