Some more talk concerning net neutrality. Cringely talks about stupid Net Tricks. (via Michael)
Telephone and cable TV companies find themselves, this time, on the same side of the discussion, pushing Quality of Service arguments they say are necessary for their own survival. Companies like Google and Yahoo, Amazon and eBay—companies that exist solely in cyberspace as corporate citizens of these same networks—say that what the telcos and cable companies propose will hurt their businesses and business in general. Some techies worry that a counter-reformation of sorts is taking place that will literally destroy the Internet, taking with it some or all of the gains that people have made through broader and easier communication.
There are a lot of mistakes here, and one of the biggest has to do with a basic understanding of what Public Service means. The telcos and cable companies argue that they ought to get some special rights because what they do is a Public Service. But the true definition of Public Service as viewed by U.S. law is the right to BE served rather than the right to PROVIDE service.
And then a funny “parody” of what the net could look like in 2019. actually, a world without the internet.
Son: Wait. I’m all confused here. We paid for our end of the bandwidth and the websites paid at their end. So who is getting a free ride here?
Indeed.
My previous posts here and here.