What is Net Neutrality?
Net neutrality is a debate over the future direction of the Internet. NetCompetition advocates continuing a free market Internet and opposes a government-run Internet. Net neutrality advocates activist regulation of broadband prices, terms, and conditions.
Handset Exclusives Drive Growth & Broadband Adoption — Why regulate tech/computer sales?
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:29:53 +0000 Handset marketing exclusives are a pro-competitive wellspring of wireless growth and broadband adoption. Marketing exclusives are also a legitimate, proven and widespread marketing practice that marshals maximum marketing resources for selected, potentially-hot-new-products in order to drive maximum sales and adoption. Pro-regulation proposals calling for the FCC to ban smartphone/netbook marketing exclusives are unnecessary, and also [...]
Comcast-Clearwire 4G Rollout Spotlights Vibrant U.S. Facilities-Based Broadband Competition
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:33:14 +0000 Comcast-Clearwire’s 4G WiMax rollout starting in Portland today, as part of broader national launch this year, is powerful evidence of the vibrancy and dynamism of the facilities-based broadband competition trajectory in the U.S. This latest announcement provides an excellent opportunity to take stock of both the current state of broadband competition in the U.S. and [...]
What If Columbo Investigated Special Access?
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:42:37 +0000 A new coalition of some struggling broadband competitors, NoChokePoints.org, is making claims that the “special access” market is being “choked” by lack of competition and is urging the FCC to reverse course and regulate lower prices for these competitors. “Special access” is basically the business-to-business leasing market of the copper wire connections that link many [...]
Putting the Tech Elites’ Whining in Perspective — Swanson’s new U.S. Bandwidth Boom Report
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:39:24 +0000 Kudos to Bret Swanson’s excellent new research: “Bandwidth Boom: Measuring U.S. Communications Capacity from 2000-2008.” For the first time, it measures and puts into perspective the incredibly explosive growth in American bandwidth capacity since the U.S. began strongly promoting facilities-based broadband competition and Internet infrastructure investment. This research is new and interesting because it focuses on [...]
My House Internet Privacy Testimony — “a consumer-driven, technology/competition neutral privacy framework”
Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:28:31 +0000 Today I testified before a Joint House Subcommittee hearing of the Energy & Commerce Committee on “The Potential Privacy Implications of Behavioral Advertising.” A one-page summary is below and the full testimony is here. Summary Testimony of Scott Cleland, President, Precursor LLC “Why A Consumer-Driven, Technology/Competition-Neutral, Privacy Framework Is Superior to a Default ‘Finders Keepers Losers [...]
Pew Report spotlights robust U.S. broadband adoption
Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:25:33 +0000 Kudos to Verizon’s Link Hoewing for an excellent post highlighting the recently released Pew Research Report, which shows the U.S. continues to make steady, broad, and impressive progress in broadband adoption. This Pew research is another independent evidence point that undermines the manufactured dogma that the U.S. is failing in broadband — dogma artificially designed to [...]
Anti-competition Groups’ Assertion Wireless Industry Not Competitive Ignores Facts & Common Sense
Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:21:53 +0000 In some of the worst sophistry I have seen in a long time, several pro-regulation groups, who obviously oppose competition policy for communications, petitioned the FCC with a classic straw man argument that essentially asserts that because wireless competition is imperfect, its “demonstrably uncompetitive” “and “produces active and ongoing consumer harms.” Any open, transparent, balanced [...]
OECD ranks US #1 in schools’ broadband access
Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:50:40 +0000 In another example of how many have overstated that the U.S. is falling behind the world in broadband, the OECD ranks the U.S. #1 in broadband Internet access to schools, with 97% of all American primary and secondary schools having broadband Internet access per the latest OECD data. A tip of the hat to Rob Atkinson [...]
The National Broadband Plan “Fork-in-the-Road”
Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:10:48 +0000 A scan of the major comments just delivered to the FCC on the National Broadband Plan (which is due to Congress February 2010), spotlighted the big broadband policy “fork-in-the-road” decision that the FCC now has before it. One road of the fork-in-the-road, continues down the road of: Promoting facilities-based competition; Encouraging private investment in a wide diversity [...]
The President Makes Cybersecurity a National Priority — Internet’s Growing Security Problem — Part XII
Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:35:12 +0000 The President’s Cybersecurity announcement 5-29 was a game changer for the Internet. For the first time the U.S. Government officially declared the lack of cybersecurity as the Internet’s biggest problem. It is interesting to note there was instant disagreement with the President’s assessment from some in the Web 2.0 world. Speakers at the Computers, Freedom, and [...]
