Re: On Neutral Networks, settlements and freeconference

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "RJR RJRiley.com" <RJR () RJRILEY com>
Date: March 20, 2007 3:14:34 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] Re: On Neutral Networks, settlements and  
freeconference

Dave,

Why don't one or more of the advocacy groups take legal action?  That  
is the
only way to effectively stop the telcos.

Most certainly there is no love of Telco's in the inventor community  
because
they have a long history of pirating inventions and then abusing the  
process
of law to bankrupt inventors.  In fact, it is such corporate abuse of
inventors which drives them to use contingency litigators, a patent
enforcement company, or to sell their rights outright to such an entity.
When we do this the large corporate bullies when whine about patent  
trolls.
But it is a fact that if they dealt reputably with the inventor in  
the first
place that they would not have to deal with patent infringement actions.
Also, they would pay out a fraction of the money by being reputable.

A good example of this was the RIM v. NTP Blackberry case.  RIM spent  
a ton
of money on public relations and lobbying trying to paint that  
settlement as
an injustice, but there is a reason that it went all the way to the  
Supreme
Court and they received no sympathy.  The reason is that the record  
of RIM's
conduct put them in a very unfavorable light.  The Bottom line is  
that if
they had approached the case with the right mindset they probably  
could have
licensed for perhaps 5 million, but instead they tried to screw the
inventor, were caught in a multitude of indiscretions, and in the end it
cost them over 600 million.  It was all about unbridled egos and what  
I view
as a lack of ethics and morality.

By the way, RIM has themselves in another pickle and management will  
likely
be buying much more personal lube in the not so distant future.
http://wiki.eatoni.com/wiki/index.php/Litigation  God, they are slow
learners.

Ronald J. Riley,

President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.





-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 7:05 AM
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] Re: On Neutral Networks, settlements and freeconference

I agree except .. djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: March 19, 2007 6:39:36 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Re: [IP] On Neutral Networks, settlements and freeconference


Dave,

Brad's discussion about non-neutrality in the public switched telephone
network is technically accurate, but given that major changes in that  
model
are likely to be s-l-o-w in coming -- and for all we know might make  
things
even worse -- we need to concentrate on the current situation -- the
blocking of numbers and services by the cell carriers.

Remember, 99+% of telephone users don't have a clue about telco  
termination
fees and cross-subsidies (other than verbiage buried in bill inserts  
that
are rarely read), just as they're oblivious to the complexities of  
Internet
exchange points and peering.
Rather, they expect phone calls, and Internet connections, to just work.

If the cell carriers don't like the current termination situation,  
they have
every right to complain to the FCC -- and no doubt they'll get a better
hearing and a more sympathetic ear than ordinary consumers ever do.

But for the carriers to simply cut off access to legal services  
because they
don't like the current economics is utterly unacceptable and cannot be
permitted to stand.

The very mindset that leads to such outrageous actions is what causes  
many
observers -- including myself -- to draw comparisons with broad network
neutrality concerns. [ it is a mistake to over generalize . Solve the
immediate problem. Let the FCC show they can stop such actions and  
the need
for other paths diminishes djf ]

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
    - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co- 
Founder,
IOIC
    - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net  
Founder,
CIFIP
    - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on
Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com

  - - -

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Brad Templeton <btm () templetons com>
> Date: March 19, 2007 5:51:32 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: On Neutral Networks, settlements and freeconference
>
>
> I have been surprised to see comparisons of the issues surrounding
> freeconference.com and network neutrality.   In fact, I feel one key
> issue makes the issues at deep odds.
...


-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/@now
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com





-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/@now
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com