| Precursor Blog by Scott Cleland: Forthright Foresight Empowers Success

Gloves off on radio show on NN

I did an hour radio interview today on mytechnologylawyer.com today, to give all the best arguments against net neutrality. It was refreshing to have a forum where the clear purpose was to hear the unvarnished anti-net neutrality view becuase they will hear the other side's unvarnished next week when they will host Itsournet.org, Tuesday September 12 at 1PM EST with four pro-net neutrality guests.

It was a very liberating forum as I was given the full time and free reign to lay down the detailed arguments of why NN is such a horrible public policy idea. In particular I was able to debunk in detail how the Internet has never been "neutral" and give a detailed rebuttal of the gross misrepresentation that there is a broadband duopoly or insufficient competition.

Cable mumbo jumbo ad got under Daily Kos' skin

Gotta love Daily Kos' indignance that Cable is running a very effective anti-net neutrality ad on their beloved Comedy Central show (that by the way has shilled for the NN cause and mercilessly spoofed Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens.)

How dare cable invade their hallowed neutral ground and horrors speak ill of their beloved net neutrality! It is blasphemy! There should be no cable industry free speech -- only politically-correct speech that agree with approved neutral-dogma!

DSL fee flap much ado about nothing

I was interviewed on CNBC this AM on Verizon and Bell South dropping their planned new DSL fees in face of FCC pressure.

First, I said this was a political issue not a competitive one. In the politically-charged environment of pending telecom legislation, the companies made the political mistake of getting in the way of the FCC being able to take political credit for some consumers bills going down. The FCC, like any political animal, does not like "rain on their parade."

When the FCC ruled last year that DSL was an unregulated info service like cable (the decision that germinated the net neutrality issue politically) a side effect of that decision was to no longer require that DSL pay a $1-2 a month regulatory fee into the Universal Service fund.

Why FTC Speech on NN is so significant

One of the most significant recent NN developments was the very detailed and cogent analysis and speech of the Federal Trade Commission Chairman Majoras last week. Why was it so significant?

First, it was the most comprehensive and forthcoming analyses of net neutrality by any of the three Federal enforcement authorities who's statutory job is to protect competition (FCC, DOJ and FTC). It is a very good proxy for where the FCC and DOJ are.

Google concedes barriers to broadband competition are low!

Chris Saaca, a senior Google executive was quoted in the New York Times earlier this month conceding that Google's wiring of its home town of Mountain View, California with free WiFi service, "a city of 72,000 residents, cost roughly $1 million, an amount that Mr. Saaca said demonstrated the low barriers to deploying such a service." (emphasis added)

In the same article Saaca is also quoted saying: "I think there wouldn't be a Net Neutrality debate in this country if we really had a competitive environment for access." Does Google's hubris and hypocrisy know no bounds?

Google's Cerf finally concedes on core NN argument!

After months of Google, Savetheinternet.org and itsournet.org warning ominously of the horrors of a "two-tiered Internet" where Americans might have to pay more to get more, it appears that Vint Cerf, Google's net neutrality evangelist, is finally conceding on their core argument -- saying "Noone objects to charging users more for faster access, Cerf said" according to Communications Daily August 17, 2006.

Huh!? I thought that was what the whole NN debate was about!? Could broadband providers charge more if they provided more? Thank you Mr. Cerf for saying broadband capitalism is now OK!

Gotta see NCTA's new anti-NN TV ad

If you have not seen Cable's new, clear and effective ad opposing net neutrality --- you should click here its only 30 seconds long.

Its strength is its clarity. Despite all the confusing "mumbo jumbo," net neutrality is simply just a scheme to make the consumer pay for the online giants costs.

It's also a concise derivation of Netcompetition.org's first viral video that net neturality was really special interest legislation and "corporate welfare for dotcom billionaires" which has now been viewed on youtube over 4500 times.

Back from vacation...

I'm back from August vacation and have caught up on the news and developments in my absence. As is common during the August doldrums, not much industry news has occurred. I will comment on a handful of issues that warrant attention in subsequent blogs.

Time off always helps clarity of thought and perspective. I come back refreshed and even more convinced that net neutrality is a horrendously bad public policy idea.

The fuel behind NN is an anti-business and pro-big government regulation, political agenda.

NN rests upon the completely unsubstantiated claim that broadband is not competitive. NN proponents ignore that the competition experts at the FCC, DOJ, and FTC all believe broadband is competitive. The facts are overwhelming that broadband is competitive and getting increasingly so.

On hiatus for vacation

I will resume blogging regularly when I return from vacation in late August. I expect September to be a very hot month for debating net neutrality. Until then thank you for your interest. Scott

Common Cause intimidation of free speech

Common cause just listed me and netcompetition.org in their latest report: "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, Part 2: More Telecom Industry front groupss and Astroturf."

This is a not-so-veiled attempt at intimidating free speech that Common Cause doesn't like because it does not fit their Big-Government-knows-best policy view.

I have fully disclosed who I work for on the site and in every one of the dozens of public forums in which I have debated net neutrality. Net competition is funded by broadband telecom, cable and wireless companies! It's no secret!

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