[governance] Internet as a commons/ public good

[Sonigitu Ekpe]

 Global Climate Agency
proposal..pdf<https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BypZottWHzSWV01pa3ZyV3hQUjA/edit?usp=drive_web>
Dear All,

Investors in Internet projects, like any kind of investor, want to make
sure they will get a good return on their investment.

Lets take a look at this attachment and reconsider our statement.

Sea

Sonigitu Ekpe

Mobile +234 805 0232 469    Office + 234 802 751 0179
 "LIFE is all about love and thanksgiving"



On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 7:03 PM, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:

>  ** **
>
> ** **
>
> I can't say if this is what Mawaki meant, but there are many mobile
> Internet services around the world (including mine, Maxis here in Malaysia)
> that give you free or cheaper access to Facebook than to other social
> networking websites. ****
>
> OK, so this is at least a substantive issue, but this is a classic
> nondiscrimination issue that is typically debated in the context of network
> neutrality. It has absolutely nothing to do with the "public goods"
> character of the internet or with "the commons." You do not get any
> traction on that debate by slinging those words around. If you want to make
> a net neutrality statement, make a net neutrality statement, at least
> people will know what you are talking about.****
>
> Also, devices such as phones and game consoles typically allow a
> gatekeeper to approve what apps you can use to access the Internet.  For
> example I have an iPhone, and I want to use a Bitcoin client on it - but I
> can't, because Apple decided I can't; and I want to install a Bittorrent
> app on my PS3, but I can't, because Sony decided I can't.  I presume that
> you have read Zittrain's "The Future of the Internet", which although
> becoming dated now gives many other examples.****
>
> Again, this is a matter of the benefits or costs of the platform operator
> having the authority to internalize the externalities of the internet by
> making decisions about which apps/services can be excluded and which
> cannot. There are two sides to that debate. The platform operators argue
> that they should have editorial discretion; some consumer groups actually _
> *want*_ platform operators to make those decisions; many economists and
> regulators feel that competition among platform operators is enough to keep
> abuses in check. There are various examples of where public pressure has
> ended some arbitrary incidents of discrimination. My purpose here is not to
> take either of those sides, it is to point out that that debate has little
> to do with the "public goods" character of the internet. Nor do I see what
> we contribute to that debate with a vague invocation of "the commons."****
>
> An app platform operated as a "public good" or "commons" would mean what,
> exactly? That it is run by the government/public sector? Or that there was
> no management at all, anyone could put anything on it, including malware,
> phishing exploits, advertising driven stuff, and no one would have any
> right to remove it, even if thousands of consumers complain about it? But
> if there is selection, then who decides what is selected and under what
> criteria? The government? Think that'll be better? Which government? ****
>
> In sum, the policy prescription implied by such characterization is not
> clear. This is still a meaningless statement. ****
>
> Also, we are still lacking evidence that this is a growing problem. 6
> years ago, when I first started studying mobile network neutrality, mobile
> walled gardens were the NORM. Most mobile operators confined you to a
> restricted set of special services they had deals with. The advent of the
> iPhone completed eliminated that model. The mobile internet is far more
> open now than it was then. Where is the evidence of a "growing trend?"****
>
> ** **
>
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