Comments on: Neutrality: Draft Bills Arrive http://johnthomson.org/2006/03/28/neutrality-draft-bills-arrive/ Thoughts on the social impacts of communication policy and educational technology. Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:21:46 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.2 By: sagecast http://johnthomson.org/2006/03/28/neutrality-draft-bills-arrive/comment-page-1/#comment-35 Sun, 21 May 2006 13:34:52 +0000 http://johnthomson.org/blog/archives/72#comment-35 Readers of this comment thread should know that oldhats and pkp646 are part of a tag-team of industry shills who invade blog comments on net neutrality or rleated issues to argue against any government regulation of the telephone companies. Other names who run with this crowd are John Rice, lessgov, AJ Carey and Paulaner01. (Google any of these names in combination and you’ll see how their game works).

By tag-teaming the blogs, this small handful of individuals gives the false impression of broad popular support for an telco-friendly position.

What they fail to point out is that Net Neutrality has been the rule that has governed access to the Internet since its inception. It’s the reason that the Internet has become such a dynamic force for new ideas, economic innovation and free speech. What they really want is for Congress to radically re-write our telecommunications laws so that companies like AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth can swoop in and become gatekeepers to Internet content — in a way that benefits no one except the largest ISPs.

I’d like these people to tell us how it is that they appear together (usually one after the other) spouting identical industry talking points.

What gives fellas? Are you being paid to do this? And by whom?

]]> By: John Thomson » Blog Archive » Network Neutrality: A Response http://johnthomson.org/2006/03/28/neutrality-draft-bills-arrive/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Wed, 05 Apr 2006 14:47:37 +0000 http://johnthomson.org/blog/archives/72#comment-14 […] Sorry about the delay in replying to recent comments, it’s been a busy few days (and I never honestly expected to have any readers…guess that’s the magic of trackback).  While networks and economics aren’t really my specialty, I appreciate the chance to have a good discussion about such an important issue.  I can see that there’s a need to clarify some of my thinking, so here are the main reasons why I think network neutrality is something to value (from least to most important). […]

]]> By: oldhats http://johnthomson.org/2006/03/28/neutrality-draft-bills-arrive/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Mon, 03 Apr 2006 23:44:38 +0000 http://johnthomson.org/blog/archives/72#comment-13 pkp–I think you’re absolutely right. Inviting Congress to regulate an industry whose innovation is (in large part) due to a LACK of governmental regulation doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

]]> By: pkp646 http://johnthomson.org/2006/03/28/neutrality-draft-bills-arrive/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Mon, 03 Apr 2006 18:56:57 +0000 http://johnthomson.org/blog/archives/72#comment-11 John, all of the examples you sight only go to prove that government intereference was a major failure for those industries from a business point of view. The Post Office has never made any money, the rail lines are in constant need of subsidy (because of government regulations), and the net became a boom only after it left the damning hands of government control. While I’m sure we both appreciate the internet, the best way to see it continue to succeed is to keep the hands of that “impetuous vortex” off.

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