The FCC has issued the agenda for it’s November 3 meeting. Gone is the proposed Notice of Inquiry on Network Neutrality. And a number of non-merger related items have popped up instead. Meanwhile, the trade press report a hot and heavy debate around forcing AT&T to divest wireless spectrum to create a real competitor (you can read the comments I wrote for Media Access Project here).
My thoughts on all these doings below . . .
As anyone who watches television or movies knows, some things are outrageously funny because they hit the comedy bone just right. Other things are unintentionally funny. They come accross as so lame, so sad, so pathetic, that you can’t help but laugh.
Net Neutrality has produced some fine examples of both. No doubt I show my biases by finding many more examples of genuinely funny stuff in the pro-NN camp and many more examples of pathetically lame in the anti-NN camp. But two recent examplars absolutely stand out.
For those following the net neutrality issue, here are a few good links for audio or video (while we still can).
Robert Riech gives mainstream commentary in favor of NN on Marketplace here.
An amusing Halo-themed video infomercial in favor of NN available here.
Public Knowledge has this fairly straightforward “why you should care about NN” video here.
“Ask A Ninja,” which I had never seen before but struck me as downright hysterical, as a pro-NN message here.
Finally, this video montage/commentary clocks in at 6 minutes, but is well worth it if you wants something comprehensive and compelling (plus it has all my friends!). With text on their website here, direct to youtube here.
Please add more to the comments below if you become aware of new ones.
Stay tuned . . . .
For those just tuning in, Network Neutrality (aka “NN”, becuase every public policy deserves its own acronym) has gone from sleepy tech issue to major policy fight. So I have prepared a rather lengthy primer below for folks who want a deeper understanding of what’s happening (at least as of today, May 3, 2006).
Finally, we get to this week’s big enchilada, Network Neutrality (or “NN,” as we policy wonks like to call it when we type it over and over and over again).
Many have opposed the Communications Enhancement Act of 2006 (COPE) because it would limit FCC authority to prevent abuses of market power by the few broadband ISPs in control of the “last mile”. Well, the Stevens Bill would not just limit FCC authority, it would eliminate it altogether. A dream for the telcos, cable cos and my opposite numbers at Progress and Freedom Foundation, a nightmare for the rest of us.
