Ahhhhhh...
Mr. Brodkin is up to it again...
Talk about a one trick pony!
I took the time to read the actual text of Chairman Pai’s blog about the
pending Congressional hearings, which Jon used as the basis for this misguided
screed.
There was nothing in the blog that suggests that Pai is “pushing for tighter
rules on Google and Facebook,” as suggested in the title of the article. Pai
did raise a number of legitimate questions that he hoped the hearings would
shed some light on. Nothing more.
Pai clearly understands the dual standards at work here. He is not seeking
regulatory authority as his predecessor did with the Net Neutrality decision.
He IS pointing out the disparity between the Internet companies over which he
does have regulatory authority and the lack of regulation of edge providers,
who are clearly abusing their near monopoly powers.
Even Brodkin acknowledges that his article is much ad about nothing, quoting
Matt Wood, policy director of pro-net neutrality advocacy group Free Press:
“No regulatory authority to speak of”And then he undermines his credibility with absurd statements about the market
Pai couldn't impose any major rules on websites even if he wanted the FCC to
do so. "The FCC has no regulatory authority to speak of over edge providers'
practices," Wood told Ars.
Ultimately, Feld didn't think there was much of significance in Pai's blog
post.]
At the same time, it’s important to have a serious conversation about these
issues — not least because these tech giants have come to have much greater
influence over our economy and society. Twenty years ago, Google was a small
startup. Today, its market capitalization is greater than that of Comcast,
AT&T, Verizon, and Charter combined, along with the GDP of Sweden.
No matter how big or small Comcast's market cap is, it is still the nation's
largest cable and home broadband provider and is the only choice for 30
million Americans when it comes to broadband speeds of at least 25Mbps
downstream and 3Mbps upstream.
On Sep 8, 2018, at 1:04 AM, Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ajit Pai does ISPs’ bidding, pushes for tighter rules on Google and Facebook
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/ajit-pai-does-isps-bidding-pushes-for-tighter-rules-on-google-and-facebook/
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