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fdokshin:

The audacity of ISPs is astounding! This is the sad reality of trusting the provision of fundamental services and utilities to the “free” market. The ISPs that hold near monopolies on local Internet access have openly stated  that they have no way of knowing what their customers want until a referendum calls for a publicly funded alternative with more capacity. Phrased another way, they’re saying:

“We will continue to charge you above-market prices for shoddy service, so long as you have no feasible alternative. At first sign of of a real threat to our market share, we will resort to dubious legal means in an attempt to shut down the clearly better and desired alternative. As a last resort, we will give you the service you asked for, because, after all, we still want your money—even if our absurd profits are marginally lowered by your pesky demands for better service. Finally, we’ll slap a happy slogan on our service trucks to convey to you that we’re still your benevolent, neighborly Internet Service Provider.”

This is actually is a great analogy for the health care debate. Industry giants are scared into providing better service by the threat of a public alternative.