[IP] The end of the Bellheads

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

________________________________________
From: DV Henkel-Wallace [gumby@henkel-wallace.org]
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 4:45 PM
To: David Farber
Cc: Lauren Weinstein
Subject: Re: [IP] BEST LAW MONAY CAN BUY --  Senate votes Telecom immunity

I was struck by two things, one tangental to the IP list and the other
deeply connected.

Both were triggered by the following quote:  "...But supporters of the
plan said the phone carriers acted out of patriotism..."

It seems clear that patriotism or fear drove the decision.  Although
the companies are accused of venality, I consider it unlikely because
the were almost certainly not making a profit on the deal, but were
just in fear of future regulatory or fiscal pressure.  However the
same two arguments can be used to explain vigilanteism participation
in a lynch mob, which doesn't make that better either.

What I find far more interesting is that this clearly shows that the
bellheads are gone for good.  Even at the hight of the cold war these
kinds of shenanigans were hard to pull off.  But it's been at least a
decade since I've heard terms like "reliability", "audio fidelity", or
"availability" in connection with voice service.  And now "privacy" is
gone too.

-d



On Feb 12, 2008, at 13:01 , David Farber wrote:

>
> ________________________________________
> From: Lauren Weinstein [lauren@vortex.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:56 PM
> To: David Farber
> Subject: Senate votes Telecom immunity
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/washington/12cnd-fisa.html
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------


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