Cities want to opportunistically lay fiber lines during big digs, but Koch dark money is trying to stop them

FROM THE BOING BOING SHOP

 Kentuckywired is a project to run fiber between cities in Kentucky, creating a high speed network for the state's operations. It involves a lot of expensive public works -- digging up streets and highways to lay down relatively cheap fiber and conduit (the digging is the expensive part).

A citizens' group worked with Louisville Metro Council to take advantage of the public works project: they proposed to lay down some extra fiber during the buildout that could serve the people of Louisville, as well as laying the groundwork for a smarter city: connectivity to wire up traffic signals, public safety agencies, and so on.

Louisville is one of the most segregated cities in the country, and the poor people of West Louisville suffer all the maladies of poverty, like ill health. Not coincidentally, they are dramatically underserved by the telcoms monopolies of Kentucky.

By combining a municipal fiber network with the statewide effort, Louisville could shave the cost of running fiber from $15m to $5m, and jumpstart its new life as a city where the internet was truly world-class.

But as the plan started to move through the city council, it met stiff resistance from a mysterious group called "Taxpayers Protection Alliance," who created a misinformation campaign suggesting -- hilariously -- that the whole idea of wiring up the city was a plot by Google to trick taxpayers into subsidizing its Google Fiber product.

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https://boingboing.net/2017/12/16/kentuckywired.html