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Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-03-26 16:32
An article in the Register on the first significant NN debate in the UK is a wonderful read.
It is always helpful to get the reaction of an outside perspective to cut to the quick of an issue.
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Alun Michael, the former UK trade minister "described the clamour for preemptive technical legislation as "extreme... unattractive and impractical"
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The current top UK regulator over the net neutrality issue Douglas Scott "concluded by saying neutrality wasn't an issue, so long as customers could migrate to an alternative provider quickly and easily."
I reccommend reading the whole article.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-03-16 17:47
Google made news recently by adopting new privacy measures, which puts a spotlight on a real big public policy disconnect.
What I find most interesting about Google and the subject of privacy, is the glaring incongruity of these facts:
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Google, as the dominant search engine with ~50% of the market, arguably has more and deeper private and intimate information on American consumers than any other company in America;
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Google has among the weakest privacy policies of any major corporation in America;
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Google is not subject to any specific privacy regulations or regulator like other similarly situated major corporations that have lots of sensitive consumer information -- like financial services firms and communications companies.
Let me put that more simply:
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-03-16 15:09
Only 40% of European Union homes have Internet access and only 16% have broadband, according to EC Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva who spoke yesterday at the Digital World Conference in Berlin.
- Those lagging numbers are in stark contrast to America's performance where 70+% of American homes have Internet access and 45+% have broadband according to FCC data.
NN proponents have tried to manufacture that there is a broadband crisis in the U.S. and that we are falling behind the rest of the world. It just isn't true.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-03-16 10:57
Google has no sense of when to keep their mouth shut, because their corporate arrogance and cluelessness appears boundless.
I could only shake my head at the headline in Comm Daily today prompted by a Google official speaking at a Washington conference.
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"Google sees itself as a force in a political race that could hinge on making the best of Web and other tools, Google Vp-Global Communications Elliot Schrage said Thurs. at the Politics Online conference in Washington."
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"Candidates are starting to see the Web's power, Schrage said: "Already candidates and campaigns are spending tens of thousands on adwords campaigns alone." The company invited declared Presidential candidates to its offices to "talk technology and policy" and will post videos of the talks if candidates permit it, he said. Google is trying to "make services easier to use" through a "special sales and political team dedicated to helping political camps, he said.""
Generally company's are more responsible and circumspect about bragging about their own company's ability to influence or "sway" and election. The U.S. Government takes Federal Election laws seriously and is attuned to ensuring the electoral process is not manipulated in any way.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2007-03-15 10:48
Net neutrality is not only a domestic issue but also a policy weapon some Eurocrats see as a way to undermine American competitiveness to Europe's advantage.
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Make no mistake, NN has a powerful competitiveness, trade and foreign policy dimension.
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Other nations are begining to see the NN concept as a clever way to slow down U.S. innovation and "level the playing field" through regulation to improve their competitive position relative to the U.S.
Why I wrote my commentary, "America's Unique Internet success" in the Washington Times a couple of weeks ago," was to drive home this important insight that America truly is unique when it comes to the Internet!
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-03-14 10:18
I read with interest and amusement Drew Clark's piece on GigaOM about "Is Google changing its position on Net neutrality?".
Drew Clark's piece in GigaOM is one of the better reports I've seen outlining the increasing disarray of the ItsOurNet coalition, the front group for online giants promoting net neutrality legislation.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-03-14 09:54
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2007-03-13 12:14
The WSJ is reporting that Viacom has sued Google for $1b in damages for stealing its copyrighted content.
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"YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google," Viacom said in a press release. "Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws."
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2007-03-13 10:51
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-03-12 16:28
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