About Scott Cleland
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You are hereCongressFree Press in La La land on Broadband pricesSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2006-09-13 10:16Free Press' latest falsehood to promote Net neutrality is a new "report" that broadband prices are increasing. Balderdash! Real broadband prices have fallen over 50% in the last few years. Very simply, DSL speeds provided have doubled and cable modem speeds have gone from 1.5 Mbs to 5+Mbs over the last few years. Broadband is speed and people are getting twice as much speed for the price than they did just a few years ago. Debunking "the Broadband Market Failure" Myth, Part II of a series of one pagersSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2006-09-12 14:01Most net neutrality proponents try to justify their call for new regulation by claiming a duopoly or insufficient competition. Their incomplete and out-of-context argument is a good example of why in a court of law, courts ask people to testify to "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." On the subject of broadband competition, the neutr-elitists are not saying the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The big and egregious omission in their assertion is that this market used to used to be monopoly dial-up service. They omit sharing that in 1996 a bipartisan Congress passed the Telecom Act to end monoploy, promote competition and de-regulation, and that competition is now increasingly flourishing. FCC Commissioner McDowell on Net Neutrality today at NVTCSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2006-09-12 11:55I heard FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell speak for the first time this morning on Net Neutrality and came away very impressed. He is a principled, articulate and well versed on the issues. The FCC is lucky to have him. He started with being very upfront about his philosophy and approach: "It's all about freedom. I trust free markets and free people... government should get out of the way." In acknowledging that there can be instances of market failure, he said there should be "narrowly-tailored remedies with a clear sunset." Specifically on net neutrality, the Commissioner had a very funny description of the issue -- as like a "Rorshach ink blot test" -- where everyone sees in the issue what they want to see. Debunking "The Net is Neutral" Myth, part I in a Series of one-pagersSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2006-09-11 19:08By cleverly framing this debate around the bumper-sticker term "net neutrality," those who want to regulate broadband like dialup, created a very helpful myth to bolster their pro-Internet regulation cause. By insinuating that the net was neutral, it made the proposed regulation sound less onerous and threatening, and more virtuous. Too bad it wasn't true. The Internet is not a "neutral," equal, one tier network. If people knew the facts and not the spin, I believe they would be much less inclined to support the net neutrality concept. That's why I have begun a series of one-pagers that debunk these big myths promoted by the neutr-elitists. SavetheInternet's bogus NN "momentum" claimsSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2006-09-08 10:12Both SavetheInternet.org and ItsOurNet.org are desperately trying to convince any reporter or media outlet they can -- that their perception of political "momentum" on net neutrality -- is in fact reality. Read below for evidence why they are delusional and believing their own spin. Let's review reality and the facts of the supposed "momentum." Important Questions to ask Rep Markey at VON Keynote in Boston next weekSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2006-09-07 10:11Mr. Markey (D-MA), one of THE BIGGEST net neutrality proponents, is the keynote speaker at the fall VON conference Tuesday September 12th. He is also the author of the House "Net Neutrality Act of 2006" which was defeated in the House earlier in the year by a wide margin about 270-150. Big on rhetoric, but thin on substance, I believe Mr. Markey has some explainng to do about the dark side of his HR.5273 that has not been sufficiently challenged. Sprint offers films on phones, because there's no NN!Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2006-09-06 12:47Sprint just announced that it will offer pay-per-view movies exclusively for its cell phones. for 4-6$ a Sprint customer can watch a film in parts or in its entirety whenever or wherever they want to. Sprint is the first company to offer this innovation and I expect other wireless companies to eventually follow suit. This is precisely the type of innovation and service that never would have occurred if there was a net neutrality requirement! Qwest CEO Notebaert's clarity of thought on NNSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2006-09-06 12:07I just read the text of Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert's remarks on NN at the Progress and Freedom Foundation last month. He is one of the most clear thinking leaders I know and I thought some of his insights were important to highlight here. He started with first things first, how important the Internet is to America's economy: "we have created an economic engine that is vibrant, full of energy, and poised for the future. How some folks can...want the Internet to be saddled with regulatory micromanagment just boggles my mind." New Editorial gets it; why regulate preemptively?Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2006-09-06 11:59The Chicago Sun Times Editorial today gets it. They sliced through the NN mumbo jumbo and realized there is no evidence of a problem today, only a hypothetical concern. Like any rational person they don't want all the parade of horribles to occur, but they are wise enough to not take the bait and call for preemptive NN regulation in the absence of a real problem. This editorial board understands that market forces are vastly superior to government regulation and that -- in the absence of a real problem -- inviting government intervention into the market -- is a very scary prospect. Gloves off on radio show on NNSubmitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2006-09-05 18:56I 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. Pages |