[Plura-list] How cable monopolists tricked conservatives into shooting themselves in the face

[Cory Doctorow]

Read today's issue online at: https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiots/

Today's links

* How cable monopolists tricked conservatives into shooting themselves in the face: Blocking Gigi Sohn's FCC confirmation is really bad for all of us, but especially Red State America.

* Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.

* This day in history: 2007, 2012, 2017

* Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

🙆🏾 How cable monopolists tricked conservatives into shooting themselves in the face

No matter how hard conservative culture-war cannon-fodder love big business, it will never love them back. Take network policy, where rural turkeys in Red State America keep on voting for Christmas, then profess outrage when Old Farmer Comcast gets to sharpening his ax.

For two years, the FCC has been hamstrung because MAGA Senators refuse to confirm Gigi Sohn, leaving the Commission with only four commissioners. What do the GOP have against Sohn? Well, to hear them tell of it, she's some kind of radical Marxist who will undermine free enterprise and replace the internet with tin cans and string.

The reality is that Sohn favors policies that will specifically and substantially benefit the rural Americans whose senators who refuse to confirm her. For example, Sohn favors municipal fiber provision, which low-information conservatives have been trained to reflexively reject: "Get your government out of my internet!"

Boy, are they ever wrong. The private sector *sucks* at providing network connectivity, especially in rural places. The cable companies and phone companies have divided up the USA like the Pope dividing up the "New World," setting out exclusive, non-competing territories that get worse service than anyone else in the wealthy world. Americans pay some of the highest prices for the lowest speeds of any OECD nation.

For ISPs, bad service is a feature, not a bug. When Frontier went bankrupt in 2020, we got to look at its books, which is how we discovered that the company booked the one *million* rural customers with no alternative as "assets" because they could be charged more for slower, less reliable service:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/frontiers-bankruptcy-reveals-cynical-choice-deny-profitable-fiber-millions

We also learned that Frontier had calculated that it could make an extra *billion* in profit by bringing fiber to *three million* households, but chose not to, because it would take a decade to realize those profits, and during that time, executives' stock options would decline in value as analysts punished them for making long-term bets.

We *can* bring fiber to rural America, and when we do, amazing things happen. McKee, Kentucky - one of the poorest places in America - used federal grants and its New Deal era rural electrification co-op to bring fiber to every household, using a mule called Ole Bub to run it over difficult mountain passes, and the result was an economic miracle:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

The only Americans who consistently say they like their ISPs are people who live in the 700+ small towns that have run their own fiber, mostly in Red States:

https://muninetworks.org/communitymap

Small wonder that rural Americans prefer muni fiber to commercial ISPs' offerings. When Trump's FCC Chair Ajit Pai gave them billions in subsidies to improve rural connectivity, the monopolists spent it pulling new *copper* lines, not fiber - which would have been *thousands* of times faster.

Given all that, it takes a lot to convince rural Americans that municipal fiber is bad for them. Specifically, it takes disinformation. More specifically, it takes the lie that municipal fiber would result in "government interference" in users' communications.

Boy, is this ever *wrong*. Private companies are free to set their own content moderation policies, and can discriminate against any viewpoint they wish. They can and do remove "lawful but awful" speech like racist diatribes, vaccine denial, election denial, and other conservative fever-dreams.

Contrast that with local governments, who are bound by the First Amendment, and prohibited from practicing "viewpoint discrimination." This means that if a local government allows one viewpoint on a subject, they are generally required to allow all other viewpoints on that subject. This is how we get the Satanic Temple's excellent stunts, like demanding that towns that display Christian icons on public lands also display statues of Baphomet right next to them.

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/17/639726472/satanic-temple-protests-ten-commandments-monument-with-goat-headed-statue

When your town government runs 100gb fiber into your basement or garage, it will have a much harder time blocking you from, say, running a Mastodon instance devoted to election denial or GhostGun production than your commercial ISP will. Convincing American conservatives to hate municipal broadband was a *gigantic* self-own:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/17/turner-diaries-fanfic/#1a-fiber

Even worse is what rural America has been sold instead of municipal fiber: Skylink, the My Pillow of broadband. Skylink sells itself as blazing-fast satellite broadband, but conspicuously fails to talk up the fact that every Skylink user in your neighborhood competes for the same wireless spectrum as you, so the service can *only* get slower and more expensive over time:

https://www.somebits.com/weblog/tech/bad/starlink-nov-2022-data-caps.html

There's been a concerted smear campaign against Sohn, and one of the major talking points is that Sohn is anti-cop because she sits on EFF's board, and EFF wants to place limits on police access to commercial surveillance data. Which is wild, because one of EFF's demands is limits on geofenced reverse warrants, where cops ask Google to reveal the identity of everyone who was in a specific place at a specific time. If you've heard about geofenced warrants lately, it was probably in the context of conservative outrage at their use in rounding up the January 6 insurrectionists.

Now, the primary use of these is to target Black Lives Matter demonstrators and other protestors, and EFF advocates for the normal Fourth Amendment rights that *everyone* is guaranteed in the Constitution. Conservative pundits didn't give a damn about geofenced warrants until the J6 affair, and now they do - but they still insist that Sohn should be disqualified from sitting on the FCC *because* she shares their outrage at the abuse of private surveillance data by law enforcement.

All this raises the question: why have all these Red State senators made it their mission in life to block the appointment of an FCC commissioner who would deliver so many benefits to their constituents? It's hard to say, of course, but Luke Goldstein has a suggestion in today's *American Prospect*:

https://prospect.org/politics/democratic-majority-at-the-fcc-still-blocked/

"A torrent of lobbying money from the telecom industry has flooded Washington to block Sohn’s arrival at the FCC. AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and T-Mobile doled out over $23 million lobbying Washington this year."

And why would these companies spend millions to block Sohn from sitting on the Commission? Because she would help the Democratic majority pass policies that make broadband cheaper and faster for America, especially rural America where costs are highest and service is worst, and this will limit the telco monopolists' profits.

There's a new Democratic senate majority that'll sit in 2023, so perhaps Sohn will finally be seated and start delivering relief to all Americans, even the turkeys who can't stop voting for Christmas.

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

🙆🏾 Hey look at this

* How to buy a social network, with Tumblr CEO Matt Mullenweg https://www.theverge.com/23506085/wordpress-twitter-tumblr-ceo-matt-mullenweg-elon-musk

* DMA HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTEROPERABILITY OBLIGATIONS https://cerre.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/DMA_HorizontalandVerticalInteroperability.pdf

* Is “woke” a new ideology? https://crookedtimber.org/2022/12/14/is-woke-a-new-ideology/

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

🙆🏾 This day in history

#15yrsago E911 document podcast: Historic, incredibly dull technical document read aloud https://craphound.com/podcast/2007/12/15/the-hacker-crackdown-part-24/

#10yrsago UK record industry seeks to financially ruin leaders of the Pirate Party https://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-threatens-to-bankrupt-pirate-party-members-121215/

#5yrsago A deep dive into the race to preserve our digital heritage https://apps.sciencefriday.com/data/ghosts.html

#5yrsago Documenting the laughable lies the FCC told at the hearing where it killed Net Neutrality https://www.wired.com/story/the-biggest-whoppers-from-the-fccs-net-neutrality-meeting/

#5yrsago Motherboard announces a neutral, meshing community ISP based at Vice’s Brooklyn headquarters https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5djd7/motherboard-and-vice-are-building-a-community-internet-network-to-protect-net-neutrality

#5yrsago Tobacco giant Philip Morris is quietly funding an “anti-smoking” foundation offering $1 billion in “grants” to public health leaders https://thewire.in/health/leaked-email-reveals-philip-morris-funded-anti-smoking-foundation-targeting-public-health-leaders-grants

#5yrsago Even when a Chicago cop is convicted of wrongdoing, a secret appeals court usually overturns it https://www.propublica.org/article/chicago-police-grievances

#5yrsago Here’s everything that’s wrong with America’s insecure electronic voting machines, and what to do about it https://web.archive.org/web/20171205125610/https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Blaze-UPenn-Statement-Voting-Machines-11-29.pdf

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

🙆🏾 Colophon

Today's top sources:

Currently writing:

* The Bezzle, a Martin Hench noir thriller novel about the prison-tech industry. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, WAITING FOR EDITORIAL REVIEW

* Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. (92849 words total) - ON PAUSE

* A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

* The Bezzle, a Martin Hench noir thriller novel about the prison-tech industry. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, WAITING FOR EDITORIAL REVIEW

* The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, a nonfiction book about interoperability for Verso. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, WAITING FOR EDITORIAL REVIEW

* Vigilant, Little Brother short story about remote invigilation. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, WAITING FOR EXPERT REVIEW

* Moral Hazard, a short story for MIT Tech Review's 12 Tomorrows. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION

* Spill, a Little Brother short story about pipeline protests. FINAL DRAFT COMPLETE

* A post-GND utopian novel, "The Lost Cause."  FINISHED

* A cyberpunk noir thriller novel, "Red Team Blues."  FINISHED

Currently reading: Analogia by George Dyson.

Latest podcast: Daddy-Daughter Podcast, 2022 Edition https://craphound.com/podcast/2022/12/12/daddy-daughter-podcast-2022-edition/

Upcoming appearances:

* Library Learning Experience/American Library Association (New Orleans), Jan 27-30
https://www.2023.alaliblearnx.org/cory-doctorow

* Chokepoint Capitalism: Can It Be Defeated? (UCL Faculty of Laws), Feb 1
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/2023/feb/online-chokepoint-capitalism-can-it-be-defeated

* Australian Digital Alliance Copyright Forum (Canberra), Feb 17
https://digital.org.au/2022/11/08/doctorow-giblin-first-speaker-announcement-ada-forum-2023/

* Antitrust, Regulation and the Political Economy (Brussels), Mar 2
https://www.brusselsconference.com/registration

Recent appearances:

* How to take back the arts from Big Tech (Real News Network)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTSOeQWjXN4

* Darts and Letters:
https://dartsandletters.ca/2022/12/12/ep70-chokepoint-capitalism-ft-cory-doctorow/

* Chokepoint Capitalism Part II (Bubble Trouble)
https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/chokepoint-capitalism-with-cory-doctorow-part-two/

* Corporate Power (Privacy International)
https://media.privacyinternational.org/w/fKu4rZFZMCFZiAFSLoDsXj

* Taylor Swift, Ticketmaster, and Chokepoint Capitalism (Capitalisn't)
https://www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-and-chokepoint-capitalism-with-cory-doctorow

* Plurality and democracy with Audrey Tang (Liberté! Talks)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGGfNZsRa8&t=1s

Latest books:

* "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com

* "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The *Washington Post* called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html

* "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59 (print edition: https://bookshop.org/books/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism/9781736205907) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html)

* "Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html

* "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed copy here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/.

Upcoming books:

* Red Team Blues: "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books, April 2023

This work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

🙆🏾 How to get Pluralistic:

Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):

Pluralistic.net

Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):

https://pluralistic.net/plura-list

Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic

Medium (no ads, paywalled):

https://doctorow.medium.com/

(Latest Medium column: "Plato Would Ban Ad-Blockers: He was a dick" https://doctorow.medium.com/plato-would-ban-ad-blockers-f30c95c7e741)

Twitter (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising):

https://twitter.com/doctorow

Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising):

https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic

"*When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla*" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla