technology for the masses

awhile back, the telecoms convinced the American government to give them large subsidies so that they could lay fiber-optic cable all the way to people's homes. that project never really got off the ground, as the telecoms found that even though they would still make money, they would make more if they just left the lines the same but still took the subsidies. the telecoms promised fiber-optic cable and 100Mbps to all major metropolitan areas by 2006, and to most homes by 2008. we never reached that goal, and not even a T3 line holds the same speeds promised (and they are paying in the thousands per month).

alas, Paris looks to do what American telecoms couldn't. Paris will be laying fiber-optic cable direct to the home.

"For €70 ($88) a month, customers participating in the fiber trial get Internet access, digital television broadcasts, and unlimited telephone calls over an optical connection with a theoretical maximum data rate of 2.5Gbps downstream, and 1.2Gbps upstream. The price includes installation and activation of equipment at the customers' homes, and the first two months' access are free."

telecoms, don't tell us that it is impossible. you have been fleecing the government for years, and now it's time to pay up on the promises. we are nowhere near the top when it comes to internet speed/technology. we are intentionally stifling it to make sure that corporations get to pay their CEOs 150 times more than their average worker. expect this to be a huge success for Paris, and expect it to probably be picked up all over Europe, and then, finally, when Americans realize that we've been left in the dust to rot our big heads, the telecoms may actually decide to upgrade their lines.

[on a side note, i know of one company that understands this and is taking plans for the future. Google is buying up lots of dark-fiber (meaning fiber-optic cable that has been laid out but not in use). they have not said why, but if they put out an ISP, half the state of California would join if they could. if they do this, not even Comcast will be able to keep up unless they lay (or buy) their own fiber network.]


the US House of Reps also had another banging day on technology. they passed a bill that says schools and other public institutions should ban social networking and chat sites from access. sounds good. until you get to the title of the bill: Deleting Online Predators Act. again, in true fashion, the title has nothing to do with the bill. the bill does not enact any action against online predators, nor does it give money to police services who try and catch them. all it does is put blockades on the computer to limit where the user can go to online. this is a direct fight against MySpace, which has shown itself to be an easy way to reach out and "touch" [lol] someone. you have to remember something here. social networking sites, by definition, can include blogs. but here is the kicker: what about when the child is at home (i would assume most kids who don't have a computer at school would visit MySpace from their homes)? how does this "delete" child predators? this bill is a farce. all it will do is drive the more technologically advanced (that's right Senators, your kids know a hell of a lot more about computers than you do *ahem* Ted Stevens *cough*) further underground to copycat sites of MySpace that are just as unsafe. this bill, like most others passed lately, paints your children as the guilty party. welcome to facism; guilty before proven anything.