[governance] Re: Net neutrality on mobiles

[David Allen]

On Aug 10, 2010, at 12:29 AM, McTim wrote:

> All of it misses the point that the telcos have never really been NN
> practitioners, it's just not part of who they are.

Au contraire, the 'common carriage' regimes - those of us old enough  
(for which, read 'ancient') will remember - were strict and pointed.   
A telco - a 'carrier' - simply did not mess with the message being  
transmitted.  This was vital to the democratic role of these 'common  
carrier networks.'  Such common carrier rules intended, among others,  
to prevent intervention by powerful forces, such as governments or  
aggregated corporate power, to block or distort free flow of  
information in a polity.  Does any of this ring true re global policy  
struggles alive to this day ... ?

These traditions however hark back long decades.  The Computer I, II  
and III inquiries in the US (beginning from 1966 with the third  
inquiry finally launched in 1985) were all about computers not being  
allowed to mess with messages as they flowed across the net.  Of  
course in the end, packet switching made that an 'interesting'  
discussion ...

Common carrier rules were entirely rigid in societies like the US  
where, at least once upon a time, the importance of free flow of  
information was hallowed.

Of course today, price has been added as a variable, along with  
arguments for 'free markets.'  The tradition and framework from which  
NN grows, however, is long and strong.

David
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