Don’t Call it Internet Then

A group of very clever folks — David Reed, Bob Frankston, Bruce Kushnick, John Mitchell, Dave Weinberger (left),
Rahul Tongia, Andy Oram, Steve Cherry, Dewayne Hendricks, John Bachir, Paul
Jones and others — have gotten together to back a "solution" of the network neutrality act dubbed the Internet Platform for Innovation Act of 2006.

Here’s the full bill.

Short version.

I think of it as magic fairy dust.

First, it ain’t gonna pass. Second, even if it does, it doesn’t matter unless there is real competition in the marketplace, so people can choose "real" Internet service without penalty.

May I offer something equally simple, concise and (maybe even) passable? That is, take away their monopoly right of way. Pass a bill which states states, cities and other units of government must make poles and other right-of-way available to competing service providers.

Short Version. Take away their monopoly. 

I compare the situation to what we face with oil refineries. As you may
know, gas prices are high, and refinery prices are way up. No new
refinery capacity has come on-stream for 25 years. There is no
competition in the market, and no incentive for refiners to create new
capacity.

The solution: open up the market. Open the market to other forms of
energy with a price floor under which all forms of energy can find a
market, then offer a higher floor to non-carbon processes. Get rid of
the subsidies the oil companies now enjoy.

The same solution is needed here. The difference between energy and
Internet service is that, in Internet service, the cost of provisioning
actually is going down, thanks to Moore’s Law. The cost of running a
bit over fiber continues to go down. The cost of running a bit over the
air continues to go down. This is no longer 30-year property (like a
refinery). it’s fast becoming three-year property, even one-year
property. You don’t write your PC off over five years anymore — when
it breaks or gets too slow for the new software you buy a new one.

The Intenet solution, in other words, is simpler. There are ample new
supplies of real Internet bits available. They don’t need subsidy. All
they need is an opportunity to come to market.

Once they do the competition will change the Bells’ incentives, and
force them to offer more bits, at lower prices, or go out of business.

Once this kind of solution was called conservative. Today’s conservatives, unfortunately, are too busy sucking at the corporate teat to recall what they’re supposed to be about. (See above for an example.)

Frankly I don’t care what you call it.

I call it setting the market free.