Ofcom would allow BT some freedom in the UK. I suppose only time will tell. If Ofcom are more leanient towards BT, they may consider forking out billions to upgrade the local loop, albeit charging higher prices to competitors to access the sparkly new network but hey, I don't care, I'd happily stay with BT.

That's really the gist of the current American administration really. Those with the money get to make the rules. Those who make the rules do so in order to make more money. Period. End of statement.

All the organizations that were theoretically set up to protect the American consumer have been turned around into organizations that benefit their large corporations first. The FCC, showing its true colours with this latest ruling. Their FDA, allowing the companies seeking approval for their drugs to decide on the safety of those drugs.

Live and let die

Alternately, the USA citizenry could stand up for itself and force the gov't to set reasonable rules for this industry, or force the industry to behave better.

A lot of politicians would have you believe only they can protect you... they pay marketters to say it and pay psychologists to find more effective ways of saying it. It is almost always a snow job though - most issues are not so subtle that they can't talked about and decided by regular people.

It's been some time since I heard the word 'boycott' used. Boycotts were not uncommon in the '70s, they often worked too.

Voter revolt or tax revolt also works.

You have your separation of church and state, good idea. Perhaps it is time for a separation of media-relations and state. That might help clear the air.

The American public is the most propagandized group in the world, trained from birth to react appropriately to the message they get from their docile press. In other words, they'll do what they're damn well told to do.

Remember, 99% of news outlets in the USA are owned by the same people with major stakes in the affected companies. Note also that their constitution only covers freedom of the press with respect to the government, not with respect to the megacorps that are really running the show.

<insert black helicopter icon>

Ah... This would be the BT that have purposedly dragged its heals on every new technology that may dent some previous (already existing) cash cow? For example: leased lines, ISDN and dialups - all were, and still are to a large extent, serious cash cows for BT. For example, there's no way that BT is going to rush (S)DSL into place because it would remove the "justification" in charging utterly extortionate rates for leased lines.

They're not investing in any new infrastructure because they don't want to dent, in any way, their existing cash-cows and therefore effect their shareprice and dividends.

If it weren't for competition from the likes of cable companies, if BT had their way we'd all still have 512MB broadband (if we're lucky)