About Scott Cleland
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You are hereCompetitionHypocrisy watch: Google-eBay fight over who can discriminate more on MySpaceSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-02-07 11:51Today's WSJ article: "MySpace pact with Google hits a snag" is a helpful reminder of the competition double standard and hypocrisy of net neutrality proponents Google and eBay. Google the dominant search gatekeeper with 47% share and rising is the world's leading Internet access technology. They have a pact with Myspace, one of the fastest growing sites on the planet that would pay MySpace's News Corp. $900m for placing Google's search on MySpace.
Meanwhile, the pact is supposedly hung up because MySpace would still like to have a "discrimnation" deal with eBay too, where MySpace users could use post eBay auctions on their MySpace page. But Google only likes "discrimination" that is in its favor. Listen to a priceless quote from the WSj article today:
How does Google explain their attempt to "block, degrade and impair" eBay's ability to easily reach Myspace consumers is not precisely the net neutrality "discrimination" problem that they want to ban? Don't miss Esther Dyson's sage interview urging restraint on NNSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2007-02-06 11:38I have attached the link to Esther Dyson's important interview on net neutrality.
More on Microsoft's "reasonable" discrimination differences with ItsOurNetSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2007-02-06 11:30Wired has an interesting article on how Microsoft's new Vista operating system has had to make some tough and restrictive design calls that some could misread as "discriminatory".
Why this is relevant to net neutrality and Microsoft is that:
Why this is relevant to Microsoft's departure from ItsOurNet is that Microsoft evidently understands that regulation can be "unreasonable" and "unjust" as I explained in a previous post. Google's dominance grows: Part III countdown to 50% share antitrust dominanceSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-02-05 19:32The evidence continues to pile up that Google is well on its way to achieving a 50% share of the search market, a significant antitrust threshold where a company is considered "dominant" and subject to "stricter scrutiny" for potential anti-competitive practices.
Microsoft's recent earnings call showed how badly Microsoft is doing in search. More corporate welfare for Google? Holding up the State of North Carolina?Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-02-05 19:03It seems asking the U.S. Congress for a huge corporate welfare gift in net neutrality legislation is not enough to satisfy Google's insatiable appetite for special interest gifts from the government.
Seems like this is a real pattern for Google. Kudos to FCC Martin for proposing wireless broadband as info serviceSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-02-05 10:46I was pleasantly surprised and very pleased that FCC Chairman Martin proactively released a proposed order that would reclassify wireless broadband as a Title I information service, as reported in today's Comm Daily. This order, which looks to have the support of the Republican majority, would continue to harmonize the regulatory treatment of all the major modes of broadband.
Why this is relevant to NN is that the expert agency overseeing competition in this market segment is concluding that there is sufficient competition to not require common carrier-like regulation.
Don't bother NN proponents with the facts on broadband competition...Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-02-02 11:24As expected proponents of net neutrality ignore facts that don't push their anti-business, big government point of view. When the FCC broadband report is replete with powerful evidence that broadband competition and penetration are increasing impressively, NN proponents don't like the message so they shoot the messenger. Comm Daily today quoted a Public Knowledge spokesperson who said: the FCC numbers were "invalid" and that he wouldn't even "go there" what trends or developments the group sees in the report because it is "measuring a world that does not comport with reality." Wireless broadband dominates broadband growth in FCC Broadband ReportSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2007-02-01 17:52Evidence continues to mount that the broadband sector is increasingly competitive and that it is not the permanent cable/DSL "duopoly" that net neutrality supporters claim. The FCC just released its biannual report on high speed of broadband adoption and the new evidence showing more competition is powerful. The most important takeaway from the FCC's report is that 58% or 7.9m of the 11.0m total broadband adds over the first six months of 2006 were wireless broadband -- NOT DSL or cable modem. That's not how a "permanent DSL/Cable duopoly" behaves -- is it? Apparently Microsoft may not rejoin ItsOurNet after all... what I've learnedSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-01-31 19:07In my digging around to find out if Microsoft would be rejoining the ItsOurNet.com pro-net neutrality coalition, I have learned enough that strongly suggests to me that Microsoft may not be rejoining ItsOurNet now that the AT&T merger is complete. Why I believe this is that I heard Microsoft is telling both sides behind-the-scenes -- the ItsOurNet crowd and the NetCompetition crowd -- the same story.
This take on Microsoft's new position makes sense to me for three reasons. Tibits on why ItsOurNet website is downSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-01-31 18:25Today I asked some of the folks that are members of ItsOurNet.com why their site has been down for a week. All tried to downplay the significance. One said that they had changed vendors and that the site being down is not related to Microsoft withdrawing from ItsOurNet last fall. That rep went on to say that all the ItsOurnet folks are focused on influencing the grassroots, and that they will be working more closely with SaveTheInternet and FreePress because there may not be the need for both websites.
Another ItsOurNet member rep, Alan Davidson, Head of Google's Washington's office, told me today that he did not know why the website was down and said the fact that he didn't know about it being down for a week was evidence that Google is not the "puppet master" behind-the-scenes of the net neutrality movement that they are made out to be. Pages |