Rep. Ty Harrell, who we’ve been lobbying very hard to get to drop a nasty anti-consumer bill designed to stop municipal broadband, has accepted that the matter requires considerable additional review, and HB 1252 has been buried for the year in a “study committee” to “review” its impact.

In North Carolina politics, that usually means an elected official waded too far out in deep water and needs a lifesaver, and the “bill needs further study” approach is a great way to survive an angry constituent bees nest.  The “study committee” will review the legality of the measure and consider the issue before bringing a report back to the House and Senate for consideration, but a number of pieces of legislation that end up going this route are never heard from again.

We’ve received reports the hearing room was packed with people.  Among the “pro-HB1252” audience were people supporting the astroturfing “Americans for Prosperity,” a pro-corporate group that pelted North Carolina residents with harassing recorded calls earlier this week.  The “anti-HB1252” audience was made up of consumers sent by StoptheCap! and Jay Ovittore’s Facebook group fighting Time Warner Cable on various fronts in his home state, as well as representatives from municipalities, advocates for fiber network development, and supporters who learned about the event from Free Press.

This represents our second pro-consumer victory in less than a month against big cable and telco companies.  Thank you to everyone who made calls, sent e-mail, lobbied their elected officials, and attended today’s event.  To those that supported this nonsense in the first place, unless we note an acknowledgment of the mistakes made in supporting this anti-consumer nightmare, this will be an issue we’ll be reminding voters of come next election day.  This remains a fundamental consumer issue, and who stood with and against consumers will need to be revisited.

Bad weather across the state is leading in the news today across the region, but we’ll have further developments on this story later today.

[Editor’s Note: Our current software does not require users to confirm their e-mail address before submitting comments on this site, although the individual purporting to be Rep. Ty Harrell did use a correct e-mail address for the representative.  On the chance that the comments expressed on this site are from the representative, our reply should be taken with that understanding.]

Someone signing their name Rep. Ty Harrell and using his e-mail address left the following general comment on two articles on our site regarding the North Carolina legislation HB 1252, which is essentially a custom written bill by and for the cable and telephone industry in an effort to impede municipal broadband network development inside the state.  Today, the legislation will be taken up by the Public Utilities Committee for review.  StoptheCap! is calling on all North Carolina citizens to do their best to attend this meeting and be prepared to protest this legislation in the strongest possible terms, and demand that representatives vote “no” on it.  At this time, only telephone calls should be made to your elected representatives.  It’s too late for e-mail.  This is the link for information about the group assembling for today’s Committee meeting in Raleigh.  Here is information about the earlier Call to Action.

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The same old fundamental misunderstandings about the Internet that got former Sen. Stevens into so much trouble with his pronouncement that the Internet was a “series of tubes” that were being filled up by commercial providers, which is somehow why we cannot be for net neutrality, comes back time and time again with alarmist rhetoric about exafloods, brownouts, global data slowdowns, and the risk of the collapse of the Internet itself.

Just you wait and see.

And folks have been waiting and seeing since 1996:

• 1996: Full Capacity
• 1997: Overheated demand
• 2002: Soon be a shortage
• 2002: Shortages could start appearing later this year
• 2007: Internet could run out of capacity in two years
• 2008: Internet to hit capacity in two years

How can we be saved from the broadband collapse, drowning in exaflood tidal waves and zetaflood cataclysms when the funeral service was held more than a decade ago?

Using fear to advance a corporate or marketing agenda is hardly a new concept.  Unless we do “x,” “y” will happen and ruin your life has been used along with alarmist rhetoric to justify virtually everything.  For broadband usage capping and metered service, it’s front and center.  In fact, wherever service is lousy with limitations and someone has their hand out looking for more of your money, you can be sure the “clogged tubes” argument is going to be a big part of the snowjob.

Snow isn’t a big problem in Australia, but that doesn’t stop the blizzard of nonsense from showing up down under, where the Internet is a particularly lousy experience for Aussies forced to endure draconian caps from monopolistic providers.  Exceed your caps there and your connection slows to near-dial-up speeds.  Never trust a guy in a ludicrously loud shirt, nor someone who channels Sen. Stevens in calling the whole thing a series of “pipes.”  Maybe Pete Blasina got the shirt from Cisco, who he also conveniently notes is supplying switches to save us from impending doom.  They also happened to supply him with a lot of his talking points.  The bit about YouTube traffic in one month equaling Internet consumption in 2000 came from them.

Duncan Riley (who was the source for the history lesson on exaflood threats) does a fine job debunking the same nonsense we have to endure in North America.

The story is nearly always the same: telcos and infrastructure companies fund research that finds that the latest trend online at the time (audio, video, HD video, P2P, Sykpe and social networking are some previously used) is too much for the Internet to handle. The reasons behind the studies are usually variations on a theme: Government regulation or Government financial support. Which is where we start our story on how Sunrise played a role in the latest outbreak of industry astroturfing.

But how did a primarily American focused astroturfing campaign end up be served to Australians on breakfast television?

The outbreak of “Internet is full” stories this time was remarkably subdued. The last research paper was released in November 2008, which might account for part of the silence, although Sunrise says there’s a new report coming (the contents year to year ultimately deliver nearly the same doom and gloom message.) Given strong coverage of the 2007 outbreak as being an astroturfing campaign, news rooms may have been a little wiser this time round.

Duncan doesn’t realize the Internet is Full Crisis ’09 started last week with the latest Nemertes report we debunked a few days ago as a whole lot of industry-sponsored nonsense.  But it’s remarkable the astroturf campaigns have enough industry cash behind them to push this stuff worldwide.  Duncan’s piece links some other outbreaks of astroturfing so check it out.

In 2007, when Time Warner and their lobbying friends were up to no good trying to kill off municipal broadband, Google joined the battle to preserve freedom of choice and the powerful tool municipal broadband has to provide communities with advanced services incumbent providers refuse to offer.  The bill died two years ago due to a growing opposition.

In 2009, the cable lobby was back trying to sneak this same bad legislation through once again.  This time, they’ve found some new opposition they hadn’t counted on before:

1. Consumers!  It’s payback time for Time Warner Cable and other companies who sought to abuse their customers with ridiculous rate hikes, usage caps, and tiered access plans nobody wants.  Since they continue to refuse to completely abandon these profit grabbing schemes, ordinary citizens have organized and are willing to fight them on every front where their mischief stands to hurt consumers with higher pricing, reduced choice, and the creation on broadband backwaters.  In North Carolina, where the Triad was victimized with a Time Warner “experiment,” residents are joining forces and telling their elected officials to vote NO on HB 1252 and SB 1004, which are monopoly protection bills designed to thwart competition.  Consumers will remain vigilant until cable drops plans to gouge customers with tiered pricing and caps, in writing, and competes on merit, not on special favors.
2. Google is back with a letter to the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, co-signed by consumer advocacy groups and high technology companies who see how much this legislation will stifle North Carolina’s economy and high tech recovery.

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This Wednesday morning, May 6th at 10:00am, the Public Utilities Committee is meeting in Room 1228 of the Legislative building on Jones St. in Raleigh to vote on HB 1252.  HB 1252 is the “Level Playing Field” bill, sponsored by Rep. Ty Harrell (D-Wake County), that would forever tie the hands of municipalities from ever offering better, faster and cheaper broadband Internet for their residents.  The city of Wilson already offers such a service called Greenlight.  After looking at what they offer for speeds and pricing, it will be understandable if you need a few moments for the anger over what you pay the “other guys” to dissipate and for your composure to return.

I am assembling a small army of outraged consumers across North Carolina to attend this critically important meeting and make our views known about HB 1252, which at its core screams anti-competition.  Everyone in North Carolina who cares about the cap issue, metered pricing, or municipal broadband needs to attend this meeting and show our feelings.  Municipal broadband is the safety valve we need to combat usage caps, price gouging, and rationed Internet.

Don’t be the hamster on the wheel spinning around and around in the cage current providers have constructed for our broadband service.  We deserve better, and we can make a difference!  Cable and telephone providers refuse to make the upgrades we demand and deserve.  Without competition, why spend the money to upgrade?  Let them get away with this, and you can be assured of slow speeds and bad service indefinitely.

Make an investment in yourself and your community and come to Raleigh this Wednesday morning.  Let’s demonstrate once again that organized consumers do not have to sit back and simply take what they give us.

When: Wednesday, May 6 10:00AM

Where: North Carolina Legislature Building, 16 West Jones Street, Raleigh (Here is a Google map of the area.)  Room 1228

Additional Information:  Be sure to follow any comments left on this article for last minute updates/information.  There is also a Facebook Group to oppose this bill and get late-breaking news and developments.

Jay Ovittore lives in North Carolina and is coordinating a pushback against corporate sponsored protection bills like HB 1252 and SB 1004 in the state legislature.