Net Neutrality
Google Fights for Wireless Freedom
Rarely do you hear about a large corporation hiring a powerful lobbyist for a good cause. That’s exactly what Google is doing to ensure the $10 billion US government auction for wireless service licenses isn’t hogged by greedy telco monopolies.
Three months ago, Google (GOOG) retained Richard Whitt, former head of the regulatory department for MCI, the telco formerly known as WorldCom now owned by Verizon (VZ). Whitt, acting as Google’s Washington telecom and media counsel, is lobbying the Federal Communications Commission on some of the biggest issues facing the wireless industry. These include ensuring certain wireless airwaves are made available for free public use and making sure the auction is carried out in such a way that up-and-comers get a shot at entering the market.
For sure, Google’s interests are far from selfless — they don’t want telco monopolies getting between them and their eyeballs — but their interests happen to be aligned with the common good. Works for me. 🙂
Ted Stevens Wants to Ban Wikipedia
Remember US Senator Ted Stevens, the guy who (in)famously called the Internet a series of tubes? Well, now he wants to ban Wikipedia.
Early in January, Stevens introduced Senate bill 49, which among other things, would require that any school or library that gets federal Internet subsidies would have to block access to interactive Web sites, including social networking sites, and possibly blogs as well. It appears that the definition of those sites is so vague that it could include sites such as Wikipedia, according to commentators. It would certainly ban MySpace.
There are so many things wrong with this bill, it’s hard to count them all. But its greatest irony would be banning Wikipedia — perhaps the most widely used reference resource in the world — from libraries and schools. I have plenty of problems with Wikipedia, including how easily it can be manipulated, and the way that student rely on it far too heavily. But ban an educational resource merely because it’s interactive? If true, it’s bizarre beyond comprehension.
It’s easy to characterize Stevens as little more than a buffoon. He’s certainly a buffoon, but he’s a dangerous one. A law like his passed the House of Representatives last year. We’re coming up to a presidential election, which always unleashes a kind of madness among candidates, especially when it concerns anything to do with children. So don’t count this law out.
So information isn’t educational unless it’s noninteractive? Riiight…
Interestingly enough, Ted’s bill would also ban Barack Obama’s MySpace clone.
