We Investigated Starlink. The Corruption We Found Will Shock You.
16 days ago by the_wizard_of_0Z to c/FuckMusk
BEAD is short for Broadband Equity Access and Deployment and it allocated over $42 billion to build high speed internet in every state.The vast majority of American households were going to be connected with the fastest, best, most future proof technology.That's fiber broadband.And that would last at least for a generation.
Well, the Trump administration said every technology could be considered a priority broadband technology.They called this "technology neutral," but it was actually just a polite way of saying whatever is cheapest.
If you talk to some of the state broadband officers, and I've talked to a lot of them, the technology neutrality radically changed the money that went to satellite as opposed to went to fiber.Starlink was the biggest winner.They got 476,000 locations, or about $770 million of wins. So it was this huge change where Starlink now was a really core player, the biggest actually player in all of the providers.
Basically rural communities screwed out of getting fiber internet due to political corruption
I've been skeptical about and abstaining from upvoting More Perfect Union for a long time because it's difficult for such an organization to pop up at large scale without somebody pulling strings, but they seem pretty cool I guess. Founded by a Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign team manager, funded without any corporate or union donors.
No union donors sounds sketch
It sort of makes sense, though. For example, a media company which gets funded by logger or cattlemen unions might have biased opinions on deforestation.
Guess what happens to the logging profession if there are no forests....
Everyone is biased, but unions not being involved here is a huge red flag.
Eh, I think the point is, you don’t want to be beholden to any one large donor or industry. That way you can cover what small donors prefer aka the populace.
Union members can still donate individually, and I think that makes the most sense. The union should serve its members, but they shouldn’t donate to causes with money in my opinion. Encourage and recruit folks to show up for events and the like, yes, but keep union dues for union activities protecting labor, not lobbying news organizations to cover this or that story with financial incentive.
I would earnestly like to hear how this is a solution.
As i see it from the most realistic standpoint, given that somebody has to install and maintain it there simply isn't enough real-world interest in going beyond the current mega corp investment structure we have now. Tell me which local elected council will earmark tens of thousands for locals to dig into the ground and install infrastructure like that and which locals are actually likely to do it, and do it well.
While I agree in principle, I just don't see it actually happening.
Both of the cities where I live have done it. Seperately too. It's two cities that grew together but both operate independently, and have seperate systems.
We just got fiber installed and I made the switch. Faster and cheaper, and it's on my water/electric bill.
First, the incumbent cell/broadband companies were given huge grants to have done this decades ago.
It is completely fair to criticize Musk's breakeven strategy on political manipulation funding.
Is anyone actually shocked by any of this? Anyone with a functional brain and eyes could see this coming miles away... Give me a break. 🙄
@lemmy.ca
This is a community designed to enjoy the extended downfall of Elon Musk.
go to feed...
@lemmy.ca
This is a community designed to enjoy the extended downfall of Elon Musk.
go to feed...
No it won’t.
It’s Elon, of course it’s a scam.
save