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Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2006-09-06 12:07
I just read the text of Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert's remarks on NN at the Progress and Freedom Foundation last month. He is one of the most clear thinking leaders I know and I thought some of his insights were important to highlight here.
He started with first things first, how important the Internet is to America's economy: "we have created an economic engine that is vibrant, full of energy, and poised for the future. How some folks can...want the Internet to be saddled with regulatory micromanagment just boggles my mind."
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2006-09-06 11:59
The Chicago Sun Times Editorial today gets it. They sliced through the NN mumbo jumbo and realized there is no evidence of a problem today, only a hypothetical concern. Like any rational person they don't want all the parade of horribles to occur, but they are wise enough to not take the bait and call for preemptive NN regulation in the absence of a real problem.
This editorial board understands that market forces are vastly superior to government regulation and that -- in the absence of a real problem -- inviting government intervention into the market -- is a very scary prospect.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2006-09-05 18:56
I did an hour radio interview today on mytechnologylawyer.com today, to give all the best arguments against net neutrality. It was refreshing to have a forum where the clear purpose was to hear the unvarnished anti-net neutrality view becuase they will hear the other side's unvarnished next week when they will host Itsournet.org, Tuesday September 12 at 1PM EST with four pro-net neutrality guests.
It was a very liberating forum as I was given the full time and free reign to lay down the detailed arguments of why NN is such a horrible public policy idea. In particular I was able to debunk in detail how the Internet has never been "neutral" and give a detailed rebuttal of the gross misrepresentation that there is a broadband duopoly or insufficient competition.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2006-09-01 11:44
Gotta love Daily Kos' indignance that Cable is running a very effective anti-net neutrality ad on their beloved Comedy Central show (that by the way has shilled for the NN cause and mercilessly spoofed Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens.)
How dare cable invade their hallowed neutral ground and horrors speak ill of their beloved net neutrality! It is blasphemy! There should be no cable industry free speech -- only politically-correct speech that agree with approved neutral-dogma!
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2006-08-31 15:31
I was interviewed on CNBC this AM on Verizon and Bell South dropping their planned new DSL fees in face of FCC pressure.
First, I said this was a political issue not a competitive one. In the politically-charged environment of pending telecom legislation, the companies made the political mistake of getting in the way of the FCC being able to take political credit for some consumers bills going down. The FCC, like any political animal, does not like "rain on their parade."
When the FCC ruled last year that DSL was an unregulated info service like cable (the decision that germinated the net neutrality issue politically) a side effect of that decision was to no longer require that DSL pay a $1-2 a month regulatory fee into the Universal Service fund.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2006-08-30 17:15
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2006-08-29 15:31
After months of Google, Savetheinternet.org and itsournet.org warning ominously of the horrors of a "two-tiered Internet" where Americans might have to pay more to get more, it appears that Vint Cerf, Google's net neutrality evangelist, is finally conceding on their core argument -- saying "Noone objects to charging users more for faster access, Cerf said" according to Communications Daily August 17, 2006.
Huh!? I thought that was what the whole NN debate was about!? Could broadband providers charge more if they provided more? Thank you Mr. Cerf for saying broadband capitalism is now OK!
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2006-08-29 15:05
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2006-08-10 18:20
Common cause just listed me and netcompetition.org in their latest report: "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, Part 2: More Telecom Industry front groupss and Astroturf."
This is a not-so-veiled attempt at intimidating free speech that Common Cause doesn't like because it does not fit their Big-Government-knows-best policy view.
I have fully disclosed who I work for on the site and in every one of the dozens of public forums in which I have debated net neutrality. Net competition is funded by broadband telecom, cable and wireless companies! It's no secret!
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2006-08-10 10:27
What bothers me most about net neutrality is the off-the-charts hubris of the neutr-elites that they are so sure they know better than anyone else what is best for the future of the Internet.
The neutr-elites think they know better than the collective wisdom of consumers in the marketplace, which make millions of individual decisions every day about what they want and what they don't.
The uninformed, knee-jerk neutr-elites know better than market forces, which provides consumers a constantly responding and evolving array of choices, rewards and risks to choose from.
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