Nettheftwatch.org

We're told by some "thought leaders" that companies like Verizon have stopped competing against cable broadband providers because Big Cable has won the wired broadband wars.

Really?

Above are shots I took today on a (football) Sunday, less than a mile from my house.  It shows a Verizon technician making a FiOS service call in territory that is also serviced by COX Broadband Cable (among others).

Fitch recently improved Kansas City’s bond ratings from negative to stable.

As you may know, KC has recently allowed Google to wire portions of the city with gigabit-capable fiber. There’s been a lot of press about just how awesome this is for KC, and what a great kick in the pants it is for incumbent providers who have somehow “refused” to follow suit. 

Ostensibly brilliant Internet activist and Google-lover, Susan Crawford, has used KC as a poster child / foil for all that’s “wrong” with American broadband provision.  In her lobbyist-eye view, Crawford sells the idea / agenda that Google’s fiber – i.e., a proxy for publicly-provided fiber infrastructure – is the magic elixir that will help communities get better ratings, and thus appear as better bond opportunities for investors. 

To this end, she tweeted:

"@scrawford: install FTTH = see your city's credit rating improve"

Really?  Read the release, please.  Though it notes (below the fold) that Google’s Fiber project “is already attracting a number of smaller internet and data companies to the city and has the potential to make a significant economic impact,” it amounts to no more than a footnote to the real driver of the ratings improvement.

According to Fitch, that driver was:

“IMPROVING LONG-TERM LIABILITY DRIVES OUTLOOK: The change to Stable Outlook reflects the city's revised capital plans, which are much more modest in scope than previously contemplated, as well as progress made towards improved pension funding.” (Emphasis added)

Hmmm…Add fiber, get better bond ratings.  Sounds like a commercial for Metamucil…

…And we all know what happens when you take that stuff.      

Internet activist, Susan Crawford, has a new book out decrying how bad our broadband networks are.  Consequently, she's on tour, too, pushing her pessimistic, tech Eeyore viewpoint into the faces of as many people she can.  

And, boy, has she been active on the PR front to sell that copyrighted work of hers of late.  

Funny thing about all that publicity, though. As you'll see below through some tweets I rounded up at @scrawford over these past 3 hours, instead of an illustration of real, spontaneous grassroots support for her ideas, it appears that the bulk of the the "tweeps" assembled on Tweetdeck look a lot like a who's who of anti-market foundations, groups that take or funnel those foundation dollars to progressive causes, progressive law schools associated with the author, anti-market think tanks, "academics" who are hooked to those think tanks that are hooked to anti-market foundation dollars, spokespeople who are hooked to anti-market groups that take anti-market foundation dollars, pro-government subsidy lobbyists and lobbying firms, corporations that take or promote government subsidies for broadband, progressive "journalists" (or whatever they're called now...advocates), and interests that would benefit from the public utility model of communications provision advocated by Ms. Crawford, among others.

Hey, whoever put this list together sure earned their billables!  I'll bet you they're glad that the First Amendment and Citizens United still works!

All the usual suspects proclaiming the tech apotheosis of Susan Crawford:  

·      @dangillmor Dan Gillmor Bio and disclosures: http://dangillmor.com/about (photo by Joi Ito). Retweets mean I thought you should see this; usually that's an endorsement, sometimes not.

·      @knightfdn Knight Foundation Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts.

·      @Wired_West Wired West Connecting Western Mass to the world.

·      @lydiadepillis Lydia DePillis Covering tech for the new @TNR.

·      @CardozoAELJ Founded in 1982, the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) was the first and remains the preeminent journal of its type in the country.

·      @kehldanielle Danielle Kehl Policy researcher @NewAmericaOTI, former English teacher in East Africa. Tweets are my own (unless they're yours, obviously).

·      @ppolitics David Moore We make @OpenCongress, and now @Open_Gov. The Participatory Politics Foundation is a non-profit org. building Web tools for civic engagement. Free, open-source.

·      @SLWorona Steve Warona Speaker/consultant on IT policy & law: Copyright, privacy, free speech, censorship, security, open access. Webinar producer/host. Cornell alum. Folk fan.

·      @michaelmccarthy Michael McCarthy SF Dept of Technology: expand broadband via community wifi and SF's1gb community fiber network.

·      @jswatz Jonathan Schwartz NYT national reporter. My beat: infrastructure! Author of Oddly Normal http://on.fb.me/P5oMHi I don't tweet about sports.

·      @FordFoundation Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.

·      @GlenEchoGroup When you need to be heard by the right people, at the right place, at the right time, the Glen Echo Group gets results.

·      @BTVGig An initiative to leverage gigabit Internet speeds for the benefit of the community of Burlington, Vermont.

·      @dmlresearchhub DML Research Hub (Previously @dmlcentral) Digital Media & Learning Research Hub: exploring how digital media are impacting education, civic engagement & youth #connectedlearning.

·      @cardozolaw Cardozo Law School Welcome to the official Twitter account of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law! We follow YU's social media community standards http://bit.ly/Su3MM4.

·      @demartin JuanCarlos DeMartin Engineering prof, co-director of the NEXA Center for Internet & Society at PoliTo, fellow at Berkman Center for Internet & Society, op-ed writer La Stampa.

·      @KatrinaNation Katrina vandenHeuval The Nation magazine Editor and Publisher.

·      @levjoy Josh Levy Internet Campaign Director at Free Press. Papa. Views here are all mine.

·      @bethnoveck Beth Simone Noveck Prof @NYUWagner @MediaLab and @NYLawSchool and former US Dep Chief Technology Officer (2009-2011). Author, Wiki Government.

·      @davidisen David Isenberg If we had fiber and today-tech wireless as shared infrastructure everywhere, it still wouldn't be much without a free, open, neutral Internet.

·      @DeanZambrano Dean Zambrano Media researcher @Columbia. I explore the intersection of media, culture, and technology. (Journalism, Media Development, and Social Networks).

·      @communitynets Christopher Mitchell Focusing on Community Broadband Networks (mostly fiber-optic) - the essential infrastructure communities need.

·      @ShorensteinCtr Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard @Kennedy_School. Home of @JournoResource @HKSCommProg. RTs are not endorsements.

·      @PRIResDev Public Radio International's Resource Development team.

·      @OnMyWatch Level 3 The Level 3 Communications® Network today operates the largest IP transit network in the world.

·      @freepress Free Press We're a nonpartisan organization building a nationwide movement for media that serve the public interest.

·      @pondswimmer Becky Kazansky Techno-social stories | Media Policy consultant @FordFoundation | contributor @techPresident, etc | @ITP_nyu grad '12| Opinions are urs.

·      @NextNewDeal The blog of @rooseveltinst featuring unique insight and sharp analysis aimed at reanimating progressive thought.

·      @RediscoverGov Rediscovering Gov’t A new initiative of @rooseveltinst dedicated to exploring the purpose and value of government. Led by @JeffMadrick.

·      @rooseveltinst Roosevelt Institute We're carrying forward the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and creating a New Deal for the 21st century.

·      @ammori Marvin Ammori Author: On Internet Freedom. 1st Amd lawyer. @FastCompany 100 Most Creative Ppl 2012. Fellow @NewAmerica. Board @FightfortheFtr @DemandProgress.

·      @rbole Bob Role Director of Innovation at #USIB, Digital Media/International Public Media.

·      @Rasiej Andrew Rasiej Political and Social Entrepreneur, Professional Doer. Founder of Personal Democracy Media, Senior Advisor to the Sunlight Foundation, Chairman of NY TechMeetup.

·      @gerryfsmith Gerry Smith Technology Reporter, @HuffingtonPost. Alum of @chicagotribune. Married to @emmagf.

·      @jcstearns Josh Stearns Journalist and organizer working for press freedom and the future of news through media and tech policy. Journalism & Public Media Campaign Director @freepress.

·      @HollandoF Adam Holland Berkman Center Project Coordinator, pronoiac memebroker, lawyer, coach, venture altruist, rower, aspiring writer.

·      @cfarivar Cyrus Farivar Senior Business Editor, @arstechnica / Author, The Internet of Elsewhere (2011) / cyrus.farivar at arstechnica.com.

·      @UTOPIAnet Utopia A fiber-optic network revolution. UTOPIA is the community fiber network of 11 Utah cities, with speeds up to 1Gbps. 

·      @amyhirotaka Amy Hirotaka Seattle-based nonprofit tech helper working for digital inclusion in WA. Outreach Coordinator for @waconnects. Secretary for @aclfnorthwest. Views my own.