[sllug-members]: Government and the Internet.

[Lonnie Olson]

<snip wonderful, though out, insightful long discussion>

I agree with your points you made.

I do believe that the Internet is heading toward dangerous 
over-corporatization.  The reason for the incredible growth of the 
Internet has been it's openness and freedom.  However, in recent years 
we have seen fewer and fewer ISPs control more and more of the 
backbones.  I don't think we are yet at the point of monopoly, but it 
seems to be heading that way.

I thought about what, or who, is to blame for this monopolization.
1. Evil CEOs bent on world domination?
    No, this is just silly.  They are just trying to make more money.
    They are responsible to the shareholders who want more money.
    This is exactly what Capitalism is meant to promote.
2. Capitalism?
    No, Capitalism will work fine as long as corporations responsibly
    compete.  There are laws to insure responsibility.  It is also up
    to the consumers to keep the competition around.
3. Government?
    Maybe, but unlikely.  Many Congress members take loads of money
    from corporate lobbyists, and make laws to help them out.  In the
    end, I think our checks and balances should prevail.
4. The average Consumer?
    Yes!  In any Free Market it is up to the consumer to keep the
    competition around.  They need to make informed decisions.
    The average consumer is more and more following blindly what
    these corporations want.  Like a moth to a flame.  It is the
    consumer who has the ultimate responsibility to maintain a
    Free Market.

rog made the argument that the Internet's ubiquity is a reason why 
government should probably step in.  He mentions SPAM as one thing the 
government can control better.  I agree there are compelling reasons 
that government involvement in the Internet could help.  However, there 
are also compelling reasons for the opposite.

The Internet is a *global* network, not a national one.  Without 
isolating our country's network from the world using something like the 
"Great FireWall of China", these laws won't have much effect.  I don't 
think anyone wants that.

On a side note about SPAM:  There are 2 major reasons SPAM is so bad. 
1. There are still millions of people who read, respond, and buy from 
spammers.  2. Our current system of mail (SMTP) is ancient and horribly 
broken for modern times.  We can't do anything about #1.  There will 
always be gullible people.  Replacing SMTP will be very difficult, but 
it *is* possible.

--lonnie