Sorry I've been away. Working on...stuff. I'll be back shortly. Frankly, though, I would rather be back tall-ly, since I'm short enough as it is.
And with puns like that, it's a wonder this blog gets
any readers.
In the meantime, you may want to read
this piece about the use of astroturf to create bogus opposition to net neutrality...
Another group leading the charge is the American Consumer Institute. The organization recently filed a letter with the FCC opposing reclassification, and argues that ISPs should be left alone. "The fact is that the broadband market is competitive and becoming more so," wrote ACI, which claims that consumers currently enjoy "increased choice." In January, ACI called the Verizon lawsuit that struck down the original FCC net-neutrality guidelines, "a victory for consumers."
Why would a self-professed consumer advocacy group not only oppose moving toward net neutrality but claim that America's broadband market—one of the slowest, most expensive in the industrialized world with fewer than three choices in many parts of the country—is so great?
Perhaps because ACI, like Broadband for America, is financed by an ISP lobby group. Annual tax returns show that a foundation controlled by lobbyists from the cell phone industry, called MyWireless.org, has contributed to ACI since 2010.
And guess who is getting in on the act? Our old friends at the Heartland Institute. You pay Heartland enough dough, and they'll shill for anything. They were the main people, for example, promoting the view that second-hand smoke doesn't cause any deleterious health effects...
Leaked documents from the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank famous for shilling on behalf of corporate donors, show major funds from Comcast, AT&T, and Time Warner Cable.
I may have more to say about Heartland soon...
