Comment on US | Two guys hated using Comcast, so they built their own fiber ISP
Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days agoIf they expand then they’ll end up just another evil corporate ISP, and/or if they start getting large enough one of the other ISPs will buy them up.
They don’t need to expand, there just needs to be many more small, ultra local providers.
HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world 2 days ago
The deregulation in the 90s is what killed the local ISP. Thanks, Bill.
en.wikipedia.org/…/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996
Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
To be fair, in 1996 both the Senate and the House were controlled by republicans, those the bill passed both chambers by an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority. Even if Clinton wanted to veto the bill, Congress would have still been able to push it through.
HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I know. Isn’t great? When there’s no party in true “control” then whoever wants to think it’s the other guy’s fault can easily do so.
I was already an adult in 1996. It was definitely a bipartisan thing. Despite many tech insiders warning how it would cause the exact opposite of what it was intended to do, Clinton didn’t just sign it. He and Al Gore, for years, claimed it as their own.
Hell, it was this exact act Al Gore was referring to when he claimed he “invented” the Internet.