Has the Internet been saved? When Stephen Schultze <http://managingmiracles.blogspot.com/> stopped me in the hallway and told me that Susan Crawford <http://scrawford.net/blog/> had been appointed head of Obama's FCC transition team, I thought I was being punk'd. It was too good to be true.
So, Stephen and I went to an open computer and Googled. Yup. But the news was actually even better: Kevin Werbach <http://werblog.com/> has been appointed as co-lead. I was giddy with joy, for two reasons. First, it just might mean that the Internet has been saved. There are many threats to the Net, and there always will be. But one is particularly nasty and urgent. The business model of the incumbent carriers in the US primarily telephone and cable companies focuses not on simply providing us with as many bits as we want, but rather on getting us to buy content and services from them. This makes it too tempting to them to tilt the market toward their offerings, and to optimize the system for the sort of content they provide (e.g., high def Hollywood movies), which means de-optimizing it for other types of content (e.g., YouTubes). This problem is exacerbated by the lack of a truly open, truly competitive market. Susan and Kevin come at these issues not as representatives of the incumbent industries but as Internet folks. They are, I believe, deeply committed to the spread of the open Internet. But, they are not ideologues. They are capable of listening, finding what's of value and what matters in views with which they disagree, and moderating their views. They are informed, intelligent, reasonable, and sweet. You come out of a disagreement with them feeling better about us all. Which brings me to the second reason I am so happy about their appointment. Imagine a government that values the qualities Susan and Kevin embody. Imagine a government that doesn't go for the lazy, safe wedge issues that divide us, but actually tries to find ways we can move forward together. Imagine a government that thinks not first about winning the argument but about how we can live together afterwards. Imagine a government that assumes our better natures. No need to imagine such a government. We just elected one. -- http://geekentertainment.tv [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
