We have received several inquiries about where Stop the Cap! stands on the “Stop Online Piracy Act” — legislation currently in Congress designed to combat online piracy.  We’ve remained silent on this legislation for only one reason: we just haven’t have the time to cover it.  But I wanted to take a moment to answer the ongoing inquiries from readers about where we stand on this legislation.

In short, we oppose it.

As with virtually all legislation bought and paid for by large corporate interests, this attempt to thwart online piracy is yet another example of special interest overreach with a bountiful basket of unintentional consequences corporate lobbyists are not paid to consider when pushing the agenda of giant media and entertainment conglomerates.

As of yesterday, the Obama Administration seems to have recognized the growing opposition to the legislation from just about everyone apart from the corporate interests spending millions to promote and lobby it.  Some media reports seem to indicate SOPA is on the verge of being shelved, at least temporarily.  But you can be certain that like all monied legislation, it will be back.

Instead of a lengthy explanation about SOPA, we’d prefer to point you to some excellent pieces explaining why the proposed bill is a really, really bad idea.  Free Press has an organized campaign to stop the legislation in its current form, one that you should consider supporting, even if the bill is now languishing in Washington.  Also check out the Electronic Freedom Foundation’s web form to contact your legislators to oppose SOPA.

Stop the Cap! will participate in the Stop SOPA censorship campaign scheduled for tomorrow.  Visitors will first land on an information page explaining why this site “has been blocked.”  But that page includes a link to continue your journey back here, where regular coverage will continue.

Be sure to watch these two videos:

[flv width=”596″ height=”356″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/MSNBC Chris Hayes SOPA and Antipiracy Debated 1-15-12.flv[/flv]

Chris Hayes’ courageous in-depth debate about SOPA appeared on MSNBC, a network owned by Comcast-NBC, which ardently supports the legislation to the point of distributing pro-SOPA coffee mugs to employees. (18 minutes)

[flv width=”512″ height=”308″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/SOPA Marvin Ammori.flv[/flv]

Marvin Ammori’s assessment of the legislation appeared on Al-Jazeera English, one of the few news networks willing to discuss the proposed legislation on-air.  (4 minutes)

A western Indiana fiber-to-the-home project first envisioned more than five years ago is finally moving forward as it wins unanimous approval at the Tippecanoe County Redevelopment Commission.

Lafayette and West Lafayette, Ind., home to prestigious Purdue University, has a broadband problem.  Broadband advocates claim current providers Comcast and Frontier Communications underserve Tippecanoe County.  The former has put western Indiana on the “long list” waiting for service upgrades, and Frontier Communications offers little more than slow speed DSL in the region.  While Purdue arranges for its own Internet connectivity, off-campus students and area residents have had to make due with what the local cable and phone company offers, which isn’t much according to the locals.

“Comcast service has recently improved, but there is a big difference between Comcast service in a city like Chicago and what they deliver this part of Indiana,” shares Stop the Cap! reader Nick Jefferson, who tipped us to the recent developments.  “Frontier is a complete waste of time, and they have alienated customers across Indiana after taking over from Verizon Communications.”

In 2005, Tippecanoe County officials met with Verizon to encourage construction of its FiOS fiber-to-the-home network in western Indiana, as it had planned for the eastern Indiana city of Fort Wayne.  But Verizon sold off its Indiana landline operations to Frontier Communications, which has since shown little interest in expanding the fiber to the home network it inherited.  Now the county is considering financing a fiber network itself, to be ultimately run and administered by Cinergy MetroNet, which already provides service in the Indiana communities of Connersville, Greencastle, Huntington, Madison, New Castle, North Manchester, North Vernon, Seymour, Vincennes, and Wabash.

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WLFI Lafayette Ultra-high-speed net may be headed here 3-21-11.flv[/flv]

WLFI-TV explained the basics of the new fiber-to-the-home network and how it will be paid for in this report from March, 2011.  (2 minutes)

The $40-50 million project would not come out of taxpayer funds directly.  Instead, a novel financing approach would cover construction costs over a 15-20 year period using a combination of MetroNet investor funds and a “tax increment financing” district, which would provide a temporary tax abatement during the period the network is being paid off.  Taxpayer dollars would not be exposed — the financial risks would be to MetroNet and its investors alone.

A fiber to the home service would provide a network capable of gigabit broadband speeds, but historically Cinergy has offered lower speeds to their other Indiana customers, albeit at highly competitive pricing, along with packages of video and phone service.

Larry Oates, head of the West Lafayette redevelopment commission for the project, says the fiber network delivers more than just the promise of better broadband service

“This project could be a great economic development tool,” Oates told The Exponent. “It is up to the businesses and residents who live here to decide what to do with it. We are just facilitating their potential.”

The County Commissioners will decide later whether to give the project a final approval.

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WLFI Lafayette Tippecanoe County moves forward with plans for Fiber to Home 1-9-12.mp4[/flv]

WLFI in Lafayette reports Tippecanoe’s fiber to the home network has gotten unanimous approval from the country redevelopment commission.  (2 minutes)

Would-be customers of Time Warner Cable’s broadband service in Vienna, a small town in Oneida County, N.Y. are confused about why the cable company will not provide them with broadband service, even though cable company lines pass right over their respective driveways.

Pete Rauscher sees neighbors within a mile away happily using Time Warner’s Internet service, even though he cannot buy it for himself.

“I’d like to get the service…so do [my neighbors],” Rauscher told WSYR-TV in Syracuse. “It isn’t right that somebody within a mile of us has the same cable service, but we don’t.”

Rauscher and his neighbors are victims of a de-facto cable industry standard that says wiring fewer than 35 homes within a mile is not financially viable.  Rauscher might understand this, if a Time Warner-owned cable line didn’t pass straight over his driveway.

The cable company says it would cost at least $17,000 to provide Rauscher with broadband service, an installation fee way out of his budget.

Parts of Oneida County are still without any broadband service, except for those lucky (and wealthy enough) to receive and pay for a wireless 3/4G broadband connection from Verizon Wireless.  That company charges $80 a month for up to 10GB of usage, much more expensive than what Time Warner would charge.  DSL is not provided in that section of Vienna.

Time Warner says it regularly re-evaluates expansion into currently unserved sections of its service area.  Two sections of nearby Camden now receive cable service from the company, partly thanks to new housing developments in the rural region.  But for now, the cable company remains resolute in not serving customers who do not meet its population density test.

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSYR Syracuse Fight for High Speed Internet 1-12-12.mp4[/flv]

WSYR-TV tells the story of rural Oneida County residents who cannot get Time Warner Cable broadband service, even though the cable company lines cross their driveways.  (2 minutes)

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/BBC News Will 4G be faster than home broadband 1-9-12.flv[/flv]

The BBC produced this mini-documentary about 4G LTE wireless broadband’s impact in Europe and the United States.  Providers in the UK and northern Europe see wireless 4G as the solution to rural broadband scarcity, but consumers in urban and rural settings won’t put up with stingy usage caps and ridiculously high prices.  Sweden pioneered 4G wireless, running the oldest and most robust 4G network in the world.  In Sweden, TeliaSonera delivers wireless broadband at speeds of up to 84Mbps — many times faster than what Verizon Wireless offers.  But even with those speeds, just 9,000 Swedes have signed up — rejecting the company’s “very high priced” service — $50US a month for 10GB.  (Verizon Wireless charges $80 a month for the same amount of data usage, a testimony to the price sensitivity of a much-more regulated and competitive European wireless marketplace.)

While Europe enjoys faster speeds at lower prices, providers in the United States are treating 4G as a luxury item.  With that in mind, plans by some U.S. carriers to create a home broadband replacement service for rural America that relies on 4G wireless networks will likely face strong consumer resistance because of the extremely high prices and low usage caps.  (The abrupt end of the video is intentional.) (10 minutes)

 

With no progress in sight, stalled contract negotiations between a popular sports cable network and New York’s dominant cable TV company continues to test the patience of customers and sports fans across the state.

Scores of Buffalo-area sports bars have canceled their commercial cable service with Time Warner Cable, generating plenty of business for DirecTV, which still has MSG on the lineup.  Customers across New York have also started to demand a refund of the estimated $4.50 a month Time Warner Cable no longer pays MSG, but still collects from cable subscribers.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WGRZ Buffalo Time Warner and MSG Network plan meeting this week 1-8-12.flv[/flv]

Time Warner Cable and MSG’s dispute is ticking off Buffalo sports fans.  WGRZ visits area sports bars and talks with both sides in the dispute to learn the latest.  (4 minutes)

Now New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is brokering discussions between the two sides, in an effort to restore coverage of the Sabres, Rangers, and Knicks games all displaced from the Time Warner Cable dial.

“We have had constructive discussions with Time Warner and MSG Networks as part of an ongoing effort to facilitate progress in their talks,” said Schneiderman. “We are hopeful that the two parties will come to an agreement in short order.”

So far, those negotiations seem to be going nowhere, and Time Warner released a statement stating they have not had any further discussions with the network.  The cable company has also hardened its position with respect to refunding customers for the lost networks.  While early attempts to win credit were successful, Time Warner representatives are now refusing to compensate customers for the loss of MSG.  Instead, they are offering a free month of their mini-pay sports programming tier, which must be requested to access.  After the first month, the cable company will bill customers $5.95 a month for the channels.

“That’s no help,” says Stop the Cap! reader Jean, a Sabres fan in Amherst, N.Y.  “Not only don’t we get our $4.50 back, they want to set us up to pay an extra $6 a month after the 30-day trial of their ‘compensation’ is up.”

Many of her friends who live in suburban Buffalo are dumping Time Warner in favor of Verizon FiOS.  Area sports bars are following.  At least a dozen have canceled their commercial service contracts with Time Warner Cable, many switching to satellite provider DirecTV.  Buffalo’s love affair with hockey is so intense, 5,000 people showed up last week at the First Niagara Center stadium to watch the Buffalo Sabres away game on large screen televisions hung above the rink.

Sports bars depend on lucrative sales during major sports events, so being without the Sabres proved unacceptable, a point driven home by MSG itself which continues to host free viewing parties at local establishments.  Buffalo wings were included for free.

Stop the Cap! reader Ruth Grunberg, who lives in Cortland, N.Y., has started a petition to demand the cable company refund subscribers the $4.50 a month effectively paid for channels they no longer receive.

“They recently raised rates 7% for the second time in a year and they no longer are sending this money to MSG,” Grunberg says. “They have no right to keep it and pay their bloated executives even more money. It is fraud and bait and switch to promise one thing and deliver another. They should offer a la carte service to solve a multitude of problems.”

The city of New York apparently agrees and continues efforts to pressure the cable company into compensating subscribers for the network loss.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WIVB Buffalo Bars Cancel Time Warner 1-10-12.flv[/flv]

WIVB in Buffalo reports area sports bars are canceling Time Warner Cable in droves as its programming dispute with MSG drags on with no end in sight.  (2 minutes)