NPR Takes Up Net Neutrality: Part II
Submitted by Holly on Thu, 06/22/2006 - 9:06am.
Craig Newmark takes up the Net Neutrality issue in this second installment of the series from NPR.
It's really very interesting for me to hear Craig (who I think can
safely be assumed to fall on the "progressive" side of the political
scale) highlight Net Neutrality as an opportunity for LESS government
oversight, while the opposition is calling for MORE governement
oversight. Way back in the olden days (1997), any conservative calling
for MORE government oversight of ANYTHING would have been crucified.
It's an interesting political time we live in - where values don't seem to align with the traditional strategies anymore. What opportunities does that present us?
Humm.. I think my analogy needs work. Fact is, I've been struggling
with the right analogy -- one that will pass what I call "the mother
test." That means something that makes it so I can explain it to my 80
year old mother. She's one wise lady, but explaining what I do for a
living, for example, has always been tough. (It was even tougher when I
was a futurist, let me tell you.) -----
Well, I pay more for HBO! (I love Deadwood - the only people in the
world who swear more than me!)
The politics have gotten wicked on this one; too much money is involved
I figure. As evidence, I note that I got "Push-Polled" on the issue
last night. For more on Push-Polls, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_poll
The question (automated, of course): "Do you want big business to pay
their fair share to deliver services over the Internet, or do you want
consumers, like you, to foot the bill."
When the push-polls get nasty, the right side of the issue is usually
pretty easy to spot. Personally, I think of the internet kind of like
electricity. It's an amazingly useful thing that you can do lots of
lots of very innovative stuff with. With electricity you get everything
from "lava lamps" to ultrasound; with the internet, we have yet
begun to dream. I'm more than willing to pay for my bandwidth or my
kilowatt hours, for that matter. But to try to charge me more per kWh
simply because I'm watching one channel instead of another on TV (to
push the analogy) seem a trifle adelpated. Why should what I *do* with
the electricity - watch channel "X" instead of channel "Y"
for example -- affect the price. That's down right wrong-headed. IMHO,
tiered pricing will stifle the dreams by stifling innovation at the
edge. How often will we forget that innovation happens in the garage,
not the board room? It's the small organization, the intrepid
entrepreneur, the fleet of foot, that dream the dream, catch the spark,
and move the world. The lessons of history there are clear, why do we
forget them so often. -----