Dear

How much do you know about the “digital divide?” Are you aware that it was created deliberately by our public utility Verizon New York and its private wireless counterpart? Many are not even aware that Verizon NY, as our public utility, signed a contract to provide all New Yorkers fiber optic to the premises by 2014, and raised local phone rates on customers for years to cover the cost of the installation of fiber. But they failed to deliver the last mile. Furthermore, they transferred billions in corporate expenses onto their “local” books, making fiber appear unprofitable and worthy of tax breaks. Using cross subsidies, they appropriated billions into their unregulated private affiliate. In this way they favored the more profitable build out of wireless, cheaper to install but a far inferior technology that won’t stand the test of time. As a result we are forced to pay the highest rates for connectivity in the world, about 6 times what Europeans pay. 

Two new books reveal how Verizon managed to bring it off. “DIss-Connected,” by David Rosen, (coauthored with Bruce Kushnick), is a good overview of the long-running scam and is now available as a free download at:  https://irregulators.net

Bruce Kushnick’s “Violations and Egregious Acts: A Trillion Dollar Broadband Scandal” has more detail about the bookkeeping mechanisms and “bait and switch” tactics that Verizon has been using at https://www.amazon.com/Book-Violations-Egregious-Acts-Broadband/dp/B0BB5RRPCV

Please read these books! They lay the groundwork, but now it’s up to our elected officials to investigate and halt Verizon’s shifty cross subsidies, get the purloined funds returned, and close the digital divide by completing the installation of fiber to the premises! We need you to act!

As to the hype and the big push for wireless, remember that all 5G nodes are hackable and leave us vulnerable to attacks on power grids and institutions. Wireless cell phones and infrastructure also expose us to unnecessary and unmeasured amounts of RF radiation 24/7. Is this a wise choice?

Seriously, New Yorkers for Wired Tech

newyorkers4wiredtech.com