In Episode 351 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg, facing imminent cut-off of his landline and home internet access as Verizon finally abandons the century-old copper wire service, exposes this as an illegal betrayal of the public trust designed as part of a transition to counter-democratic corporate rule. Far from being driven by public demand, the ubiquity of wireless has been imposed on the populace as an artifice to finally extinguish the public entitlement of telephone service. Verizon is the most recent inheritor of this public trust responsibility that goes back to the establishment of the New York Telephone Company as a state utility in 1896. But the trust responsibilities go with the old copper wires—once they are gone, Verizon no longer has legal obligations as a “carrier of last resort.” Weinberg calls for a public expropriation of Verizon, its dissolution as a corporate entity, and seizure of its assets to provide net access and phone service as a public entitlement.
Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.
See Weinberg’s exposé, “New Yorkers Stand Up to Wireless Tyranny,” in The Village Sun.
See Weinberg’s memoir of his battle to keep his landline, “The KGB Had Nothing on Verizon,” on CounterVortex.
Production by Chris Rywalt
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Photo: IBEW
