Brief History of Solid Waste Management and Recycling in Washington, DC

The history of solid waste and recycling in the District of Columbia is long and diverse. In the early years of the 20th Century low-income girls and women were hired to pick through garbage on sorting tables to recover materials. In the more recent past, recycling of newspapers and metals was a key fundraising tool for … Read More

Network Neutrality – Warnings From Radio Regulation

Date: 11 Jan 2015 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Many of us in the public interest telecommunications sphere are excited that the FCC appears poised to reclassify Internet access, which seems a necessary first step of protecting the open Internet. Though we often focus on the false claims of the self-interested cable and telephone lobbyists when criticizing those who oppose FCC action on this, a … Read More

The Birth of Community Broadband – Video

Date: 15 Aug 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

ILSR is excited to announce a new short video examining an impressive municipal broadband network, Glasgow Kentucky. Glasgow was the first municipal broadband network and indeed, seems to have been the first citywide broadband system in the United States. We partnered with the Media Working Group to produce this short documentary and we have the material … Read More

Michael Powell said What?? Why Everyone Should Ignore the Cable Lobby

Date: 30 Apr 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Stop and think for a second. Would you regard the electricity grid and water system as an abysmal failure or success? If you are lobbying for cable companies in DC, you apparently think they are monumental failures. Michael Powell, former Chairman of the FCC must be dizzy after his trip through the revolving door on his … Read More

History of the Quickly Subverted 1996 Telecommunications Act – Community Broadband Bits Episode 89

Date: 11 Mar 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks, Podcast | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

If all had gone according to the plan behind the 1996 Telecommunications Act, we would have lots of competition among Internet service providers, not just cable and DSL but other technologies as well. Alas, the competing technologies never really appeared and various incarnations of the FCC effectively gutted the common carriage requirements at the heart of … Read More

The Real Threats from Monopoly – Community Broadband Bits Podcast #83

Date: 28 Jan 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks, Podcast | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

When we think about the threat of monopoly, we almost always focus on how monopolies can raise prices beyond what is reasonable. But there are many threats from monopolies and many are much more dangerous to a free society than higher prices. This week, monopoly expert Barry Lynn joins us for the Community Broadband Bits podcast. … Read More

Billy Ray on the Origins of the First Muni Broadband Network: Community Broadband Bits Episode #74

Date: 26 Nov 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks, Podcast | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Last month, we unveiled a video teaser of our interviews in Glasgow, Kentucky over the summer regarding its municipal broadband network. This week our podcast features a few clips from those interviews with Billy Ray, the Superintendent of Glasgow’s Electric Plant Board. He offers more context on the history of their network, including how they became … Read More

Billy Ray on the Origins of the First Muni Broadband Network

Date: 17 Oct 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

During the summer, I spent two days in Glasgow, Kentucky, to learn about the first municipal broadband network in the country. I believe it also became the first community in the US to have broadband access available universally within the town. Working with the Media Working Group, we recorded several interviews with people there, including a … Read More

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