Net Neutrality

Okay, I'm officially concerned about net neutrality. KAZU airs On Point, which covered the topic today.

Scott Cleland of n3tc0mp3tition.org kept lobbing vapid talking points that should have been easily swatted aside by the moderator (who is generally good). But Tom Ashbrook had call on the opposing side, turning it into a he said - he said, in the worst tradition of American news.

The part that really chapped my hide was when Cleland described net neutrality as "socialism". Net nuertrality is about preserving some common ground in the marketplace for innovation by new entrants -- and that's where innovation comes from.

Is the next HotMail going to come out of Microsoft? Hell no. The first one didn't, although Microsoft saw fit it acquire it -- after others had taken the risks and done the innovation. That's how modern American capitalism works, and if Cleland doesn't understand that, then he doesn't understand much. He's an ignorant, biased flack, and should be treated as such by journalists.

Allowing the internet to be dominated by monopolistic walled gardens would be bad for innovation, bad for capitalism and bad for the US economy.

The opposite of oligarchy is democracy.

- mark 6-01-2006 5:10 pm [link] [add a comment]

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