Re: Should we oppose the Data Superhighway/NII?

[Stanton McCandlish <mech@eff.org>]

> 1) I feel the government, in this case and others, should never
> force the adoption of any particular technology (ISDN, ATM, etc)

Right on, but this would conflict, at least in spirit, with your points
2)b) and 2)d).  Are your for govt. involvement or not?
 
> 2) While I am pro-market in the Extropian Way, I think that what we
> need from the government is the following:
> 
> a) recognize that Cable and Telco are the same business
> b) set very minimum standards required for basic services
>         (basic telco, basic cable (e.g., local broadcast channels)
> c) I don't see data as a basic service

Pardon me, but this is preposterous.  You have here proposed that a
many-to-many communications medium, which requires data service, is not a
basic service despite its many benefits, but that cable and broadcast tv
are, despite the obvious limitations (not to mention detrimental effects)
of the medium.  I hate to even say this, especially to you, but that's
just not a logical stance, especially for a networker.  I'm actually
shocked to see you say that.

> d) apply the same regulation to both companies.
> e) Let cable and telco compete head to head

e) conflicts with a).

> 3) Let the rich pay for it ;)
[...]
> I feel if you don't "push" for universal access the systems will be build
> that way anyway. They will cost $$$, and the "rich" will buy into it. As
> economies of scale and scope come into pay, the cost of these systems will
> come down and the poor will get it too. Thus, the rich have paid for it,
> and the poor have got it cheap.

But not just the rich will pay for it.  *I* will have to pay for it, and
I'd rather see it be cheap and affordable to all.  You seem to have
mistaken the empowering technology of networking with some new toy, like
Nintendos.

> No one is going to do an Interactive Test Market in the Lower East Side,
> but trust me systems will be built there.

Not if the medium fails to catch on, due to being too expensive for anyone but
the upper class.  This is precisely why most people *don't* have satellite tv.

-- 
Stanton  McCandlish  mech@eff.org  1:109/1103   EFF  Online  Activist & SysOp
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