Comments on: Lessig Lectures the FCC on the Need for Neutrality

By: » Google Backs Adelstein’s Broadband Push Sidecut Reports

» Google Backs Adelstein’s Broadband Push Sidecut Reports — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:54:03 +0000

[...] partners can also produce dialogue that with any luck won’t be as scripted or stilted as the FCC hearings that pass for the best discourse on public policy and broadband [...]

By: Web Worker Daily » Archive Do You Feel Like Being Regulated? «

Web Worker Daily » Archive Do You Feel Like Being Regulated? « — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:00:35 +0000

[...] web workers, the US government’s interest in the internet so far seems to be centered on the net neutrality debate. Whatever our neighbors might think, neither the Congress nor the FCC has indicated any [...]

By: » FCC at Stanford: Winners and Not-so-winners Sidecut Reports

» FCC at Stanford: Winners and Not-so-winners Sidecut Reports — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:13:52 +0000

[...] you read my post over at GigaOM you can see what I thought was the biggest takeaway from Thursday’s open FCC meeting at [...]

By: Web Worker Daily » Archive Internet Filling Up? «

Web Worker Daily » Archive Internet Filling Up? « — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:00:15 +0000

[...] course, this may be just propaganda designed to help protect AT&T from the evil regulation of net neutrality. Web workers might need to decide fairly soon whose side we’re on in this rising debate, if [...]

By: FCC at Stanford: Winners and Not-so-winners « Sidecut Reports

FCC at Stanford: Winners and Not-so-winners « Sidecut Reports — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:29:28 +0000

[...] at Stanford: Winners and Not-so-winners If you read my post over at GigaOM you can see what I thought was the biggest takeaway from Thursday’s open FCC meeting at [...]

By: Telephony 2.0 » Blog Archive » Reading List: Google Thrives; WM7 Coming (Slowly); FCC Talks P2P (Again)

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:41:08 +0000

[...] hear was held yesterday, too much less coverage and fanfare. On this “home court,” Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig pounced on net neutrality issues while FCC commissioners seemingly played both sides of the fence calling with some calling for P2P [...]

By: Constance Reader

Constance Reader — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:46:37 +0000

"If there is money to be made, then alternatives will appear."

This is the most frequently cited fallacy of the anti-regulation crowd. No, alternatives will not appear, because the cost of building out one's own network is an almost insurmountable barrier to entry.

Another extremely high barrier is the terms under which the incumbent may agree to share their networks. I say "may" because the incumbents are level playing field does not exist. under no legal obligation to do so, even though those incumbents did not bear the full costs of their own original network buildouts thanks to government concessions and incentives.

The free market and its self-regulation only works if multiple potential competitors have reasonable access to the market. The incumbents have gone to extremes to ensure that reasonable access is denied to any possible competitor. If such reasonable access did in fact exist, then we would not be having a debate about outside regulation because there would be sufficient competition present in the market to give consumers an option for service, and thus the market would regulate itself. But there is no competition, very few consumers have more than one option for service and even fewer have a non-incumbent option, so there is no self-regulation.

By: Cheryl's Desk

Cheryl's Desk — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:36:56 +0000

Net Neutrality cannot be the domain of government regulation. If it is then the BIG guys win. There will be no way for the next new idea to get the funding necessary to launch it business.

By: Lessig Lectures the FCC on the Need for Neutrality

Lessig Lectures the FCC on the Need for Neutrality — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:00:36 +0000

[...] Article by Paul Kapustka which can be found, in full, at GigaOM. [...]

By: Lessig Lectures FCC on Need for Neutrality | Paul Kapustka | Voices | AllThingsD

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:00:14 +0000

[...] Read the rest of this post Print all_things_di220:http://voices.allthingsd.com/20080418/kapustka/ Sphere Comment Tagged: Larry Lessig, Paul Kapustka, Net neutrality, FCC, GigaOm, Voices | permalink [...]

By: Al

Al — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:17:36 +0000

I don't see how starting the slippery slope of government regulation of the internet is going to help. Once it starts, no one will be able to stop it - and we will all suffer. If there is money to be made, then alternatives will appear. If the government limits things, the calculus of innovation will be infested with lobbying - because the government regulators will be the one of the most important forces that determines the success or failure of an innovation. And guess who all of this helps? It helps the big guys. The very people/organizations that the idea of Net Neutrality is suppose to fix will be in the drivers seat because they have the money and resources to lobby and influence regulations. No matter how good a Net Neutrality bill is, new laws will be created to fix the new inequities. The nasty cycle of liberal legislation will be terrible. The small guys lose out as the hurdle for success will go up.

Lessig may be a genius, but the most precise clock can be set to the wrong time. I think Lessig is wrong and Net Neutrality should be squashed and put in the ash heap.

By: John D'Isdain

John D'Isdain — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:24:59 +0000

One doesn’t have to ponder too deeply
as to why the likes of AT&T, Verizon, et al
desire the shield of innocence
from those they enabled
in the administration to spy
on us all
when their only smug business plan
is to corner the market
while being only what they can be
the monopolists that they are.

Three cheers for Larry Lessig and may the panderers of the FCC fall by the wayside.