03.11.07

Network Neutrality: Greed and the Internet

Posted in General at 9:34 pm by brmeyer

Greed. It seems to be a common theme in this journal. It is a part of human nature, and the application of the sin to many areas of life indicates the decadence of so many in our society. The case in point is from an article taken from the January 2007 issue of the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The Internet has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. When I first joined the Internet community in 1995, I was a 16 year old in high school with little knowledge of how computers worked and how they could be connected. I was amazed at being able to e-mail and chat with others in real-time. It was a surreal experience. Over time, the Internet grew to become a moneymaker for many companies. It became commercialized. Despite the bursting of the dot.com bubble in 2000, major websites such as eBay.com, Amazon.com, and Google.com have thrived, raking in millions of dollars each and every year. There is no end in sight for the success of these companies.

Of course, when companies grow along with the profits, everyone wants a piece of the pie. In recent months, the government of Pennsylvania has discussed determining ways to collect the sales tax that so many individuals do not pay on the purchases that they make on the Internet. Even more disturbing though is the greed of the telecommunications companies. Not long ago, the CEO of AT&T, Edward Whitacre, claimed that the various Internet powerhouses are using “his pipes” at no cost. In other words, because sites like Google.com and eBay.com are using his telecommunications facilities to make money, he wants a cut. He wants to make a profit. In a capitalist society, this is well and good. But what many may not realize is that these Internet companies, and us, are already pumping money into his coffers.

Consider the fact that companies such as eBay.com and Amazon.com already pay money to the telecommunications companies to have quick and efficient connections to the Internet. We, as consumers, pay fees to companies such as Verizon and Comcast to access the Internet from home. All of this money goes into the pockets of these greedy managers and their companies. The problem with a non-neutral Internet is what it would do to the growth of the vast system. If companies such as Google.com had to pay extremely inflated costs to connect their sites to the Internet, the probability is high they would have never had the capital to start up. In turn, this would have left us consumers lacking in great sites to search the Internet or buy goods. And, if such sites did get started, we would be left paying the cost for these Internet connections through fees for the use of many services that are currently free. And that would make the Internet much less utilized and decreasingly popular in the eyes of consumers. The growth of the Internet would not be as accelerated, therefore hurting the development of a powerful tool that is now widely used in our everyday lives. The telecommunications companies need to keep their selfish and greedy hands off of the Internet. All of us should not have to suffer for their lack of foresight in developing a sound business model.

The full text of the article: Ma Bell’s Revenge: The Battle for Network Neutrality (Requires a PDF reader).

03.10.07

Why Do We Fight?

Posted in General at 2:18 pm by brmeyer

As I’ve written numerous times in this journal in the past, the escalation of greed has led to a continual attack on the nation’s Civil War battlefields. I joined the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) several years ago because it consists of a group of firm and dedicated individuals who wish to save these lands from desecration and eternal ruin. The organization is extremely effective, having already saved several thousands of acres of battlefield land across the nation. An astonishing 88 cents of every dollar that is donated to the group is used for actual land purchases. The remaining amount goes to administration and marketing costs. No other organization uses its money so wisely for its cause.

It is unfortunate, however, that battlefield land where so many died to preserve the freedom of many had been lost prior to the significant efforts of the CWPT and it’s leader, President James Lighthizer. One such example was elegantly summarized in a recent article entitled “Keeping the Battlefields From Becoming Parking Lots” from the November 13, 2006 edition of The New York Times. It is such a poignant example. I’ve reproduced the final excerpt from that article below and have provided a link to the full article. Though there have been defeats, the CWPT continues to win victories to preserve significant acreage across the United States.

Excerpt from Keeping the Battlefields From Becoming Parking Lots:

“That night [December 13] in 1862, after the guns quieted, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine - a Bowdoin College professor-turned-officer who would become a hero at Gettysburg the following summer - wrote movingly of hearing ‘cries for help, some begging for a drop of water, some calling on God for pity, and some on friendly hands to finish what the enemy had so horribly begun’.

The spot where Chamberlain lay that night, trying to sleep amid the blue-coated bodies and despite ‘the chilling, many voiced moan that overspread the field’, is known by historians and many Fredericksburg residents, who visit there often.

It’s the parking lot of a 7-Eleven.”