Netroots Net Neutrality "Lobbying" (was: Re: [asterisk-biz] Iptables rule help)

[Michael Jerris]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-biz-
> bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Henry J. Cobb
> Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 4:34 PM
> To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> Subject: Re: Netroots Net Neutrality "Lobbying" (was: Re:
[asterisk-biz]
> Iptables rule help)
> 
> I have a little more faith in the American Consumer.
> 
> After just a few days dealing with a locked down Disney-only Net, the
> customer will decide that it's a Mickey Mouse operation and go
elsewhere.
> 
> After enough dumb rich people have become dumb poor people while
trying to
> foist such silliness, the invisible hand of the market will slap them
> silly.
> 
> Unless of course it all gets writen into law so that new entrants into
the
> market are scared off by the regulation costs.
> 
> --
> Henry J. Cobb
> http://www.io.com/~hcobb/

This only works if consumers have choice.  Many areas in the US have
little choice between carriers for broadband, and those that do, it
won't help if all the carriers are blocking.  A friend was recently
telling me about a meeting he had with a large number of clec and ilec
customers, and the main thing they were interested in was detecting sip
and voip traffic including on alternate ports so that they can block or
degrade this traffic on their networks.  The theories of open markets
only work when there is sufficient regulation in place to make sure that
there is truly a level playing field in the market place and in places
where there is no up side for the provider, to enforce or entice them to
do the right thing.  I am big on free market philosophy, but when there
are people at the top making the decisions that are not good for the end
customer; regulation must come in to protect it.

Mike