Joho the Blog
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May 30, 2006
Bob Frankston has an extended and brilliant piece that wonders what strolling on a sidewalk would be like if it were managed with the same logic the telcos use to justify Net discrimination. [Tags: net_neutrality bob_frankston digital_rights] Posted
by D. Weinberger at May 30, 2006 11:23 AM
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Comments
Thanks for the link. great one.
Posted by: gembase | May 30, 2006 11:48 AM
Until I read this I thought Frankston was kinda smart:
He asked how one can meter the exchange of bits -- they aren't real so how could you track them and bill for them. You can't just look at a bit and ask it how valuable it is. It's as if he charged me for looking at the signs across the street. After all, he'll make enough money when I walk to the stores and even more when I come back with valuable purchases.
No longer.
Posted by: Richard Bennett | May 30, 2006 03:25 PM
Richard, I liked these bits:
"He said he understood charging for something real like a stroll but charging for bits? That's like charging me to use the number 7? How would you even do that? Why would you want to? Next they'll charge me to look at trees by allocating the spectrum -- someone is sure to bid on the frequency for green."
Posted by: fp | May 30, 2006 04:14 PM
Bits are free, and they always will be. But packets cost money, as do routers, cables, network administrators, and software.
Unless we can convince the Easter Bunny to build us a nice broadband network, of course.
Posted by: Richard Bennett | May 30, 2006 05:08 PM
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Posted by: ryan | May 31, 2006 04:15 AM
Good column, but Lennon/McCarney had the idea first (Revolver, 1966):
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman.
‘Cos I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Posted by: Stu Rubinow | June 1, 2006 01:22 PM
of course: McCartney
Posted by: Stu Rubinow | June 1, 2006 01:23 PM
Bblah bplah blah
Posted by: sean | June 8, 2006 03:45 AM