[8743] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: One-way Internet?..no, it's "Asymetric"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (barney@databus.com)
Thu Dec 2 18:04:32 1993
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 93 17:42:02 -0500
From: barney@databus.com
To: com-priv@psi.com
>From: Christopher Zguris <0004854540@mcimail.com> (on cable co's)
>
> I think this shows the tendancy to do what is good for them entirely, with
>only secondary concerns for consumers want. Apply that attitude to an
>information superhighway and you get a one-way street with a goal towards
>pushing services you pay for and little else. To expect cable operators with
>this attitude to control the information superhighway in a fair and open
>"two-way" manner goes against everything I've read and seen in their
>actions. I don't have any connections with the cable co's or the telco's, I
>just think the telco's have a better grasp of working as a utility and
>information carrier.
I agree completely. That's because cable co's now operate as regulated
monopolies, and need answer only to local governments, not directly to
consumers, and have no need to compete. My town goes so far as to ban
satellite dishes as eyesores, while of course granting a franchise to
a single cable co. It is for governments such as that the the second
amendment was intended :-).
The issue for me is who will pay for the extra cost of making all services
symmetric. I don't for a minute believe that this extra cost will come
out of the cable co's bottom line. Instead, the price of the service will
be higher, hurting all those who do not themselves need symmetric service.
(And I repeat that asymmetric does not mean one-way.)
EFF, how about some further comments on this issue?
Barney Wolff <barney@databus.com>
