Maine Kills Awful Broadband Law After Public Backlash Earlier this week Maine was the latest in a long line of states to try and pass a law -- quite literally written by giant ISPs -- intended to prevent towns and cities from building their own broadband networks. The bill, sponsored by Maine Representative Nate Wadsworth, would have saddled towns and cities with all manner of restrictions preventing towns and cities looking for any solution to the limited competition in the broadband space. Like most of these bills it was written by ALEC, a group that lets companies ghost-write legislation (then pretend this isn't happening).

But with Maine being 49th in terms of broadband speed and coverage, and consumers all too aware of the problems caused by Comcast and Frontier's duopoly over the state, state residents simply weren't having it. As a result, the Maine Legislature's Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee voted 12-0 against the measure after receiving an earful from constituents. Opposition was so fierce, even the sponsor of the bill, State Representative Nate Wadsworth (not coincidentally a state chair for ALEC), voted against the measure. And he wasn't interested in commenting to the Portland Press Herald about the proposal's failure. Consumers, however, were happy to see Frontier and Comcast's effort fail. "I was relieved and reassured to hear of the unanimous vote to stop this bill," one resident told the paper. "The people in Maine’s small rural communities would have been left without a future if this bill had passed. The legislators did the right thing by leaving the choice of how to solve the problem in the hands of the local people." Many other states haven't been so lucky. Many other states haven't been so lucky. More than twenty states have passed similar restrictions, all of them backed by large ISPs. Supporters of these bills profess they're solely interested in "protecting taxpayers." Rarely will those same individuals admit the problem inherent in letting entrenched local duopolies -- with a vested interest in keeping prices high and competition low -- write state telecom law.







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Most recommended from 41 comments



Makaveli998

join:2002-04-23

Toronto, ON 20 recommendations Makaveli998 Member Well done Congrats to the people of Maine. And not really surprised that corporate shill voted again his own bill. I wonder how happy comcast and the rest will be after paying him for that lol. cozomel

join:2016-10-10

Boston, MA 12 recommendations cozomel Member Why? I am so and tired of Republicans always doing this s**t! Why does anybody vote for these people?

Transmaster

Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus

join:2001-06-20

Cheyenne, WY 2 recommendations Transmaster Member US West tried this crapola in Wyoming Years ago US West tried to get our state legislators to pass such a law when Graybull, Wyoming got tired of getting what the little dog shot at for internet service and decided to put in a modern system. Wyoming has a long history of this sort of thing. In the 19th and early 20th century it was the Union Pacific and its monopoly on the coal industry, and especially cattle cars. We had a similar thing with US West that owned the state's phone system and because of this there was no incentive for them to do anything to improve the system. Graybull realized they needed something better than for the city's economy. When they tried to build something US West first when to court, in Wyoming that was like trying to ride a cutting horse without a saddle. When they got to the State legislature lawmakers realized if they voted for such a law their weathered bones would be found by Elk hunters in the wilderness perhaps several decades in the future.