[106346] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: So why don't US citizens get this?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dave Crocker)
Sun Jul 27 02:58:17 2008
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:58:03 +0100
From: Dave Crocker <dhc2@dcrocker.net>
To: Fred Baker <fred@cisco.com>
In-Reply-To: <3F238A37-F4F0-4F36-AA24-DF2A56CA4EB3@cisco.com>
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
Reply-To: dcrocker@bbiw.net
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
Fred Baker wrote:
> The key thing in that definition is the lack of government intervention
> in its various forms. That's D'Arcy's point. Where there is government
> subsidy, regulation, or other intervention, it cannot be described as a
> free market.
I have always understood the issue to be the presence or absence of unfettered
competition. Competition is good. It's lack is bad.
Government can be one source of fettering. So can monopolization. So can
post-purchase lock-in. Anything that restricts the ability of the consumer to
make on-going choices for alternate sources of products and services.
Which is to say, anything that alters the incentives of companies to provide
better products at better prices.
We ought to stop saying 'free' and instead say 'competitive'.
d/
--
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net
