Susan Crawford: "Captive Audience"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-01-10/susan-crawford-captive-audience
The U.S. has long been a world leader in technology innovation. Finding ways to profit from the Internet has been no exception. Think Amazon, Facebook and Google. But the next Google will not come from the U.S. Or so argues the author of a new book on the communications industry. She says we've allowed a handful of cable companies to become monopolies that stifle competition and innovation. Their monopoly status is also why Americans pay more money for worse Internet service than consumers in most other developed nations. Diane speaks with a communications policy expert about who controls Americans’ access to the Internet and why.
Guests
Susan Crawford
professor, Cardozo Law School; fellow at the Roosevelt Institute; member of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Advisory Council on Technology and Innovation.
Read An Excerpt
Excerpt from "Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age" by Susan Crawford. Copyright 2013 by Susan Crawford. Reprinted here by permission of Yale University Press. All rights reserved.
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
You don't seem to have been placed in the moderation queue, is it not working?
I am an elementary school educator and attended a technology conference where there was a speaker from a private school in Philadelphia. They knew they had students who didn't have access to the internet at home and they knew their school connection was not being used at night. I don't know how they did this but in order to do the best for the students they reversed their signal somehow, allowing the students to have use of that internet at home at night to work on their studies. I thought this was a great idea. Why don't more schools do this?
Dear Diane,
I am 50 years old and my wife and I have refused since our marriage 15 years ago to get cable, in protest of the 1996 FCC telecommunications act that gave us the sorry state of cable monopoly that we have in the United States. It actually has not been that difficult to do without cable TV--we watch a lot of good cable shows after the fact using Netflix. For internet connection, I use DSL which is most nearly adequate enough for my purposes. My wife uses her work connection wireless account on her iPad for her purposes. This is our state of affairs because we REFUSE to pay the robber-baron prices for a cable connection. TO ANYONE WHO SAYS THAT SPEED IS NOT IMPORTANT WITH AN INTERNET CONNECTION: I was on the waiting list for SEVERAL years to get a DSL connection in my home, and, until that time, I used a dial-up connection (refusing to knuckle in to a cable subscription). When I finally got the DSL, my ability to do ANYTHING AT ALL on the internet increased dramatically. Diane, I hope the your listeners and this nation's lawmakers will listen to the important and intelligent message that your guest is delivering!!
We live in rural upstate New York. My wife and I use our cell phones exclusively for internet connection. We have 4G here and it is fast enough to even watch the occasional TV show. Certainly fast enough for any kind of doing business and video chat etc. We choose this because it is the economical choice. I dont see any way to call this form of access insufficient.
Hard line infrastructure seems very expensive compared to towers. This is the natural way for things to go, and it will go this way regardless of regulation I believe. I also believe that regulation creates monopolies, because the hurdles for creating a competing business are too high and too extensive.
In the same way that wireless tech brought affordable communication potential to developing countries in the last decade, affordable internet access will be available to vast population before congress can agree on some law making this privilege into a basic human right...
Respectfully,
Ian
I have had a Verizon 5 person family plan for more than five years and while it started at a reasonable price, the changing social networking "needs" of my family and the peer pressure to upgrade has us now paying $300 for a 4 person family plan. I cancelled my phone line and share a phone with my 15 year old son.
I think it borders on sinful for me to spend over $3,600 a year to talk on the phone and I am taking action (buying individual Smart phones from Wal-Mart and paying for monthly plans for a period of time with the requirement that my children take over the cost of the cell phone monthly plans) to change the cost to me and to have my children take on their responsibility.
Essentially, the cell phone industry wins. I hope we can make changes. Thank you for airing this program today.
mmaxey1952
jdevhurt wrote:
"You don't seem to have been placed in the moderation queue, is it not working?"
Depends on the id. The same post that was successful under the id "ecgberht1" was first bounced back under the id "ecgberht" with the moderation queue message, even though I was able to make other posts under ecgberht this morning. What am I to conclude?
Please please please consider another show in the near future on this very topic! I tuned it quite late, but was wondering if anyone had mentioned the efforts of Gig.U http://www.gig-u.org/ and/or Gigabit Squared http://gigabitsquared.com/ and their efforts to create high speed access partnerships?
My city councilwoman mentioned it to me this past week.
Love to hear a comment on this & thanks as always for a fantastic show!
I in downtown Salt Lake City, and as far as I know, Comcast is the only choice for internet. Like many of your callers, I was forced to have package (TV and internet) when all I want or need is internet. I do not have a TV in the house, I do all my "TV" watching online. But if I want a slightly cheaper higher speed internet connection, I have to pay for TV. $80/month for bundle, half of which I do not even use.
This is unfair, but until there are more options available, I have no other place to go.
Stan wrote:
"Let's see if I have this straight: millions of Americans had their homes and savings stolen from them since 2008. A few fat cats now live very pretty. And they own this "democratic" government, while perpetrating the fiction that elections matter. "
Stan, if both those statements were true; "fat cats own America" and "elections don't matter", Mitt Romney would be President.
And to the poster who bemoaned the multiple postings - it is not because of your internet connection - it's because the DRShow website itself cannot handle the traffic. It's what we live with.
I realize that this is tangential to the subject, however, as Ms. Crawford made a comment that 'every American needs to have a great education', may I ask in response:
Which of these wonderfully educated people are going to want to work on assembly lines in the manufacturing sector, do auto repair, and plant trees with a shovel?
I am not even a conservative, or close, but this glaring glitch in the exhaustively benevolent world view she expresses does beg a better explanation. How does a society function with only well educated individuals?? ...I fail to see. There is a certain hubris also , to make plans for everyone's education...many people do not like, or thrive in academe and have quite happy lives working with their hands.
When I write the word fascist on this blog it is easy to tell to whom it refers:
If you call Old Rattler from the barn, don't expect Toots the cat to come running from the woodpile. Practicing fascists are those who buy the government and change its role from protecting public interests to forcing the public to submit to rigged-market Libertine capitalism (euphemism for fascists). In NC Fee-Farties elected a new governor who worked for Duke Energy 30 years and he will appoint Dookies to our utilities commission who will raise our rates on everything. If you're a Fee-Farty please include corporate tributes when you pledge never to raise taxes. Otherwise you'll look like an idiot. I'm stealing Internet right now from a neighbor's account and you should try that too. Buy one connection and share the access code.
Ms. Rehm,
My regards to you and Ms. Crawford. I have the highest esteem for your show and listen to it several times a week and always find myself better informed. The availability of affordable fast broadband is a democratizing factor for our nation, which is in conflict with the monied interests that have taken a large amount of control of our government. Thank you for addressing this issue and hosting Ms. Crawford. I wish all the voters in this country listened frequently to your show.
I live in Hillsdale County, Michigan, a hotbed of tea party conservatism. Comcast is the only internet provider available to us. Our channel lineup does not include MSNBC. I have repeatedly requested it be added. I have done so in writing as well as by phone and internet without result. I would like to have asked your guest if politics could play a roll in this. Fox News is on cable here. My friends and I are suspicious that local politics has blocked MSNBC.
When I visited China in 2011, even the barefoot ricksaw men had cell phones in remote areas. I live in Jacksonville, FL and we have one of the worst cell phone systems in America. I've used several carriers and they are all the same. Currently, I have AT & T cell service. When my calls are dropped (regularly), I try to call AT & T to try to complain or to get refund, but I am put on hold for 20 - 45 minutes. I can't even get cell phone service inside my home.
Thank you for this program, Diane. I will definitely try to improve this situation: one voice, one day at a time. Hopefully, my voice will combine with many others.
"When I write the word fascist on this blog it is easy to tell to whom it refers"
Not really. Now is the government fascist, or are those who buy government fascists? If they own government, then they make the government fascistic right? Yet you say, "it also makes corporate sense that fascists are always trying to end public media and transfer outlets to private ownership." It sounds like you think that the fascists own the government ("those who buy the government and change its role from protecting public interests to forcing the public to submit to rigged-market Libertine capitalism"), but, according to you, they also own the private media outlets, right? So what difference does it make?! According to you, the fascists will own the media no matter who controls it!
"I'm stealing Internet right now from a neighbor's account and you should try that too."
No, actually you're stealing Internet from the people who HONESTLY hold and pay their accounts. They're paying for you too. You're picking their pockets. You know who I mean, right? Those middle-class neighbors of yours whom you claim you want to protect. I'm sure you have sufficiently rationalized this theft to yourself by now. You must be very proud.
Dear friend Communications,
Your emotional clinging to a political philosophy doesn't deal with reality. Cherry picking facts that support your political world view and ignoring those fact that don't is called confirmation bias. At least Ms. Crawford gives credit to advances made in the past that fall within your political view. Your rugged Marlboro Man individualist fantasy and greed has fed our society and worked sometimes. There are many examples, and Ms. Crawford does acknowledge these advances in her book. Greed closed capitalism has failed monumentally in this arena.
Here is the reality Communications. I travel the world for my job. From my hotel room in Singapore I uploaded a 4GB video file to my employer that took only about a moment. While on the phone with the receiver in the States, I had to wait 15 minutes for him to download for viewing. That stinks brother.
I also know that part of your political world view is American exceptionalism. The foam finger #1. Best at everything delusion. The reality here is America is second class in "communications." Health, violent crime, life expectancy etc. notwithstanding.
ecgberht1 wrote: "Those middle-class neighbors of yours whom you claim you want to protect. I'm sure you have sufficiently rationalized this theft to yourself by now. You must be very proud."
She also calls people Nazi's who seek to "flag as offensive" while begging the administrators here to ban completely those she disagrees with i.e. despises. Issues?
Racer X wrote:
"The reality here is America is second class in "communications." "
Swell, then let's call it "infrastructure" and spend money on it.
Now ... what are you going to cut? Remember, we're in debt 16T and counting.
And when we're done, then what are you going to do? Give everyone a cell phone? A laptop? To make use of this tremendous resource?
I'm not saying we should stand still. I'm saying we already waste, and have wasted, way too much money on things that are not the responsibility of the FG. We have to learn, first of all, what the FG is supposed to spend money on. It's not ADC and it's not HUD and it's not HHS.
Like I thought! This discussion has devolved into fruitless political blather. Geez. So off subject. Let's talk about the reality of our second class digital infrastructure and service which is overpriced too.
Racer X wrote: "I also know that part of your political world view is American exceptionalism. The foam finger #1. Best at everything delusion. The reality here is America is second class in "communications." Health, violent crime, life expectancy etc. notwithstanding."
You obviously do not know what American exceptionalism means. It means opportunity. It could be considered obnoxious to compare the police state of Singapore to the U.S.
No ecgberht1,
How about opening up to competition to private companies. Isn't that the platitude to the Teabagger? Won't cost the taxpayer a thing. Comcast and others are giving golf trips and campaign donations in Washington right now to make sure that doesn't happen. Ahhh...greed is good, and we all lose.
Racer X wrote:
"Like I thought! This discussion has devolved into fruitless political blather. "
And then he wrote:
"Isn't that the platitude to the Teabagger? "
Lovely.
"How about opening up to competition to private companies."
I have no problem with that. But you expect the major providers to build all this infrastructure and then just eat the cost?! Let others come along and skate for free?
This would be like a handful of companies building the interstate highway system and then letting everyone drive on it for free. Infrastructure is the FG's job. That's why I have no problem with interstate highways, airports, sewer systems ... or cell towers ... being put up with my tax dollars. Then let companies compete for your service.
But that is not a spending priority for us. Cell phones for unwed mothers or people out of work so they can call their local UE office (not their drug dealer, of course) is the bigger priority.
We can't spend for everything. You've got to choose. When I vote, I vote for people who will spend my tax money on things that are the proper role of government.
So you are admitting the failure of your narrow political philosophy in terms of digital communications. The fact remains--we (the US) are second class in the digital age. Less opportunity for current and future businesses and jobs. A competitive disadvantage in the world, and yes, it is a global economy.
You have your vote ecgberht1, and and I am thankful for that. You seem to be the arbiter for the "proper role of government," but your vote is the minority in the US. How do you reconcile the concept of voting and proper role of government?
Again, on subject. Comcast is liquid for over $100B can build infrastructure, not government. Yes, their now, now, now, shareholders will take a hit, but think of the long term gains. I don't live off 15% taxed dividend income. I work hard for a living. I wonder how much the Marlboro Man made off his Etrade phone app? The irony is that he has no connection out in the sticks of Wyoming or wherever ;)
Racer X wrote:
"So you are admitting the failure of your narrow political philosophy in terms of digital communications. "
Huh? That would only be the case if my "narrow political philosophy" is that the private sector should do everything. But nice try.
You claim that we are "second class in the digital age" but you can't support that claim. In fact, we are cutting edge in most respects, except that in digital communications we have many times the miles to cover than most countries overseas and, yes, they have had government investment in the required infrastructure. I'm not opposed to that, but then we have to decide that that is the thing we want to pay for and not something else. I don't know how many different ways to say it.
"You seem to be the arbiter for the "proper role of government," but your vote is the minority in the US."
No, actually the Constitution is the arbiter for the "proper role of government". Read Article 1, Section 8. My vote and yours seem to drift in and out of the majority, Racer.
"How do you reconcile the concept of voting and proper role of government? "
You know, it's fascinating to me the lack of understanding that prevails about how our country was formed and developed, but considering the sad state of our educational system, I guess it shouldn't be that surprising. Do you know not just the "what" but the "why", the rationale for how voting rights were achieved in the early days of our country, Racer? Did they even bother to mention that in your civics class? Did you have a civics class?
"Again, on subject. Comcast is liquid for over $100B can build infrastructure, not government. Yes, their now, now, now, shareholders will take a hit, but think of the long term gains."
So Comcast should build infrastructure and, in effect, punish their stockholders, so competitors can come along had have the FG force them to share? Really?
I have a question for Communications, regarding the review you posted by Richard Bennett. It states: "In the United States, by comparison, at least 50 million homes, or nearly half, are connected to networks with speeds of at least 100 megabits per second."
Can you clarify what this means? Is it just a typo, and they meant to say 10Mbps rather than 100? Or maybe they aren't actually talking about the speed at the house but something else? I know that 100Mbps is available, but I don't know anyone who has it. I'm having trouble believing that half of all homes have it! And does anyone know how much it costs to get 100Mbps?
Thanks!
Question for Clifford:
I'm interested in what you said about Cleveland installing free WiFi. Cleveland has been financially strapped for some time now (actually going back decades). How did they manage to install "free" WiFi, and how is it working out for them?
Thanks!
"Socialist Sweden has no jobs and is paying its unemployed to move to capitalist Norway."
Edwards, that looks interesting. Do you happen to have a link to an article about that?
Thanks!
Babsnh, that sounds very interesting and I am curious as to how it would work. If the students don't have Internet at home, I'm not sure how the school's connection can be transferred to homes at night. At the very least, each of those homes would normally need to have some type of data modem equipment, or, I suppose it's possible that if these homes already have cable TV the Internet service might be delivered that way. If you remember the name of the school in Phildelphia I'd be interested in looking into this.
Thank you ecgberht1...
For playing into my mocking of your POV. Government is evil of course to you. Government does many things better, and many things worst. It isn't black and white either/or my Marlboro Man friend. Cling to your simple fantasy world view. We live in an evermore crowded planet. We have to figure out things you hate.
No one should be able to tell anybody what to do right? Blather on... But you are obsessed with laws prohibiting the pelvic area, and drugs I bet. Humm. The grand comedy of your own cognitive dissonance. Freedom baby!
Your cognitive dissonance about Comcast is funny. With massive resoure$ they buy government for their own self-interest-ie shareholders. Drowning out the Marlboro Man. Of course they don't want to build infrastructure that exists in the rest of the world. Robber Barons hate and want to crush competition. No referees, no rules.
Your false assumption is that our government has to spend money to make us better in the digital world. Petrochemical age, coal, etc is over. This is the digital age upon us. Yes, the facts are true. Other sources have the US as 31st in bandwidth and speed. Worst than the claim of Ms. Crawford.
I am sure you never read Ms. Crawford's book.
Lokdash, maybe I can offer a sensible answer to your question "Which of these wonderfully educated people are going to want to work on assembly lines in the manufacturing sector, do auto repair, and plant trees with a shovel?"
I'll say first that I can't presume to guess what Ms. Crawford's response would be; this is my own answer. A "wonderful" education doesn't necessarily mean an "Ivy League," rigorously academic, elitist education. A wonderful education does not need to be hoity-toity. Moreover, modern assembly lines, manufacturing plants, cars and car repair, and even landscaping can involve more high-tech equipment than you might imagine. And even if some people have jobs that involve a shovel, or a broom and mop, that doesn't mean that they would not enjoy and benefit from a wonderful education. Do you think that only empty-headed people can use a shovel or a mop? Do you think that someone who happens to enjoy math and literature couldn't enjoy being a custodian at a school? There's no reason that a "wonderful" education can't also mean trade schools, in which students learn a trade and become apprentices. For example, kids who like to show their butt cracks might want to be plumbers. Other kids might aspire to be car mechanics like the Car Talk guys. :-)
I know a guy who was an engineer like me but got laid off, and now he's (happily) working in a huge cheese factory keeping an eye on the complex control panels, ensuring that all the automated processes are working properly. You've heard of the book "Who Moved My Cheese"? Well, he's now the guy who's moving all that cheese. :-)