Comments on: My Net Neutrality Debate with Public Knowledge

By: We Need “New York Times Neutrality”—NOT!

We Need “New York Times Neutrality”—NOT! — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:20:33 +0000

[...] My Net Neutrality Debate with Public Knowledge – by Berin Szoka [...]

By: Berin Szoka

Berin Szoka — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:02:39 +0000

Brett, thanks but I'm not in the business of dismissing those I disagree with on the basis of motive. I have no reason to question Art's sincerity any more than he should have to question mine. We have a genuine conflict of visions here and, while I think he's profoundly wrong, I respect him on an intellectual level.

This is a bit like the debate over the role that campaign finance plays in politics. While I'm sure there are politicians whose views follow donations, the causality works in the opposite direction in probably the vast majority of cases: Donors give to a candidate whose views they like. In the case of non-profit advocacy organizations, I'm even more inclined to assume that views are genuinely held and not merely intended to advance the interests of a particular company or sector (although I'm sure that does happen). We get grief at PFF all the time for drawing support from a broad range of companies (including Google), as if all our talk of cyber-libertarian principle were just a smokescreen for prostitution to whatever corporate interest paid us the most. It just doesn't work that way—not at PFF and, I assume, not at PK.

As far as Google is concerned, I think their current support for net neutrality mandates will backfire in a major way for them as the principle of neutrality mandates for gatekeepers who control "access" to a "critical" bottleneck is extended from ISPs to search, etc.

By: Berin Szoka

Berin Szoka — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:02:39 +0000

Brett, I'm not in the business of dismissing those I disagree with on the basis of motive. I have no reason to question Art's sincerity any more than he should have to question mine. We have a genuine conflict of visions here and, while I think he's profoundly wrong, I respect him on an intellectual level.

This is a bit like the debate over the role that campaign finance plays in politics. While I'm sure there are politicians whose views follow donations, the causality works in the opposite direction in probably the vast majority of cases: Donors give to a candidate whose views they like. In the case of non-profit advocacy organizations, I'm even more inclined to assume that views are genuinely held and not merely intended to advance the interests of a particular company or sector (although I'm sure that does happen). We get grief at PFF all the time for drawing support from a broad range of companies (including Google), as if all our talk of cyber-libertarian principle were just a smokescreen for prostitution to whatever corporate interest paid us the most. It just doesn't work that way—not at PFF and, I assume, not at PK.

As far as Google is concerned, I think their current support for net neutrality mandates will backfire in a major way for them as the principle of neutrality mandates for gatekeepers who control "access" to a "critical" bottleneck is extended from ISPs to search, etc.

By: My Net Neutrality Debate with Public Knowledge — Technology … :: Edits.me – Blogging about technology

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:14:49 +0000

[...] off the ‘net and everything else related to technology . … See original here: My Net Neutrality Debate with Public Knowledge — Technology … Categories : Buzz, Tech [...]

By: brettglass

brettglass — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:04:53 +0000

Good job in the debate…. You didn't even bring up the fact that a substantial portion of every paycheck that Art takes home comes from Google… and that his real agenda is to seek advantage for one of the world's richest corporations.