[IP] more on Lessig: Coalition Asks FCC to Ensure End-to-End

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Jordan Pollack <pollack@cs.brandeis.edu.ml.to>
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 09:37:45 -0400
To: dave@farber.net.ml.to
Subject: Re: [IP] Lessig: Coalition Asks FCC to Ensure End-to-End



It is a two-faced idea to expect both neutrality and copyright enforcement.
Like pro life and pro death penalty.

The real thing carriers want to control is cable sharing. If they sell it to
your house and you beam it or run a wire next door, its "theft of services."
lots of precedence that a cable is not the same as broadcast on public
airwaves.

So if you setup a open wifi for your neighborhood off an unlimited bandwidth
cable modem, it is also theft of services.

What is at the core of all this ridiculousness is "unlimited" broadband
service. The phone company which invented "unlimited flat rate" realized you
could only make so many serial phonecalls. But with unlimited broadband, you
can send unlimited spam or download unlimited music in parallel.

There are only 2 solutions: one is a global ad hoc broadband wireless
network which makes the public airwaves public again. Then instead of
spending $50 a month for starbucks wifi, you'd just take your coffee
outside.

The other is bandwidth metering, like DOCOMO, at which point you WILL be
billed for your neighbors usage.

But metered billing can identify the bits. So at that point advertisers like
Microsoft and Disney will be against neutrality so they can subsidize their
bits to the home, like on TV, crowding out the cacaphony of democracy.
 
Jordan


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