<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 2:55 PM, Michael Mol <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mikemol@gmail.com">mikemol@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 2:52 PM, Bob Kline <<a href="mailto:bob.kline@gmail.com">bob.kline@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Yes, there's all that. But some<br>
> kind of regulation is often needed.<br>
> AT&T worked well as a regulated<br>
> monopoly for something like three<br>
> generations - it's what made universal<br>
> service come about.<br>
<br>
</div>Worked well? Why do you think it took so long for network services to get cheap?<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Because one had to shift to a new</div><div>business model. The regulated monopoly</div><div>produced universal service - that was the </div>
<div>deal, and included a guaranteed rate of </div><div>return. In the days of slower moving </div><div>technology, that was a worthy goes - at</div><div>the end, before the divestiture of AT&T</div><div>in 1983, 96% of the US population had</div>
<div>access to a phone. "Long Lines," the old</div><div>name for long distance, subsidized local</div><div>service to the tune of about $11B in 1981.</div><div><br></div><div>As time went on, there were cheaper</div>
<div>ways of doing aspects of things - long</div><div>distance for example - but a period of</div><div>cherry picking followed, wherein the </div><div>most profitable parts of AT&T's businesses</div><div>were picked off. That couldn't work either.</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
> But I take your point more generally.<br>
> The government's current war on the<br>
> private sector is not doing any of us<br>
> much good...<br>
<br>
</div>And Net Neutrality is about escalating that.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>How so? A side comment, capitalism is</div><div>a flawed system as well. Unfettered, it can,</div><div>and always has, led to monopolies. Who will</div>
<div>break them up if the gov't doesn't? Or was</div><div>M$ just another business? Standard oil? </div><div><br></div><div>Alas, a missing piece of capitalism is keeping</div><div>competition going, and competition is the </div>
<div>thing that produces quality and lower prices.</div><div>Few businesses actually want that if they</div><div>can gouge people instead, as the railroads</div><div>did a century and more ago when they were</div><div>the only real game in town.</div>
<div><br></div><div> -- Bob</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 1:56 PM, Dagny Scott <<a href="mailto:parsleyfirefly@gmail.com">parsleyfirefly@gmail.com</a>><br>
> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> When people talk about "enforcing net neutrality," realistically what they<br>
>> really mean is handing over decisions about Internet service over to the<br>
>> United States Government. The same people who have already taken it upon<br>
>> themselves to seize domain names without due process. I don't want to do<br>
>> that. You may have a whole host of good intentions, but it's not like<br>
>> there's one government for seizing domain names and performing warrantless<br>
>> wiretaps and another, Good Person government who will enforce net<br>
>> neutrality. It's all the same guys.<br>
>> Dagny<br>
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