Why you need to worry about the government and politics
Monday, May 1st, 2006I must admit I liked it when life was simpler. The computer and Internet industry was run by the proverbial “400 geeks” that just kept moving from one company to another. The last thing we had to worrry about was the government.They didn’t care about us, and we didn’t have to care about them.
First Microsoft learned that they needed to care because their monopolistic position created suspicions of anti-competitive behavior. They pretty much beat the rap in the U.S., but the EU has taken a tougher stand (more). Microsoft’s behavior, especially after it squashed Netscape flat, pretty much took the oxygen out of the software startup environment, because no one had a good answer to the VC’s question: How will you compete against Microsoft? In my humble opinion, Microsoft, while it offers many admirable products, has until recently effectively stifled much potential software innovation.
Fast forward ten years. It ain’t about Microsoft any more. The answer to the VC’s question is “open source” and/or “software as a service” and the investments are flowing. But thanks to the Internet and convergence, software is just one of the vehicles of computer innovation. It’s now the Internet and its use as a content distribution and communications network that’s where the action is. And while it seems as if it’s a wide open web, there’s huge money and control at stake. And now the big boys are in on the action and throwing their money and influence around; not so much to innovate, but to protect what they’ve got. And they are trying to protect it by getting laws passed that tilt the playing field in their favor.
Here’s a partial list of issues being addressed in a Senate bill just proposed:
- Punting the Net Neutrality to the FCC, asking them only to report problems
- Placing limits on recording digital radio like Sirius via a broadcast flag
- Baning digital TV tuners for computers that can record shows off the air
Read more at the Cnet article.
The good news is that the issues are so manifold and complex, and the positions are so far apart from the House version, that passage in this short-sessioned election year is unlikely. The best we might hope for is no action, but no action on Net Neutrality is a time bomb. The worst is that these companies establish effective control of the Internet for their unfair advantage and stifle the very innovation that has made it flourish.
So what to do? Write your congressman. Senator Wyden is on the right side of this issue. Support SaveTheInternet. If your politics allow support moveon.com. Tell your buddies at the big companies like IBM and Intel that they need to be the counterweight against the lobbying heavyweights.
We simply can’t allow the few media and telecommunications companies to turn OUR Internet into THEIR networks.