[10512] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: bill text draft 2: Telecommunications Competition Act (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Clay Shirky)
Fri Feb 25 21:48:39 1994
From: Clay Shirky <clays@panix.com>
To: jeffgs@netcom.com (Jeffrey Sterling)
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 09:47:53 -0500 (EST)
Cc: bzs@world.std.com, horn%temerity@leia.polaroid.com, com-priv@psi.com,
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.85.9401242224.A25738-0100000@netcom> from "Jeffrey Sterling" at Jan 24, 94 10:42:24 pm
> > For example:
> >
> Industry: Interactive Multimedia
> Major Companies: BellAtl/TCI, USWest/TimeW, ATT/MCc
> Total Market Share (US): I dunno, around 85%?
I would refer you to the D section of the New York Times of Saturday and
Monday which contained articles on the newspaper and magazine companies
are entering interactive multimedia, and yesterdays which detailed Penthouse's
particular experiences in making that move. I would also direct you to the
most recent Wired's article on Sega vs. Nintendo war. Each of these companies
is right in the thick of things, not lapping at the edges of an industry
controlled by big business.
Barry is right; there isn't a core set of monopolistic industries in
interactive multimedia, nor is there one anywhere in the telecomm
industry.
> My thesis is that the cost of bandwidth ought to be dropping in direct
> proportion to the rate at which computers are getting smaller and faster.
[.....]
> Some serious illusions are exist if you can't see there is no free market
> in a world where two corporations control 80% (maybe) of the local loop
> traffic in a totally regulated market and are getting to have their cake
> and eat it too!!!
There are not two corporations which control 80% of local loop traffic.
Furthermore with the recent decision to allow competition for local
phone service and to allow telco's and cable companies to use each others
wires, the market is getting more diverse, not more centralized.
You seem to be engaging in generic anti-business rhetoric, right down to
using vague phrases like "large regulated megacorporations" and making
sure we know you're all worked up by ending your post with three exclamation
points. However, to my mind it undermines your point to see you posting
this argument from a .com provider. The history of commercial dial-up
access to the internet is the best counter-argument to the kind of regulatory
atmosphere you suggest creating, since it has flourished in a few short
years and every year service and user base goes up and cost goes down,
in a very unregulated environment. In fact, the bottleneck to moe rapid
expansion is often the most regulated aspect of any dial-up industry, the
local telco's.
--
Clay Shirky
