Finland makes broadband access a legal right

Thu Jul 1 22:17:43 UTC 2010

On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 8:04 AM, Gadi Evron <ge at linuxbox.org> wrote:
> http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/01/finland.broadband/index.html?hpt=T2

In the US, the Communications Act of 1934 brought about the creation
of the "Universal Service Fund." The idea, more or less, was that
every phone line customer contributed to the fund (you'll find it
itemized on your phone bill) and the phone companies had to charge the
same for every phone line regardless of where delivered in their
territory but when initially installing an unusually difficult
(expensive) phone line the phone company was entitled to reimburse its
cost from the fund.

In 1996 a certain inventor of the Internet decided that the universal
service fund needed to pay for PCs in rural schools (the "E-Rate"
program) instead of improving rural communications...

-- 
William D. Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/>
Falls Church, VA 22042-3004