[clue-talk] Net neutrality

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 05-08 15:50, Matt Gushee wrote:
> I recently heard that Congress is considering legislation that would 
> allow internet providers--especially large ones, I guess--to allocate or 
> withhold bandwidth as they see fit. This raises the specter of 
> censorship, they say. Makes sense on the face of it, and I'm inclined on 
> general principles to distrust whatever large media companies want.
> 
> But I wonder what you're all hearing about this issue. How worried 
> should we be?

Given how much we've subsidized them already, I find it interesting that
they are ballsy enough to propose this now. Around the 10 year anniversary
of the Telecommunications Act, people started asking, hey, where's our
high-speed internet we were promised (and paid for)?

For example, a quick search turns up this random blog about it:

http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2006/02/the_united_stat.html

Instead of having a high speed internet worthy of the first world, we get
this proposal for the end of net neutrality and people like Verizon fighting
tooth and nail against municipalities (like Philly) that want to provide
"free" or low-cost wi-fi - and raising the evil specter of "socialism" or,
hell, even "communism". 

Around the same time, I started seeing these commercials about freeing
television from the grip of cable or somesuch, of course, paid by some
consortium that I think involves Baby bells - wonder if that's related at
all, but I doubt it. When a consortium of companies are pushing for
something, I'd say it's a fair bet to watch your ass. That's when things
like the DMCA get foisted on us. Or Disney-sponsored copyright extensions.

I just got done listening to a bevy of Chomsky talking about the "real
economy" and this seems to stick to that model fairly closely - "tough love"
means all the unwashed get the "tough" part ("free" market forces) and the
already-rich get the "love" (subsidies and bailouts). 


-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at comcast.net  
http://sean-leblanc.blogspot.com/
Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by 
the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not 
know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. 
-Sir William Haley