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
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Good Morning,
I'm an American living in Sweden.
The Swedish Government has made High-Speed Internet Access (infrastructure build-out) a high priority policy issue.
There is very little competition in Sweden for customers to gain access to High Speed Internet access, however, the companies who provide Internet service, do so with the desire of providing reasonably priced High Speed Internet Service for ALL.
It is also worth noting, High Speed Internet access is nearly ubiquitous, even in the rural areas, if they have a land-line phone, ten they can get access to HIGH SPEED INTERNET. Another question may be, what is HIGH? SPEED INTERNET, what speeds would be consider HIGH SPEED.
What is surprising in the United States is the cost for, what I would consider inferior Internet Service. High cost, low connection speeds.
I live in the suburbs of Malmo, Sweden, a roughly 25 minute train ride from Copenhagen, Denmark. I have Wireless High Speed Internet Service, yes WIRELESS, not through my mobile phone, a regularly available service like WIRED service. My top WIRELESS supported speed is 64Mbps (4G), to be fair, I rarely get that full speed, but routinely avg roughly 22.5 -27Mbps. Remember this is WIRELESS! I can take my portable router device (the size of an iPod) put it in my pocket and jump on the train and surf the Internet with my laptop or iPad device, then go back home and surf like I never left home.
The price for WIRELESS ranges from 25-40 usd and the price for WIRED (VDSL/Fiber) ranges from 45-60 usd. This wired service includes phone service as well.
The United States is a vast country and yes it may be expensive for Cable and Telco provider to build an infrastructure for this type of service to be provided across the whole country, but lets not kid ourselves, if Sweden and its partners can provide this service, why can't the United States and its partner do the same?
Richard Dennis
http://wire-news.com
This may have been an important issue a decade ago, but not now that the Internet has become saturated with advertising and dominated by a commercial mindset. Of course it is doubly tragic and comically unjust that people pay too much for poor access to a service that colonizes their minds to keep them fearful and feeling resistance to the power of concentrated wealth is futile. Television, print media and even radio have followed the same pattern of privatization by a few transnational owners. TV and Internet (screen media that includes gaming) also have an addictive and developmental power involving brain chemistry. So it does make social engineering sense that the British tax TV like cigarettes, and it also makes corporate sense that fascists are always trying to end public media and transfer outlets to private ownership. As resources run low and markets become saturated the pattern in the USA has been deregulation, straight piping and hotwiring the market for maximal extraction. Since the People have abdicated, for whatever reasons, I predict no equitable solution to Internet scalping in the near future. The FCC seems more likely to help hold us victims down while corporations extract their pleasures. Here in America the mind is raped before the body. (Compulsory porn in every home!)
Cable companies have been given the green light by T-Party/Republicans lobbyists from A.L.E.C. to rip off the public. A.L.E.C. owns our States T-Party/Republicans..They control our internet providers,which provide internet services to many millions,including me.
Not cheating customers is sold as big bad government regulations to the feeble minded... The Ohio T-Party/Republicans cut the funding for the "Consumer Protection Advocacy" at our State Public Utility Commission(PUCO). That stunt cheated us into 40% electric rate increase.... THE HUGE COST OF SMALL GOVERNMENT !!
The FCC gave all States the ability to offer ala carte cable service. Don`t watch NBC,or Fox,you can choose which channels to pay for.The Mormon lobby group from A.L.E.C. killed the Bill,protecting their forced payment to their religious channels.Instead,they replaced our choices,with their choice, we got stupid "BUNDLING" instead. Get a break only if you buy the services they want to provide.
Cleveland set up a free Wifi area in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood.It can be done.It Must be done. FREE WIFI INTERNET EVERYWHERE.
I would offer that the Internet is saturated with Advertising and a commercial mindset BECAUSE of what the author is positing, at least in part. Just another example of run away capitalism and the market "policing itself".
No offense, Dennis. Consider yourself lucky to be living in Sweden/Europe where everything is better than the U.S., but ... the two undisputable facts are:
U.S. 3.79M Sq miles
Sweden, 174K Sq miles (less than 5% of the size)
ecgberht, I don't buy that. If the will - technical and political - existed, then we would have done this already. Since when have Americans said that our country is TOO BIG to get something done that we want done?
I moved back to my home state after living three years in London. In London I had fiber optic cable Internet access with amazing speed. I paid less for my Internet, cable TV and two cell phones with unlimited data than I do for one cell phone in the US.
I feel I moved back in time.
"Since when have Americans said that our country is TOO BIG to get something done that we want done?"
Since anyone suggested building a fence along the Mexican boarder.
Comcast 14% revenue go into infrastructure improvements. I wouldn't mind if the number increased, but I would give priority to reducing my monthly bill. $62/mo for internet-only.
I work in IT and I can tell you that the internet is just as important as phone service. Everything is connected across the internet. If we ignore this we do it at our peril.
If you look at the cost of sending 140 characters in text messages (10 cents for each message) or the cost of Data service per month for each phone (30-40 dollars) then connecting to a slow internet in the US is incredibly costly. We are paying for the lack of competition in broadband.
This along with the chocking of data (most phones allow only 3 or 4 GB and cable is talking 150 GB to 250 GB per months).
Excellent review by Richard Bennett of this misguided book:
Captive Policy
An excerpt - [T]he book relies on a series of anecdotes and strained historical analogies – and precious little hard data – to make a case for Crawford’s pet policy prescription, “broadband unbundling.” Experiments with unbundling have shown that it can reduce consumer prices only temporarily, at the expense of ongoing investment in upgrades to network wiring and electronics.
The book illustrates the pitfalls inherent in communicating through ink and paper in the fast-moving broadband world: Since the book was committed to print, the Europeans that Crawford holds out as models of the benefits of unbundling are reported to be raising prices for wholesale broadband to stimulate investment in faster networks in order to catch up with the U. S.:
Policies that were considered, tried, and discarded fifteen and twenty years ago won’t alleviate these problems, however, and by now Crawford should know that. It’s particularly disappointing that Crawford refuses to acknowledge America’s leadership in the adoption of next generation wireless LTE. She sneers at mobile as an inferior substitute for cable without giving any credit to the benefits of mobile computing. It’s as if she doesn’t want her foreordained conclusion perturbed by mere facts.
Pancake Rankin wrote:
" it also makes corporate sense that fascists are always trying to end public media and transfer outlets to private ownership. "
Pancake, you've made some really bizarre statements in this forum, but this has to be the most bizarrest!
You apparently don't know what fascism is, so here is the defintion for your enlightenment:
fascism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime ... that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Private ownership of media is the ANTITHESIS of fascism. Public control, of same, on the other hand, is the DEFINITION.
Socialist Sweden has no jobs and is paying its unemployed to move to capitalist Norway.
Crawford's comment about 19 state laws is absurd - no state has a law prohibiting Google from coming in and replicating what they've done in Kansas City.
My twin sister and I use high speed to synch our workouts, so you could say it has a real impact on our fitness! We call it Twin Power, the buddy system for good motivation to get up and do a work out at home. She lives in Seattle and I in West KY. We have always been close. Despite the fact that we are so far, we remain connected very well due to 'face time' as they say, even in a digital sense. And yes, it makes getting through the workout that much easier to see her pushing thru on the other side too! (I also am very spoiled as we personally have FTTH since my husband works at the local Fiber Op utility provider...)
And more from Richard Bennett's review
Captive Policy
Crawford is clearly incorrect in asserting that the service she wants to see is “routinely available in other countries,” of course. Even worse than the wishful thinking is her studied refusal to describe the actual applications that would be enabled by symmetrical service at gigabit speeds that can’t be used today.
There’s clearly no shortage of streaming video on the Internet today, as most studies find that video streaming represents half the traffic on the American Internet during prime time today. We’ve had gigabit networks in offices, homes, and campuses for nearly ten years now, and we haven’t seen any new applications too demanding for common 100 Mbps networks but happy with gigabit connections.
In real life, the requirements of video streaming are many times more modest than Crawford imagines: Netflix reports that their average streaming rate over Google’s gigabit Kansas City network is a meager 2.5 Mbps, a figure that’s well within the capability of all but the poorest DSL connections and no problem at all for Verizon’s FiOS, cable’s DOCSIS, AT&T’s and Century Link’s VDSL+, and even 4G LTE wireless.
Consumers in most parts of America can in fact purchase 100 Mbps service over FiOS and cable today, and should be able to buy it from Vectored DSL services in fairly short order, but they’re still bewildered about what they’re going to do with it. The likely answers will come from corners that aren’t too hard to imagine, such as high-resolution multiparty video calls, virtual classrooms, and even holographic conferencing. But these aren’t pressing concerns today and they won’t be for many years to come; they’re certainly unlikely to jump to the top of consumer concerns within five years, but if they do, we have the technology to address them on the networks that are currently installed.
Amen, Dr. Crawford! I have a spotty connection listening to the Diane Rehm Show online right now, precisely because of this lack of innovation. But how can we really vote on this topic when it is not even a topic of debate? Do we need to start a U.S. equivalent of the Pirate Party, which is on the rise in Germany?
Mobile is even more expensive than cable broadband and sooooo much slower. I would also say that Richard Bennett seems to sit on the side of the cable and wireless companies.
Good Morning to you both and thank you for having this very important discussion.
I currently live in a rural part of southern Indiana. It is frustrating to have no high speed internet options available here. Providers like Verizon and AT&T have a presence within the borders of some towns here, but almost all areas outside are restricted to more expensive(and less reliable) services such as HughesNet. This household is still connected, however limited, via dialup which costs nearly $35.00 monthly. My first attempt at posting this comment, for example, began just 1 minute into this discussion.
Connectivity has become important to education, business, healthcare and many other vital functions of our country. We must get control of this situation.
Good Morning to you both and thank you for having this very important discussion.
I currently live in a rural part of southern Indiana. It is frustrating to have no high speed internet options available here. Providers like Verizon and AT&T have a presence within the borders of some towns here, but almost all areas outside are restricted to more expensive(and less reliable) services such as HughesNet. This household is still connected, however limited, via dialup which costs nearly $35.00 monthly. My first attempt at posting this comment, for example, began just 1 minute into this discussion.
Connectivity has become important to education, business, healthcare and many other vital functions of our country. We must get control of this situation.
I live in the metro Detroit area and my options for internet access at home are Comcast or AT&T. Both are very expensive. As individuals what can we do to push for more options?
O dear - it appears my slow internet has caused me to post THREE times!
I live in the metro Detroit area and my options for internet access at home are Comcast or AT&T. Both are very expensive. As individuals what can we do to push for more options?
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I taught English to Korean students over the internet, they chuckled when checking my internet speed....... I got the job, which allowed me to work from home while building an online business (unrelated to teaching). The internet changed our lives for the good, I wish all had this available to them.
This show is a travesty because:
The show is not about Ms. Crawford's book, it's about her VIEWS on the subject and her political views.
There is no dissenting voice to hers on either the subject matter or her political views.
The board continues to censor the posts of certain posters by throwing them into the "moderation" queue.
What a great show and important topic. I wish everyone could hear this.
Joey
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. And they are trying to suck out all the rest of the blood that remains in people's assets, by such things as media fees that are made up out of air, bearing little resemblance to actual cost.
Of course, assault weapon sales are at an all-time high. Does anyone see any trouble coming? Are those ivory towers tall enough?
Disclaimer: I do not and never will own a gun.
Great show.
Susan, there will NEVER be the political will among the citizenry to vote on this issue. Other issues will crowd it out.
What about a class action lawsuit? Surely some lawyer can see the dollar signs here.
-George Scott
Knoxville, TN
Keeping the proletariat in their place, one service plan at a time.