Message-ID: <ff4f05fe-ec47-f27d-ff71-08473b6ba8c9@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2021 12:46:29 -0400
From: Bill Horne <malQassRimiMlation@gmail.com>
Subject: UPDATE: The fight for prison phone justice is still
happening.
Moderator's Note
This email was forwarded to me by a member of my Friends meeting: he
gave me permission to publish it. Full disclosure: I once worked for a
subaidiary of GTL, fixing telephones in prisons and psychiatric
hospitals.
The original email is a bit too hyperbolic for my taste, with the same
URL repeated five times: a URL that would automatically credit my
friend with the clicks others make. I removed all but one of the
duplicate links, and changed that one so it goes only to a page that
gives readers the /option/ of signing the petition. I also substituted
URL's in the references so that they point to the original sources in
place of redirects that route through the color-of-change website.
Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly.
-mod |
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: "Prison Phone Justice, Color Of Change" <info@colorofchange.org>
Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 11:51 AM
Subject: UPDATE: The fight for prison phone justice is still happening.
To: Telecom Digest <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
*Brian, join the fight.*
<https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/martha-wright-act/>
*Add Your Name To Fight For Phone Justice*
*Incarcerated people and their loved ones deserve to stay connected, Brian.*
This remains true and why we are continuing the fight for prison phone
justice.
Prison telecom corporations like Securus and GTL make more than $1.4
billion [Per day? Per year? -mod] charging families up to $16 for 15
minute phone calls. They are extracting wealth from Black families who
simply want to speak to loved ones.
*That is why we are calling on Congress to pass the Martha Wright Prison
Phone Justice Act.^1* This bill would require the FCC to put a cap on
how much prisons and jails can charge incarcerated people and their
families for these phone calls.
*Brian, we need your help now to keep families connected. Sign the
petition to call Representative Madison Cawthorn and Senators Richard
Burr and Thom Tillis to pass the Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice
Act.*
*Keep Families Connected*
Earlier this month, the House Committee on Energy & Commerce held a
hearing about a number of bills, including the Martha Wright Prison
Phone Justice Act.
Our prison phone justice coalition partner Cheryl Leanza^2 testified
before the committee and urged for the passage of the bill.^3 As
Leanza mentioned, there are 1.4 million children in the U.S. with an
incarcerated parent, and because of our racist criminal justice
system, Black families and communities are hurt the most by predatory
telecom companies. *We need federal legislation to combat these cruel
practices.*
*Tell Congress to pass the Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act so
children can speak to their incarcerated parents without causing
financial instability.*
There are a number of representatives who have co-sponsored the
legislation in recent weeks, but we need to keep the pressure going.
Families shouldn't have to make a decision between being able to speak
to their incarcerated loved one or pay bills. *But that is the harsh
reality that some of these families are facing.*
*You can help fuel our fight for prison phone justice. Join us in that
fight.
Until Justice is Real,
Scott, Erika, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Ariel,
Madison, Trevor, Erick, Ana, Kristiana, McKayla and the Color Of
Change team
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
1. H.R.2489 - Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2489
2. @Cheryl Leanza.
https://twitter.com/Cleanza
3. @FreePressLeo.
https://twitter.com/FreePressLeo/status/1445809298915868678?s=20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Color Of Change
<http://act.colorofchange.org/> is building a movement to elevate the
voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and
political change. *Please help keep our movement strong.*
Message-ID: <427cae5c-1f7a-ecdf-1f1f-3b141f08fe58@ionary.com>
Date: 31 Oct 2021 13:47:15 -0400
From: "Fred Goldstein" <invalid@see.sig.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Re: Footing the Bill for Broadband
On 10/30/2021 12:10 PM, Bill Horne wrote:
> THE ELECTRFIER
> October 2021 ...
> Recently, we have seen commercials and media from cable companies
> blaming the lack of rural broadband on electric utilities, including
> us, a rural, not-for-profit electric cooperative. Their claim is that
> electric cooperatives are blocking cable companies from using utility
> poles for broadband.
>
> But what are those commercials not saying? That cable companies want
> electric cooperatives and members to foot the bill for broadband
> deployment.
>
> https://www.frenchbroademc.com/ElectrifierOctober2021.pdf (Page 2)
>
>
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>
> The "old" way of doing things was that the "power" company owned about
> half of the poles, and the "phone" company most of the other half,
> with a few provided by private companies or individuals.
>
> The cable anf Internet providers apparently feel that they should
> enjoy attachment rights to existing poles, without sharing the costs
> of installing and maintaining them, at least in this part of the
> Tarheel State. I invite comments about this issue, especially from
> those whom have negotated pole cost-sharing arrangements between
> Internet access providers and traditional phone or power companies.
The way the rules on this work is that an investor-owned utility must
charge pole attachers a regulated rate set according to a cost-sharing
formula. This applies to telcos and electric companies. However, an
electric cooperative is not subject to those limits, so they can
charge whatever the hell they want. So they can charge cable attachers
five times the rate that the IOU next door charges. ILECs usually have
legacy deals, but new fiber operators are stuck. Not all act that way
but they can. Many coops are pulling their own fiber, and also don't
want competition.
--
Fred R. Goldstein k1io fred "at" ionary.com
+1 617 795 2701
