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DampierPhillip M Dampier
join:2003-03-23
Rochester, NY | reply to supergirl
Re: Don't Fall for the Cable Industry's Invented Narrative As I have written elsewhere, the original author has had to endure the Australian broadband experience, which is among the most dismal in the entire developed world. Telstra, the incumbent phone company, maintains a 50% market share providing poor service at incredibly high prices. It has become so bad that the Australian government is now able to make the case its hurting the country economically in the new Internet marketplace, and that changes to increase competition are in order.
An Australian citizen, respectfully, is at high risk of misunderstanding the American broadband experience over the past decade in an unregulated, price competitive marketplace. For Americans accustomed to expanded speeds and services at prices that remain highly profitable for the providers (and have literally remained unchanged in most instances for more than a decade), a draconian cap such as the one contemplated by Time Warner is an act of war against consumers and poses incredibly serious threats to online commerce, equal access to information have's and have not's, and to our global competitiveness. It all comes packaged as an argument that includes absolutely no independently verified evidence, backed by individuals and companies with a direct financial interest to the cable companies arguing the point.
Justin may be surprised by the intense blowback his editorial provides, but people should be informed that he's hardly being paid off by cable interests to support their position. His perspective comes from his experiences as an Australian living under the kind of online experience that has kept his fellow countrymen years behind those of us in North America, Europe, and significant parts of Asia.
I appreciate his perspective, but I think his arguments are dramatically undercut by his literal distance to the current situation on the ground in this country. | |
1 edit | said by Dampier:Justin may be surprised by the intense blowback his editorial provides, but people should be informed that he's hardly being paid off by cable interests to support their position. Then Justin should prove it by saying he's not towing the ISPs ridiculous argument(s). His "opinion" was ill-informed since Australia is now even seeing the light. The Internet is becoming a huge commerce component of the U.S. If Justin is just mad about his own country's lack of consumer protections, he shouldn't want to bring that crap here. The Net has already revolutionized the music industry. If a company doesn't have a web presence, potential employees ignore them and so do potential customers. Or, maybe Justin should just read our laws. Australia's laws aren't as freedom-oriented as they are here. He might also understand being anti-consumer here is akin to blasphemy in the United States, and very bad for his "website". Maybe Karl is just allowed his opinions to assuage the backlash Justin's getting. If it smells like astroturfing, it probably is. I know people in tech I emailed his article to have a negative opinion of this site now.
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl | |
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