Imagine... An Internet With Potholes That Never Get Fixed
from the who-edits-the-editor dept
Just as Mike predicted, the fallout from the Level 3-Cogent peering fight has lead to calls for more government regulation of the Internet. Now, the executive editor of News.com has written a rather unconvincing treatise on why the US government should own the Internet and treat it like a utility. It's hard to know where to start taking his argument apart, but the premise that the government can do a better job of running the Internet than private companies is pretty intrinsically flawed: witness the Net's rise over the last 10 years, all on the back of private industry. The author tries to liken the Internet to the federal interstate highway system, saying that it's something that can only be run effectively by the government -- this doesn't hold at all, as there are an endless supply of examples of privately owned roads around the world that are, pretty much without exception, better maintained than the average US interstate. Also, look at a problem that plagues US highway legislation: pork. Imagine replacing pet highway projects with pet Internet projects, where you get higher speeds depending on who's Congressional district you're in. Finally, the biggest issue is that the Internet doesn't belong to the US government, regardless of what it thinks. Witness the big push from the EU and other nations to de-centralize DNS control from ICANN and the warning that the Net might splinter if they're unsuccessful. While it's possible that heavy US government control of the Internet might prevent another peering spat, it's more probable that it would cause even more problems.
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not quite...
When I get free wireless at Panera Bread, should I be worried about them imposing all sorts of restrictions on my access? I'd say I'm happy enough just enjoying the internet for free.
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Read Alla Bout It
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Re: Read Alla Bout It
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Internet was NOT "all on the back of private indus
That is just factually untrue.
The internet was financed by the US federal government from it's inception as a DARPA project to the now infamously ridiculed bill sponsored by Al Gore to subsidise the first public backbone connections.
However, since there is no limited public resource required, making it a "public utility" is just as ridiculous an argument.
OTOH regulation o interstate and international commerce is clearly withing the Federal Government's domain under our constitution.
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well, take a look..
Deregulation has made a few people rich and screwed the rest of us.
maybe having some of the internet as a utility would be a good thing.
Only roads I've seen with potholes are the ones here in California. Nevada has *great* roads. So does Minnesota, and North Dakota... and, oh pretty much every other state I've driven in over the past year.
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rangers rule
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