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by peytn 1989 days ago
PG&E is a private company, and I’m pretty sure they owe me service as long as I pay my bill. I could be totally wrong. Who even knows anymore.
3 comments

Utility companies are for all intents and purposes, governmental. Regulating social networks like utilities is one possible course of action our society could choose. But it is not how we do it today.
That is my point.
PG&E is a utility monopoly and regulated differently than a typical private business for that reason.
PG&E is a government-granted monopoly and is close to being part of the government itself (in that the government gets to decide how much profit the company is allowed to make, and insists they service every individual).

I can see the argument that basic Internet access should be similarly regulated, especially as it uses either public frequencies (e.g. 5G) or public land (sidewalks etc) to provide the service.