Big Telecom companies are suppressing fast internet

A Q&A with Harvard professor Susan Crawford. 

"The decay [of competitive internet options] started in 2004 when — maybe out of gullibility, maybe out of naivety, maybe out of calculation —then-chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Powell — now the head of cable association — was persuaded that the telecommunication companies would battle it out with the cable companies, that their cable modem services would battle it out with wireless, and all of that competition would do a much better job than any regulatory structure could at ensuring that every American had a cheap and fantastic connection of the internet. That’s just turned out that’s just not true," Crawford said. "Since then, he deregulated the entire sector — and as a result, we got this very stagnant status quo where in most urban areas — usually the local cable monopoly has a lock in the market and can charge whatever it wants for whatever type of quality services they're providing, leaving a lot of people out…. poor people, people of color in urban areas. And the rural situation is especially dire. It’s an issue that probably isn’t on most politicians’ radar screens." She continued, "That’s the story. It’s a failure of leadership, imagination, and technology. The lack of regulation makes things worse, and the private market isn’t providing high-speed internet."