Jim Richardson <warlock@xxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
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> On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:10:28 +0000,
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> __/ [ Jim Richardson ] on Saturday 10 March 2007 17:53 \__
>>
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>>> On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 14:53:57 +0000,
>>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> Study: Abandoning net neutrality discourages improvements in service
>>>>
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>>| "In Japan and Korea, where there is net neutrality and much
>>>>| greater competition among broadband providers than in the United
>>>>| States, there are also higher broadband speeds," he said."
>>>>|
>>>>| Tim Wu, a Columbia Law School professor who is credited with
>>>>| popularizing the term 'network neutrality,' praised the study.
>>>>| "Kenneth Cheng is doing important research on a topic that is
>>>>| vital to the future of networking," he said.
>>>> `----
>>>>
>>>> http://news.ufl.edu/2007/03/07/net-neutrality/
>>>>
>>>> Tiered Web impedes communication and exchange of free software, while
>>>> empowering suppressive or wealthy companies. The Internet grew owing to
>>>> its democratic nature. DRM (even censorship) is another limitation which
>>>> is damaging to exchange of knowledge.
>>>
>>> Roy, the Internet is very much *not* a democracy. Think about it.
>>
>> True, but it does give more peoeple a voice, I think. The barriers to entry
>> are fairly low.
>>
>
> Agreed, but what does that have to do with democracy? :)
>
> It's much closer to a state of anarchy. I hope it stays that way.
> Democracy is just the flipside of mob rule, 4 wolves and a sheep, voting
> on what's for lunch.
I'd have to agree with that, although I'd say that it's particularly
close to communistic anarchy or anarchic communism - I can never recall
which way around you're supposed to say it. Ursula Leguin wrote an
excellent book exploring this kind of government, although it had to be
said, her perspective was never all that positive :-)
Anyway, whichever way you put it, the point is that all the internet's
resources are available to everyone irrespective of their social
position, or, to a reasonable degree, their personal wealth (obviously
there are exeptions). Of course, this access is particularly restricted
by the lack of a scalable and capable streaming protocol, but those
kinds of transaction which do not need streaming are fine.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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