AT&T and Verizon are the enemies of America.
That is the reluctant conclusion today of Gordon Cook, in The Cook Report, a vital piece of work you owe it to yourself to read. Because in just a few minutes, Cook will tell you why that is so.
In this he quotes Vint Cerf, now with Google, who testified before the Senate on network neutrality last month:
The Internet has become an immense catalyst for economic growth and prosperity, in this country and around the world. However, our nation is risking the
loss of that catalyst, just when the broadband era should be creating the most benefits for the most people. Allowing the interests of network owners to shackle the Internet could severely undercut our nation’s ability to compete effectively in the global market. We must do all we can to
preserve the fundamental enabling principles of the Internet: user choice, innovation, and global competitiveness.
But Cook’s ultimate conclusion is scary. It may be impossible to halt the Bell-cable duopoly, at least in the short term. But change is occuring below:
Consider the similar point of view of Level 3 regulatory attorney, Erik Cecil who commented on February 7. "Be like the valley of the universe – accept all – and all that you require will flow to you. Be like water & do not complain of the rocks that impede your path; flow around
them and sing a sweet song while you do. This is not pollyanna – this is how I sometimes crush ILEC witnesses on cross exam. Come see me in
hearing on cross sometime. Zen lawyer? Don’t know; don’t care; it just works."“Rocks in the way or pools of opportunity? Incumbents are converting
an abundant resource into a scarce one. OK. Let’s see, deregulate the services, drive prices way up. So, less regulation equals less market
insulation and, well, let’s see, you’ve driven the price of an abundant, cheap resource (bandwidth), uh, up? Deregulated market failure – sometimes this equals a big huge opportunity.”How ironic that the companies that are the most determined not to listen
to these insights now own the Internet and will do their damnedest to prevent the rest of us from moving forward.
In the end you can’t stop monopolists at the top of the economic pyramid. The only way to win is by going underneath, undermining them from below.
The hope is America has time to do this.
