Colin Neagle

A little more than 10 years ago, Comcast stuffed mailboxes in Batavia, Illinois, in the weeks leading up to a vote on a referendum measure attempting to establish a municipal broadband network, warning of failed projects and other horror stories that would come to life if they voted in favor of it.

All of this was done while keeping the source of these fliers -- Comcast and SBC Communications, which later merged with AT&T -- in the finest of fine print.

The tactic worked, leading residents of Batavia and nearby Geneva and St. Charles to vote the measure down twice even though more than 72% of area residents who responded to a 2001 survey were in favor of a broadband and cable overhaul.