History of the Quickly Subverted 1996 Telecommunications Act Community Broadband Bits Episode 89
b'If all had gone according to the plan behind the 1996 Telecommunications Act, we would have lots of competition among Internet service providers, not just cable and DSL but other technologies as well. Alas, the competing technologies never really appeared and various incarnations of the FCC effectively gutted the common carriage requirements at the heart of the Act.\\n\\nEarl Comstock joins us today to explain what they had in mind when they spent years developing the goals and text of the Act. A staffer to Senator Stevens - and yes, we discuss the legacy of Senator "series of tubes" Stevens and you might be surprised when you learn more about him - Earl helped to craft the Act and then had to watch as the FCC and Courts misinterpreted it.\\n\\nAt the heart of our conversation is what they believed would be necessary to achieve the goals of expanding access to telecommunications service to all. \\n\\nRead the transcript from our conversation here.\\n\\nWe want your feedback and suggestions for the show - please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Also, feel free to suggest other guests, topics, or questions you want us to address.\\n\\nThis show is 30 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed. \\n\\nListen to previous episodes here. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here.\\n\\nFind more episodes in our podcast index.\\n\\nThanks to Valley Lodge for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is "Sweet Elizabeth."'