Are we at the point where you buy a device assuming it has connectivity to the Internet?
What if the device starts at Google?
What if the device only gives you Apple approved sites?
What if Microsoft made it a closed system?
Note these are not the names associated with the access fees you pay, but having everything to do with the regulations being discussed.
We are at interesting stage of discussion in Washington about the future of the Internet. We could make a case that it is an irrelevant discussion since the Internet has never been designed to be regulated by a single country. However for the 200 M plus of us that live in the US, these issues are real.
In the Wall Street Journal today, L. Gordon Crovitz did a nice job talking about the goings on in Washington. Markey and McCain giving opposite views as well as the Freedoms / Principles expanded by Chairman Genachowski.
One thing that Washington may be missing is the insight by Craig Labowitz shared at the joing meetings of NANOG/ARIN. It was very insightful about the technological innovations that are reshaping the Internet.
In the presentation there is cause for concern, in the fact that 50% of the Internet's traffic is aggregating into 150 sites. It used to be thousands. So Media control may be happening to Internet as well. However these 150 sites are not just carriers or media companies, so the rules and roles of regulators are not a match to this next generation. We could of course redefine Media to include them.
The reality is the Internet is progressing in its own policing with technology. So where is the bottleneck? And is it a smoking gun, a slow adopter, or some market power that represents the problem?
My own take is that its slow adoption, so I applaud the administration for its BTOP program, because the last mile is the place where you attach your device. And back to the car metaphor, you want to hit the open road as soon as possible. Trying to regulate the open road by your driveway specification seems like a bad strategy.
Tags: Craig Labovitz, FCC, Genachowski, L. Gordon Crovitz, Markey, McCain, Roger Von Oech, Whack Pack
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