[governance] rights based approach to the Internet

[Milton L Mueller]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Gurstein [mailto:gurstein at gmail.com]
> 
> To give a flavour of a debate yet to come...

Tastes bad. See below

> BUT AS YOU KNOW STATES HAVE MULTIPLE WAYS OF ENSURING THAT THINGS GET
DONE
> OF WHICH DIRECT EXPENDITURE OF MONEY FROM THE TREASURY IS ONLY
> ONE--REGULATION, TAX ABATEMENTS, DIRECTED CONTRACTS, AND SO ON AND SO
> ON...I KNOW THAT THESE OFFEND THE NEO-LIB SENSIBILITIES BUT WHAT THE 
> HECK...

Whether you spend money directly from the Treasury or impose costly
obligations on businesses and people, you are still spending money,
reallocating resources. Failure to understand this is quite dangerous to
a society's health. And we always find out, eventually...the hard way. 

[some ranting and rhetorical b.s. cut]

> THE INTERNET SINCE IT IS SO ATTRACTIVE FROM A
> MARKET PERSPECTIVE WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY CONTINUE TO GROW... AND THERE
IS
> NO NEED FOR "RIGHTS" TO SUPPORT THOSE WHO FOR EXAMPLE ARE ABLE TO PAY 
> OR ARE IN LOCATIONS WHERE, BECAUSE OF POPULATION DENSITY OR VALUE OF
THE 
> CUSTOMER BASE WILL HAVE READY AND LOW COST ACCESS. HOWEVER, AT THE
MARGINS > I.E. THOSE WHO CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY OR WHERE THE MARKET DOESN'T
SEE MUCH 
> VALUE IN PROVIDING A SUPPLY AT A REASONABLE COST IS WHERE "RIGHTS" 
> BECOME EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND WHERE THE INTERNET CAN AND SHOULD BE
"MADE"
> TO GROW.

Ok, so pay careful attention to where we are. The market, you have
conceded, will continue to drive growth for the vast majority of people
and we are only talking about "the margins." (And keep in mind that
technological change and the competitive market can shrink the marginal
areas considerably, so that what was in 1993 unaffordable even for me,
an Assistant Professor in the USA -- mobile phone service -- is now
affordable for everyone in my family, virtually all college students and
a sizable segment of the Chinese and Indian populations. So what are we
arguing about?  

Simply this: I prefer to call the decision to redistribute a reasonable
amount of wealth to people on the margins of the infrastructure to
achieve meaningful expansions of access a "policy". You prefer to call
it a "Right." 

The problem with your approach is that the billions of people who can
afford to pay for access and who are not on the margins might ask why
they need to pay for a "right" that others don't have to pay for. Maybe
the subsidy expands where there is no need for it. That in turn can
undermine the more efficient expansion of access that would take place
naturally. 

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