IP: First of two replies to an original note They don't need broadband -- let them eat ----

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Title: approve:ggmu  First of two replies to an original note They don't need broadband -- let them eat ----

Please read fromm end forward (by message) djf


------ Forwarded Message
From: Jock Gill <jock@jockgill.com>
Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 18:30:36 -0500
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Re: comments

Dave,

The historical case was the delivery mechanism of "The Intelligence".  Before Franklin became post master general of these United States it had been the practise to allow local postmasters to control access to the mail system.  This way they could lock a publisher out of the system.   Many postmasters also published papers and used their power over the distribution system to bankrupt competitors.  Franklin had experience with this while in Philadelphia, as you may know.  We could all serve our country better if we knew its history better.  My grasp of US history is pretty weak.

The KEY issue is access to the distribution system and equitable access at that.

We want a vigorous market place of ideas -- all competing for attention and validity.   We want to maximize our idea space.  And we want a level playing field of ACCESS to that idea space.  If, for example,  we take a class trip to the swamps to study swamp water, we want all students to have at least access to the same quality microscopes.  Not some limited to  broken coke bottles and others to simple magnifying glasses and still others to the finest microscopes.

We also want to get rid of the model of spectrum as property to be owned and replace it with an ocean metaphor -- all are free to use as much as they like as long as they follow a few rules of the sea.  See Ultra Wide Band  Wireless and Software Defined Radios -- ie Dewayne Hendricks and his merry band of buccaneers.

Should government OWN the spectrum, I think not. I think government should enforce the rules of the sea.  I think the UWBW and SDR will take care of the ancient encrusted problems at the Bells.  Their time & technology is essentially past.  But like all incumbents, they are fighting to hold on to an ever more untenable proposition.

It is, after all, in the best interests of the market place to maximize transparency, based in part on communications, as transparency reduces risk and thus the cost of capital upon which the market depends to grow and flourish.

Regards,

Jock



At 01:50 PM 3/2/2002 -0500, you wrote:

> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: gerry-faulhaber@mchsi.com
> Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 17:49:04 +0000
> To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
> Subject: Re: IP: utterly misses the point  more onThey don't need broadband
> -- let them eat ----
>
> For IP
>
> In response to Gill's last paragraph re: Founding
> Fathers and newspapers.  Is he suggesting that the
> Founding Fathers required newspaper publishers to
> operate in every village in colonial America?  Did not
> newspaper publishers operate in a market economy, in
> which they sold their papers and advertising space?  Did
> the Founding Fathers require delivery of newspapers to
> all citizens, to ensure they were informed?
>
> Of course not; and our government shouldn't do so
> either, with broadband.  And if you think broadband is
> as important as newspapers or even TV as a means of
> informing the citizenry, try thinking a little harder
> and marshal some evidence for your argument.
>
> Gerald Faulhaber
> > 
> > ------ Forwarded Message
> > From: Jock Gill <jock@jockgill.com>
> > Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 10:52:57 -0500
> > To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
> > Subject: Re: IP: They don't need broadband -- let them eat ----
> > Lastly, or Founding Fathers understood that democracy requires the
> > "Intelligence" [newspapers in the late 18th cnetury] to be deliver with out
> > market place or political distortions to even the most remote locations in
> > these United States.
>
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
Jock Gill < jock@jockgill.com >
<www.jockgill.com <http://www.jockgill.com/> >
Interactive Digital Studies

------ End of Forwarded Message