Telcos and Net Neutrality

[survivor999]

By Ian Welsh 2006-06-02 12:43

There are those who will tell you that the Telcos need the extra money from getting rid of net neutrality, so they can connect poor neighbourhoods.

Riiiigggghhhttt.... If extending broadband to the poor neighbourhoods was the issue, in any way shape or form, the telcos wouldn't be suing the municipalities who created wireless broadband to make them stop.

If we want broadband extended we can do it cheaply and faster than the telcos.

This is an attempt to create a legal oligopoly, and to be able to charge the sort of profits oligopolies make. Nothing more, nothing less.

Think of it as a 19th century railroad. If you've got a crop (website, emails, video, whatever) and there is only one railroad, you have to pay whatever they charge. And they will charge, on average, just enough to not drive most of their customers out of business. However, "just enough" will be enough to make sure that they get most of the profit, for the service of simply delivering it to market.

What the telcos want is to control the pipes, and anyone who wants to use them will have a choice:

1) pay whatever the telcos choose to charge.
2) don't get your product delivered in a usable fashion (can you imagine downgraded streaming video? Or downgraded real-time gaming... or e-mail that may get there... tomorrow....)

http://agonist.org/node/31096/print

[Robbien]

1. eBay tries e-mail in Net neutrality fight

SAN JOSE, Calif.--eBay this week unleashed a political machine that should make politicians envious: a national e-mail blast over Net neutrality.

Meg Whitman, chief executive of the Internet auctioneer, called on more than a million eBay members to get involved in the debate over telecommunications laws and "send a message to your representatives in Congress before it is too late."

"The telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet," Whitman wrote. "It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future."

This is the first time that eBay has used e-mail to urge its members to weigh in on a national issue and the first time Whitman has sent an e-mail to members under her own name, the company said Thursday.

eBay--which has been active in a pro-Net neutrality coalition for years--confirmed that more than a million e-mails have been sent out so far, but declined to offer a more specific number. The campaign is ongoing.
http://news.com.com/eBay+tries+e-mail+in+Net+neutrality+fight/2100-1028_3-6079291.html?tag=nefd.lede

Good to have a giant with the resources of eBay on our side fighting the good fight.

By the way Survivor, Ian Walsh's bopnews blog is one of my "must reads", his perspective on the economy helps me understand much of this BushCo funny money business.

[survivor999]

2. Neat!

Viva e-bay! :)