Just today I wrote an email to a potential client I met with two weeks ago. In it I wrote this phrase I know my enthusiasm can be huge. We’d gotten into a conversation about blogs and how they were changing the world.
I wish that I had read the article I found exploring later that afternoon. It’s a piece by Anil Dash at Six Apart News called How to keep blogs from scaring the hell out of people. It’s just packed with truths. [Read more…]
I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.
Tim Berners-Lee On Net Neutrality: It’s Important, But Now What?
This is a big issue that many people don’t seem to want to dig in on. Those who are against net neutrality regulations say that the regulations will screw things up even more, but ignore the potential downsides to letting the telcos end net neutrality. Those who want regulation say network neutrality is very important and thus needs to be written into the law — but ignore the potentially stifling aspects of bad regulations. The problem is that both sides then are talking about different things… and there’s no one looking at if it’s written into law, how can it be written to cause as little damage as possible and if it’s not written into law, how can people feel comfortable that network neutrality will remain an option going forward?
why network neutrality matters, and is worth fighting for
Craig Fields from Gun Owners of America hit the target right-on when he said
“Whenever you see people on the far left and far right joining together about something Congress is getting ready to do, it’s been my experience that what Congress is getting ready to do is basically un-American.”
Net Neutrality and Work: Howz that going to work?
So, I was just sitting here thinking about what a stupid idea eliminating net neutrality would be for me as a private individual. You know, thousands of religious websites to choose from, DailyKos on “sloth-speed”, marketing majors in ecstasy, when it occured to me that my work life could be disrupted as well.
My work depends on my ability to get to governmental as well as a lot of very small company websites to download information, software and documentation. Are they all going to have to pay protection money to get into the fast lane?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE
Since Easton Ellsworth of BusinessBlogwire got the great idea of starting a Blogtipping Tradition. The Magic Middle Links have started flying and the power is growing. Kids all over the Midwest have given up cowtipping and cows are giving more milk. Farmers are grateful. A parade is in the planning stages.
In attendance were the many players who jumped on the Blogtipping bandwagon. You should go see them.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Blogtipping Dayââ¬âWhereââ¬â¢s Yours?
Yesterday walking the trade show floor, I felt I was in a 3-D blog world. Aisles and aisle of blogs sitting side by side with real people in and around them. They were all in the same market, different niches. Some were not easy to tell apart. I was scanning the signage to get a clue. Oh my! 60% were woefully inadequate. Here’s what I saw.
It seemed clear to me that the folks who designed these books — 3-D blogs — were thinking of what they thought the customer should know rather than thinking of what the customer might have come to find out. Standing outside each booth that I’m talking about I only had one question. [Read more…]
I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.
Big telco execs are on the record:
AT&Tââ¬â¢s Ed Whitacre wants consumers and content providers to pay for use of his network. ââ¬ÅThe Internet canââ¬â¢t be free ââ¬Â¦ for a Google or Yahoo or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes free is nuts.ââ¬?
BellSouthââ¬â¢s William Smith told reporters that he would like to turn the Internet into a ââ¬Åpay-for-performance marketplaceââ¬? where his company could charge for the ââ¬Årightââ¬? to have certain services load faster than others.
Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg says that Web applications need to ââ¬Åshare the costââ¬? of the broadband services already paid for by consumers. ââ¬ÅWe need to pay for the pipe.ââ¬?
Net Neutrality Not An Optional Feature of Internet
Imagine the prospects of an info tech industry without ââ¬Åsoftware neutralityââ¬? where Intel charged a fee to enhance software performance. Pay Intel and your applications run faster. The incentives driving Mooreââ¬â¢s Law disappear in this pay-to-play model. Intelââ¬â¢s profit maximizing incentives become serving the interests of software companies willing to spend the most on ââ¬Åenhancing software performanceââ¬? not the end users of computers. The meritocracy driving competition between software companies disappears as Intel picks winners and losers based on willingness to pay. Innovation becomes permission based at Intelââ¬â¢s discretion. . . .
The Internet does not exist without net neutrality. Consider the misleading assertion that tinkering with network neutrality simply amounts to adding class of service as in the case of air travel or HOV lanes on highways. . . . The telco and cable companies have in mind creating another type of customer not a class of service. They want suppliers to pay for the right of transit. It amounts to airlines charging Time Warner for the right of readers to take Time magazine on an airplane. It means charging Ford tolls in addition to drivers for the right of Ford cars to use highways.
Sen Stevens tries to sneak the Broadcast Flag into law posted by Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing
Sen Stevens tries to sneak the Broadcast Flag into law
Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has snuck the Broadcast Flag into a bill on Net Neutrality. The stealth clause authorizes “the FCC to establish a broadcast flag to allow TV stations to protect digital content from Internet piracy.”
What this means is
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE
“Right now, I would never invest in a business model that depended on protection from Net neutrality”
— Blair Levin analyst with Stifel Nicolaus.
This quote is from the April 27, BusinessWeek online story by Burt Helm, Tech Giants’ Internet Battles. The story discusses how a “host” of tech companies, including Google, Yahoo, and Intel going up against the telcos, AT&T and the cable companies to prevent them from offering favored service to providers of their choosing.
It’s a little scary.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE