You are here FTC
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-07-30 11:00
I keep shaking my head in disbelief when the Google camp breathlessly claims that the 700 MHz is the last opportunity to create a true "third broadband pipe?"
The much ballyhooed proposal in the 700 MHz auction for an "open access license" (whatever that endlessly evolving term means) claims to be all about Government creating a "third broadband pipe?"
Hello???!!!
Let's come down to earth folks.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-07-27 10:11
It is clear that "open access" is not a true "principle" for eBay-Skype, but a self-serving scheme by eBay to cloak their obvious "private interest" behind the greater "public interest."
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If "open access" was a true "principle" to eBay-skype,they would abide by it in their own business, and lead by example, but alas they don't.
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They hypocritically do the exact opposite.
Open access to eBay-Skype is a blatant double standard where eBay wants government to regulate their competitors to eBay-Skype's commercial advantage, but do not want the principle applied to eBay-Skype.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-07-25 12:23
Great satire is rare.
Please read it and laugh out loud and shout ouch!
The pen is surely mightier than the algorithm.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2007-07-24 18:58
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2007-07-24 12:37
Please read FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell's outstanding op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today. It eviscerates the sloppy thinking and weak evidence of net neutrality/open access proponents that are trying to manufacture a national broadband problem/crisis to justify their new Big Government "National Broadband Policy."
This op-ed is particularly timely given the current and tightly coordinated attempts by liberal House and Senate Democrats to establish the groundwork for an abandonment of competition and free market policies in communications and replace it with a new "National Broadband Policy" which is the liberal codeword for a Big Government-managed broadband sector.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-07-23 12:12
You can tell a lot about the true soul of people by how they treat the vulnerable and disadvantaged; do they naturally seek to help and protect those in need or do they instinctively seek to exploit others weaknesses for their own monetary or other gain?
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Or after a disaster, do people help with supplies, water, and a helping hand or do they opportunistically price gouge or seek to make a quick buck off of others misfortune?
Despite Google's infamous words in its "Don't be evil" motto, its actions recently in dealing with the job-loss ravaged town of Lenoir, North Carolina gives us a sad and disappointing glimpse into the real soul of Google -- the Silicon Valley titan and leading brand in the world.
BusinessWeek just published an outstanding government/human interest story called: "The High Cost of Wooing Google" where it chronicles the story of how Google exploited the "down-on-its-luck" town of Lenoir, North Carolina with hardball negotiating tactics to extract : "a package of tax breaks, infrastructure upgrades, and other goodies valued at $212 million over 30 years, or more than $1million for each of the 210 jobs Google said it eventually hoped to create in Lenoir."
The BusinessWeek article continued:
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-07-20 13:03
I highly recommend a great ComputerWorld article: "Google's cookie expiration plan called worthless."
Google has made a big mistake thinking that web users are stupid and won't test and check their blanket assertions. Here are a couple of quotes from the great ComputerWorld article:
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"After listening to feedback from our users and from privacy advocates, we've concluded that it would be a good thing for privacy to significantly shorten the lifetime of our cookies," [Google's]Fleischer said.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-07-20 12:37
The antitrust relevance of yesterday's New York Times reported quote: " ...marketers increasingly want to combine their purchases of search and display advertising." has really quite profound implications for the pending Google-Double-Click deal.
What that quote does is zero in on what really matters to FTC antitrust authorities -- how would the transaction actually change the current competitive dynamic, or more specifically, how would the merger "substantially lessen competition," which is the legal standard for approving/disapproving mergers.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2007-07-19 11:35
What's wrong with this picture?
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Broadband is being adopted faster nationally in the US than most any analogous product in modern U.S. history.
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The U.S. has more facility-based broadband competition than any country in the world.
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The Bush Administration goal of making broadband available to all Americans has been achieved.
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What's wrong with this picture? Nothing!
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-07-18 18:39
Google tries to maintain that search and display advertising are separate markets and not direct competitors.
It appears Yahoo would beg to differ.
Today's New York Times reported:
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"...Yahoo recently shook up its ad sales force, combining into a single unit its search advertising and display advertising."
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"Mr. Barry said that the reorganization would probably help Yahoo in the long term, as marketers increasingly want to combine their purchases of search and display advertising." [bold added]
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