FCC's announcement Monday of the latest USF contribution percentage, which is now at 12.9%, up from 9.5% at the beginning of the year, says AT&T, a whopping 36% increase.

Currently, the fund goes to subsidize telephone service, but if the Democrats now in control of Congress have their way, it will be extended to underwriting the broadband build-out as well. That would be in addition to the $7.2 billion in the economic stimulus package going toward that same goal.

said by TKJunkMail :

RE: »www.multichannel.com/article/279···Fund.php
The Dems have to keep feeding the welfare state they are building and tax increases like this are just the very beginning.

said by BF69 :

this is dslreports, not GOPreports. this site is about TECHNOLOGY not POLITICS. If you want to talk about politics there are messageboards for that.

said by TKJunkMail :

Sorry, but the gov't funding of a broadband expansion using the USF is about technology & politics and is a fit subject for this msg board.

said by KrK :

Yeah, but that's not really what you're saying when you make the following statement:

"The Dems have to keep feeding the welfare state they are building and tax increases like this are just the very beginning."

said by BF69 :

this is dslreports, not GOPreports. this site is about TECHNOLOGY not POLITICS. If you want to talk about politics there are messageboards for that.

said by sonicmerlin :

Considering the USF is funded partly by corporations, I have no problem with taxing those hugely profitable entities that have gouged consumers with inflated prices for the last decade or so.

said by sonicmerlin :

Considering the USF is funded partly by corporations, I have no problem with taxing those hugely profitable entities that have gouged consumers with inflated prices for the last decade or so.

Expanding USF to broadband would force all broadband providers to contribute some of their profits to the fund, which would do a great deal in helping the government fund a national broadband rollout of fiber without putting extra burden on the consumers who have already been gouged by the likes of TWC.

All that's required is that additional reform and oversight of the USF be implemented before anything is spent to ensure the proper distribution of the money. With that in mind, I have very little doubt that a Democratic Congress would want to overhaul the fund to match their own agenda, which ultimately means reform and better oversight.

In short, yes they should extend the USF to broadband.

BTW, Republicans only care about the rich. Your adverse reaction to a "welfare" state is inconsiderate and ignorant to those who are actually in need of help. That's why under Republicans the rich always get richer, and the poor always get poorer.

said by sonicmerlin :

Considering the USF is funded partly by corporations,

Attorney Tim Reynolds told a jury Monday that the record companies would prove that Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, of Brainerd, illegally shared songs on the Kazaa network.

"Record companies are made up of real people. ... People who deliver the music we all enjoy," Reynolds said in his opening statement as Thomas-Rasset's retrial got under way in federal court here.

Camara said the industry, at best, could prove only that her IP address — the Internet equivalent of a street address or phone number — was used in the alleged illegal file-sharing. He said they could not prove that Thomas herself swapped any music.

Along with the standard warnings judges give jurors at the start of a trial about discussing the case with anyone, Davis took the unusual step of warning them not to comment on it on the Internet via social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook, on blogs, or via e-mail or text messages until it's over.

"You'll be able to write your blogs or whatever you want to do, but that's at the end of the case," he said.

said by TKJunkMail :

»tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090616/···nloading

The latest RIM BlackBerry device, the Tour 9630, is headed to Verizon and Sprint as well as Bell and TELUS in Canada this summer.

The Tour's display has the same 480 by 360 pixel resolution as the Curve 8900... sports a 3.2-megapixel camera with geotagging.

No Wi-Fi. It is a familiar and sad story with RIM CDMA devices and honestly, I don't understand the omission this time around.