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August 2007
New broadband uncertainty -- is 700 MHz info? or telecom service?
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-08-01 10:57There are so many problems with the FCC's new 700 MHz auction rules that create a more regulated open access/net neutrality license -- its hard to know where to start.
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Be confident that I will get to them all over time.
Yesterday I highlighted the dirty little secret that there is very substantial risk that this will become known as the "do over auction" because it may not raise enough money to satisfy the rules and because the FCC likely overstepped its legal authority and will be overturned in court.
Let's raise another dirty little secret behind the new rules that will increase regulatory uncertainty for broadband deployment.
FCC Chairman's welcome reiteration of opposition to net neutrality regulations
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-08-01 14:31I wanted to commend and spotlight a critically important and completely under-reported/under-appreciated part of the FCC Chairman's statement on the 700 MHz auction released yesterday:
- "We must continue to encourage the critical investment needed to build the next generation wireless network. Since I have been Chairman, I have advocated strongly that applying network neutrality obligations, unbundling, or mandatory wholesale requirements to networks can undermine investment incentives. I do not support such regulations. The Order we adopt today does not apply these regulations to this block or any other block." [bold added for emphasis]
This is very important, welcome, commendable, and strong affirmation of the FCC's broad deregulation policy -- that was completely lost in the gaggle of press coverage.
Googleopoly -- can you say "predatory cross-subsidization"?
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-08-01 19:04For those following the FTC's Google-DoubleClick merger review (and whether my prediction in my Googleopoly.net white paper that the FTC will block this merger is on the mark), this link to an article called "Google's Killer App" is a current and real life case study of how Google anti-competitively forecloses competition in the markets adjacent to them.
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Or in other words, this article raises the question: can "free" ever be a bad thing or anti-competitive?
This excellent case study article is by Brandt Dainow, a web analytics competitor to Google who has conceded that:
"Google-aganda:" Do as I say not as I do" See great Network World piece
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2007-08-02 09:27Johna Till Johnson of Network World, has got Google's number in the article "Net Neutrality? Google, go first!"
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"Forget "don't be evil" -- Google's real motto is: "Just trust us (and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain).""
"Sorry, fellas, I'm not the trusting sort. And I always worry about the man behind the curtain. The reality behind the propaganda is this: The "open" company's considerable fortunes are based around the world's most proprietary search engine. And as for "neutral" -- try Googling Google, and you may notice something surprising: very few negative comments on the company pop up. Odd, no?"
Who is America's most notorious scofflaw?
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2007-08-02 18:26The outrage over Google-Youtube's complicity in rampant content theft and piracy continues to spread around the world.
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As reported by the AP in "Youtube blasted over copyright issues":
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"A coalition of Japanese television, music and film companies slammed YouTube Thursday, saying the online video sharing service was not doing enough to rid the site of cartoons and other clips that infringe copyright." ...
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"There is no middle ground," Matsutake said. "We demand that all copyrighted material be removed immediately."
Let's focus on the corporate scofflaw pattern here: American, Japanese, and European content owners accross a wide swath of content industries are all outraged and suing Google for theft.
Looks like Canada may review Google-DoubleClick along with FTC and EC
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-08-03 15:48It seems that our friends up North may also be concerned about the anti-competitive impact of the Google-Double-Click merger.
CIPPIC, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, is requesting that the Canadian authorities review the Google-Double-Click merger to determine if it is anti-competitive.
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Seems from their filing that they have similar concerns as the FTC and the EC.
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Could this be evidence of momentum in the growing concern over this merger? Yep.
I've done a lot of work on the facts surrounding this merger case and am very confident that the more authorities learn about the facts of the case -- the more concerned and troubled they will get about the profound and broad implications this merger portends for the future of the Internet business model for accessing content.
Oops! Googleopolist's wife talks out of school on pending merger
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-08-03 17:06The article quoted "Google product manager" Susan Wojcicki, (who also just recently married Google co-founder Sergey Brin), candidly defining the online ad market to reporters.
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Her blunt public market defintion must have Google's antitrust lawyers absolutely cringing and muttering expletive deleteds.
During a meeting with reporters, IBD quoted Ms. Wojcicki saying:
On summer hiatus
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-08-03 17:54Note to readers: Precursorblog will be on summer hiatus returning August 20th.
My oops on Google's oops in speaking out of school on merger
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-08-20 12:52A couple of readers kindly pointed out that I made my own oops in my early August blog post: "Oops! Googleopolist's wife speaks out of school on pending merger."
I regret any confusion I created in mistaking that "Google product manager" Susan Wojcicki" was married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin -- in fact she is the sister-in-law of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and also one of the earliest employees of Google.
Debunking more net neutrality revisionist history
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-08-20 22:34Liberal blogger Matt Stoller of OpenLeft has a post at Save the Internet that lamely tries to rewrite "the history of net neutrality" in his commentary about his interview with FCC Commisioner Michael Copps.
