garagerock
Premium
join:2002-06-14
Louisville, KY
| Imagine, if you will...
quote:
Telecom firms spent $152 million in the first half of 2005 alone to lobby Congress as they were preparing the rewrite
How many upgrades to their own infrastructure could have been completed with that kind of money? I guess it's cheaper in these United States to lobby to kill your competitor than actually compete against them. Jay Gould, Andrew Carneige, and J.P. Morgan would be so very proud of this new class of Robber Barons. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
|  And what are the content providers spending on lobbying ?
Telecom firms spent $152 million in the first half of 2005 alone to lobby Congress as they were preparing the rewrite. And what are the content providers spending on lobbying Congress? The money spent on lobbying by the 2 sides isn't affecting these laws. It is the precedent it could set in the Congress getting in to too much detail in the running of a business. Congress should remain as hands off as possible and let the market dictate the outcome.
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| quote:
With the exception of Microsoft, companies engaged in the heated lobbying battle over "network neutrality" spent considerably less than their Bell and cable counterparts. Neutrality safeguards would prevent companies that own high-speed Internet networks from blocking or degrading competing services carried over their pipes.
During the first half of 2005, Yahoo spent $800,000, followed by Amazon.com ($460,000) and eBay ($400,000). Google had $220,000 in lobbying expenses for all of 2005, according to PoliticalMoneyLine's data.
»www.democraticmedia.org/news/Hat···ily.html
quote:
The money spent on lobbying by the 2 sides isn't affecting these laws.
And I'm an albino midget stripper with halitosis. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to garagerock
Re: Imagine, if you will...
152 million is the executive lunch budget for the large telcos and cable MSOs. It means nothing in the larger scheme.
What I would like to see is both sides get out there and actually provide the service they advertise.
Cable wants telco's slice, telco wants cable's slice, and guess who is in the pie? Yup.
The FCC is where this should be decided, but that also requires rewiring the FCC. Now THAT would be a worthwhile Congressional project.
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| reply to Karl Bode
Re: And what are the content providers spending on lobbying ?
said by Karl Bode  : And I'm an albino midget stripper with halitosis. Then you should change your avatar.  |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode : And I'm an albino midget stripper with halitosis. Who is your booking agent? I think the Shriners are in town & need lounge entertainment.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to garagerock
Re: Imagine, if you will...
said by garagerock :I guess it's cheaper in these United States to lobby to kill your competitor than actually compete against them. The only thing left for content providers to do now is to preemptively block access to customers who use ISPs which engage in this practice. You know, someone from a BS line goes to Google but instead of seeing the Google page, they see a message saying that BS wants to restrict their access to Google, and that they should switch ISPs.
Such a move has to be swift and decisive so that other ISPs don't start to think that this is a good idea.
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JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
| reply to garagerock
"Companies and associations in the communications and technology sectors spent $152.4 million on federal lobbying during the first half of 2005, according to new information compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine.. "
That number is total by all communications and tech companies not just Rbocs.
"The biggest communications spender for all of 2005 was the U.S. Telecom Association, whose members include the former regional Bell operating companies. That group devoted $16.8 million to Washington lobbying. Microsoft ranked second ($8.7 million), and the National Association of Manufacturers was third ($8.3 million). Other heavy hitters in 2005 were: National Association of Broadcasters, $7.8 million; Motorola, $7.6 million; BellSouth, $7.4 million; IBM, $7.2 million; Cingular Wireless, $7.1 million; National Cable and Telecommunications Association, $7 million; and Comcast and Time Warner, which each spent about $4 million." |
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kdandaoc
join:2003-10-13
608052427 | Just one question....
Will this carry tarrifs for overseas users or will it be just the Americans getting screwed? |
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G_Poobah
join:2004-01-17
Schenectady, NY
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: And what are the content providers spending on lobbying ?
Please explain why congress should keep their hands off a monopoly? And it IS a Monopoly. There is a GREAT article over on MSNBC today, and I'm paraphrasing it a bit for those who want Net Neutrality and high speed access. This is exactly the same situation the majority of users who are FORCED to use cable internet due to distance limits on DSL. And it explains perfectly why comcast and TWC keep jacking up their prices.
"There is no free market in operation. There's no shopping around for the best deal. You have one choice, and one choice only. As a result, companies can charge almost anything they want for these replacement items. In fact, the situation becomes akin to what critics have at times called reverse competition: the only pressure on the price set by companies is upward pressure -- that is, how much money can the seller squeeze out of the buyer, because there's no countervailing force, like competition, creating downward pressure."
"I know, people always respond to these articles by saying this is simply capitalism at work -- companies trying to make the most money for their bottom line and their shareholders. Phooey. This is a monopolistic situation, where a captive consumer has no choice but to buy one product from one company. There is no free market in operation here. That's not capitalism."
»redtape.msnbc.com/2006/03/the_hi···t_o.html
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | reply to JSRoman
Re: Imagine, if you will...
Yeah, but by misrepresenting the number as 10 times larger it makes those nasty telco folks sound so much more evil. Like they need help in that regard.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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major marco
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Stepford, CA
clubs:
| Kiss the Net Goodbye
This bill will render the Net as it currently known into overpriced piece of crap with multiple speed bumps and a toll booth every 50FT with some schnook in a cap asking for money to get email, streaming audio, streaming video, and pretty much anything the ISP wants to charge for. That's why telecoms like AT&T dropped $152M. The money they stand to make from the toll boothes will total in the billions. It's going to rival the billions that Exxon-Mobile screwed out of everyone just this past year and make Ken Lay jealous for all the screwing he gave to electricity consumers in California 2000-'01. You can read a more detailed look at the situation here: »mediacitizen.blogspot.com/
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kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
·T-Mobile US
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: And what are the content providers spending on lobbying ?
said by TKJunkMail :Telecom firms spent $152 million in the first half of 2005 alone to lobby Congress as they were preparing the rewrite. And what are the content providers spending on lobbying Congress? The money spent on lobbying by the 2 sides isn't affecting these laws. It is the precedent it could set in the Congress getting in to too much detail in the running of a business. Congress should remain as hands off as possible and let the market dictate the outcome. What a bunch of crap... Congress should act swiftly and DISMANTLE THE CURRENT CABLE MONOPOLIES, not to mention the agressive steps has to be taken against these wannabe-middlemen ISPs - they should not become suddenly 'gatekeepers'. |
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JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
| reply to RadioDoc
Re: Imagine, if you will...
said by RadioDoc :Yeah, but by misrepresenting the number as 10 times larger it makes those nasty telco folks sound so much more evil. Like they need help in that regard. I don't think it was intentional but someone please fix.
"Telecom firms spent $152 million in the first half of 2005 alone to lobby Congress as they were preparing the rewrite...."
This statement is not accurate and is just being repeated by those who didn't bother to read the article. |
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LilYoda
Feline with squirel personality disorder
Premium
join:2004-09-02
Mountains | reply to kdandaoc
Re: Just one question....
Overseas content provider will be left in the normal queue, unless they pay...
Not sure any of them care, does anyone know how much US internet users buy from foreign sites? |
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G_Poobah
join:2004-01-17
Schenectady, NY
| reply to pnh102
Re: Imagine, if you will...
"instead of seeing the Google page, they see a message saying that BS wants to restrict their access to Google, and that they should switch ISPs."
And, umm, please tell me WHERE I can find another ISP? See, I don't have a choice. I have comcrap, because that's my only choice. I don't have line of sight, so I can't get satellite. I don't have a land line, so no modem. Too far from CO for DSL, no FIOS or other technologies in the area. Can't do wireless, too many trees around. My ONLY choice is cable.
I'm a 'captive consumer'. I get screwed because, well bluntly, I get screwed because THEY CAN. That's their nature (the megacorps). They work very hard to make sure they are the only provider, then they keep jacking up the rates, putting in new tolls, new rules, and use their monopoly status and big purses to purchase the FCC and ensure there is no competition, like muni's.
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Flabby? pastey-skinned? riddled with phlebitis? Then you've got a good Republican body! So compare your lives to mine, and then kill yourself. |
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tsu9
join:2001-08-17
Wheeling, IL | "Welcome home, 'Ma"
Here's to destroying competition, at any cost! |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | reply to JSRoman
Re: Imagine, if you will...
I've fleshed it out in the summary for the RTFA brigades. |
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NOCMan
Verizon Fios User
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Flower Mound, TX
| It will all boil down to this
Americans can celebrate their multimegabit connections while the rest of the world celebrate a free internet.
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odreian615
join:2006-01-18
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Yahoo is both happy and mad
I doubt thet Verizon and ATT will really charge Yahoo anything(since they are already in bed with each other having a 3some) but the cablco's will Google needs to partner up with the cablecos(imagine the name comgoogle lol) if not they will be paying out the ass |
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