Read all 'net nuetrality' posts in Media Sphere
October 26, 2007 1:58 PM PDT
Ever since Napster found its way into every college dorm room in 1999, the defenders of intellectual property have been perplexed at how to best deal with peer-to-peer file transfer. Last week's news that Comcast's servers were interfering with BitTorrent traffic may have come as a surprise to some, but given that few companies have been willing to acknowledge the legal uses for P2P, it shouldn't be too much of a shock. What strikes me is the fact that in the United Kingdom, it is actually the ISPs who are opposed to banning file-sharing and the lawmakers who have been pushing it. According to Broadband Reports, a representative from the service providers union suggested that, "ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope." While this argument seems somewhat weak given Comcast's ability to infiltrate BitTorrent, it is true that file-sharers will always be one step ahead of the regulators, and I support their commitment toward an open internet.... Read more
June 19, 2007 5:18 PM PDT
Today in NewsMax.com, John Mercurio takes a look at the top presidential candidates and examines where they stand on the issue of Net Nuetrality. There aren't too many surprises, Democrats for the most part are in favor of legislation that will ensure the future of net neutrality and Republican's tend to be in opposition and prefer to allow the free market to run it's course. After all, if customer's aren't happy with a tiered-access internet then they'll simply go make their own internet right?
Ok, so it's not really that simple, but I'm not sure if all the politicians realize it. After all, it was only a year ago that Senator Ted Stevens was explaining to the floor that the internet is a series of tubes. All & All though, we as a population are becoming increasingly net-savvy and the web will certainly dominate politics more than ever before.
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June 15, 2007 5:14 PM PDT
I recently started reading Al Gore's latest book The Assault on Reason, and have found his analysis on the role of today's media elites to be particularly insightful. Gore writes: 
The full video can be found here.
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If the forum is not fully open, then those who control access become gatekeepers. If they charge money in return for access, then those with more money have a greater ability to participate. Good ideas in the minds of men and women who cannot afford the price of admission to the public forum are then no longer available for consideration. When their opinions are blocked, the meritocracy of ideas that has always been the beating heart of democratic theory begins to suffer damage. The conversation of democracy then comes untethered from the rule of reason and can be manipulated.While perusing this passage, I was reminded of a short educational film made in the 1940s which outlines the continuum between democracy and despotism.
The full video can be found here.
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