Net Neutrality, Schlocky Salesmen vs Monopolist Plumbers

Andy Kessler has written a short tongue-in-cheek summary of the net neutrality debate over on the Weekly Standard. Kessler identifies the two sides as the 'schlocky ad salesmen' (Google, Yahoo!, etc) and the 'monopolist plumbers' (Verizon, AT&T, etc) and when you add the politicians to the mix it creates a pretty untenable situation. From the article: "But the answer is not regulations imposing net neutrality. You can already smell the mandates and the loopholes once Congress gets involved. Think special, high-speed priority for campaign commercials or educational videos about global warming. Or roadblocks--like requiring emergency 911 service--to try to kill off free Internet telephone services such as Skype. And who knows what else? Network neutrality won't be the laissez-faire sandbox its supporters think, but more like used kitty litter. We all know that regulations beget more lobbyists. I'd rather let the market sort these things out."

Comments

Finally, some sense

[giorgiofr]

If you like the Intarwebs and want to see a neutral web, the best way NOT to have either is to promote their regulation. Legislation solves nothing - a free market would sort it out quite nicely. That's why I disapprove of the EFF campaigns.

last mile

[falconwolf]

All that fiber is useless if it doesn't cover the last mile to people's homes. If a monopoly (or duopoly) still controls that (which they do, pretty much everywhere) then Google is screwed.

Ah, but Google can use wireless for the last mile. Google is partnering with Earthlink to provide wireless access in San Francisco.

Falcon

SLASHDOT is ADVERTISING AGAINST NET NEUTRALITY

[schneidafunk]

There is currently an advertisement on slashdot that is very clever. It's a flash animation saying "To see the future of the internet". If you follow the link www.internetofthefuture.org you'll see a cartoon advocating the people to rise up and protest against the net neutrality bill. It's a very misleading cartoon, yet entertaining. There's no credits or contact info associated to this ad, and at one point they even boil the argument down to an issue of "the people" vs. "the government".

This banner ad can be found at the top of the slashdot home page (hit refresh many times)