[governance] FW: [Dewayne-Net] Vint Cerf: Internet competition has "evaporated"

[michael gurstein]

Interesting discussion pointed to below... but I'm wondering why
"competition" should be the only legitimate basis for regulation... Doesn't
the public interest extend rather beyond the functioning of the marketplace?

M

-----Original Message-----
From: dewayne-net at warpspeed.com [mailto:dewayne-net at warpspeed.com] On Behalf
Of Dewayne Hendricks
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 1:37 PM
To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Vint Cerf: Internet competition has "evaporated"

Vint Cerf: Internet competition has "evaporated" since dial-up Zero
regulation for telcos could endanger neutrality, Internet co-creator says.
By Jon Brodkin
Jan 8 2013
<http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/vint-cerf-internet-competition-h
as-evaporated-since-dial-up/>

Vint Cerf, co-creator of the Internet, said today he is troubled by the
prospect of companies like AT&T avoiding government regulation after the
transition from traditional phone technology to all-IP networks. Already, he
said, competition was decimated when the Internet moved from dial-up
providers to cable companies and telcos.

Cerf-who made the Internet possible by co-developing the Internet protocol
and Transmission Control Protocol technology 40 years ago-was speaking at
the Consumer Electronics Show's "Silvers Summit" on technology geared toward
the older population. "Some people think silver surfers don't know how to
use technology. I have news for you: some of us invented this stuff," the
69-year-old Cerf noted.

This happened to be just one day after AT&T described its plans to retire
the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network and become an all-IP
telco. As we reported, AT&T wants to make this transition without being
subject to what it calls "monopoly-era regulatory obligations," which AT&T
thinks are unjustified in the Internet age.

Who better to weigh in on that topic than Vint Cerf? He took questions after
his talk, and I got the chance to ask Cerf to address AT&T's plan and
comment on whether he thinks extensive regulation of all-IP telcos is
necessary. Here's what he said:

I'm not allowed to use foul language, right?

My first observation is that it is vital that we maintain openness and
neutral access to the Internet's capabilities. The fact that you can carry
voice over the Internet is almost incidental to the fact that you can carry
any digital content over the Internet. I would not wish to see the question
of regulation turn on the notion that Voice over IP is PSTN or is a
replacement for PSTN. It is a replacement for almost everything we can do,
all of the old network functions can be done on the Internet.

Cerf went on to say network neutrality is important, that we must preserve
the right of Internet users to choose what applications and websites they
are able to access:

[snip]

Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>

 


-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t