Re: Shovel-ready broadband stimulus

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: May 7, 2009 2:51:06 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   Shovel-ready broadband stimulus

A random, but hopefully stimulating thought:

In telecom, what gets deployed *rarely* succeeds in achieving the  
goals for which it was invented.  ISDN and AIN being an example.   
(another time we can discuss why...)

Instead, the world tends to subvert communications infrastructure.   
ISDN around 1992 became the technology that enabled *dialup* 128kb  
ISPs, rather than "advanced telephony" and low-speed packet services.   
THat is never what the Bells expected from the deployment of ISDN  
switching.  50 Kb lines between academic computer sites, and the  
ARPANET exploited it and made it better.

So perhaps this "broadband" will waste a lot of energy, and is  
targeted *all wrong* (I suspect it is, myself, anyway).  But we can  
take it over and hack it into what it should have been.  It's harder  
to do that now since government want to use the access networks as an  
arm of citizen-control policy.  If we want to be able to keep it  
flexible to discover what it's really good for, we need to resist that  
imposition of policy - often hiding behind claims that the access  
network owner either needs an "incentive" to monetize its customers,  
or behind claims that the access network provides a control point for  
government interests (censorship, surveillance, etc.).


David Farber wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Mike Todd" <miketodd () miketodd com>
> Date: May 7, 2009 12:05:12 PM EDT
> To: <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Shovel-ready broadband stimulus
>
> Dwayne,
>
> I am hoping your much more workable approach gets some reasonable  
> chance of becoming a reality.
>
> Even though the technical aspects do not seem to have a prayer of  
> having a chance of providing some reason to the process, getting it  
> out of the hands of "big money", "big government" and the "political  
> playground" would, at the very least, be a step in a much better  
> direction!
>
> Mike Todd
> President, Mike Todd Associates - www.MikeTodd.com
>
> President, Internet Society Los Angeles Chapter - www.ISOC-LA.org
> toddm () isoc-la org
>
> Founder, Digital Divide Task Force, www.ddtf.org (undergoing updates)
> miketodd () ddtf org
>
> Western Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (Western TAAC)
> Phoenix, Arizona program expansion center
> Western Research Application Center, Viterbi School of Engineering,
> University of Southern California
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
> To: "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 08:14
> Subject: [IP] Shovel-ready broadband stimulus
>
>
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
> > Date: May 6, 2009 2:21:54 PM EDT
> > To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
> > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Shovel-ready broadband stimulus
> >
> > SHOVEL-READY BROADBAND STIMULUS
> >
> > [Commentary] The $7.2 billion broadband stimulus will not achieve  
> > what  it advertises for the US economy. Firms that had been  
> > building rural  broadband networks have reportedly halted  
> > operations, circling back to  Washington. Ultimately, the $7.2bn  
> > will be awarded in "beauty  contests," where bureaucrats examine  
> > competing proposals and make  their picks based on their values,  
> > mood, and whim. A group of 71  economists expert in  
> > telecommunications policy, including two Nobel  Laureates (and this  
> > author), have urged a different approach, "reverse  auctions." The  
> > government would state its performance criteria and  then take  
> > bids, selecting the lowest price offers. The proposal has  only a  
> > remote chance of being adopted because it is both transparent  and  
> > economical. Having to make goals objective and explicit takes the   
> > discretionary political fun away. And assigning rights by  
> > competitive  bidding is like having a fraternity party without any  
> > beer at all.
> >
> > <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/af900dd0-3699-11de-af40-00144feabdc0.html>
> > RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>
> >
> >
> >
> >
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