The Los Angeles Times discovers something we've been discussing for the better part of a decade -- namely that this country's leaders have absolutely no idea how wired for broadband this country is. There's a number of reasons for it, but the top culprit is the FCC, whose fealty to incumbent operators, who aren't eager to have their shortcomings highlighted, has resulted in a deeply flawed system of measuring broadband penetration.

There's a number of new mapping bills worming their way through the legislative process, but cable and telco lobbyists aim to make sure that by the time they get passed -- they don't accomplish all that much. For instance a bill proposed by Rep. Ed Markey was supposed to raise the FCC's classification of broadband from 200kbps to 2Mbps, but that provision's already been scrapped in the hopes of gaining bi-partisan approval.

Markey is also having a hard time convincing anyone that providers should be forced to hand over more detailed penetration data. Operators argue that such data poses a competitive threat, and they've fought tooth and nail in the courts to keep this data private. The industry's fear is that if we knew exactly how limited deployment really was, the government might take action to correct the problem, which could mean new regulation and revenue loss.