Sandhill Trek

Network Neutrality

Four freedoms, four freedoms, and an FCC order.

• To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet , consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice.
• To encourage broadband de ployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet , consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.
• To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.
• To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.

What does Internet mean?

What is "Lawful Content?"

CALEA, Carnivore, and the needs of law enforcement.

Customer Premises Equipment...

Competition

Thanks to Cybertelecom for putting all this information and so very much more at our fingertips!

Russ Feingold

In 2001, when my Senator Russ Feingold did not stand in the way of the Ashcroft nomination for Attorney General, I exercised my right to be disenchanted with him, to criticize his naivete, to oppose him at every turn unless and until he found a way to redeem himself in my eyes.  I have contributed no money to him, I have responded openly and negatively to every questionnaire and survey his office has provided, and I have told his staff that he lost my vote when he voted for Ashcroft.

I am not the only one to have given him this kind of feedback.  We are looking for ethical leadership, a leader with principles.  I'll support Feingold for national office and I'll oppose any Democrat who doesn't support him and his censure motion.  The line is drawn in the sand.  There is no real hope for a Democratic Party resurgence because that party is so hopelessly corrupt and tied to the new American fascism, albeit in a different way from the Republicans.  But there is hope that the people can begin to turn this big ship of state before it is beached on the sands of economic ruin, or worse.  There is hope that we can return to clarity regarding government and community, that we can understand anew why we organize a government for public good, and who has the public good in mind.

Respect Russ Feingold.  And you might want to catch the clip of Feingold and Jon Stewart at One Good Move.

Bush/Gonzales to review Delaration of Independence

The Freeway Blogger notes the following:

(AP ) Washington DC: Key provisions of the U.S. Declaration of Independence are currently under review by the Bush administration, according to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"We are studying the document with an open mind and absolute respect for the authors' intent." he announced today in a morning press conference. "Let me assure you that this President considers the Declaration of Independence to be the very bedrock of American democracy. However, given the seriousness of the threats facing our nation today, it would be a forfeiture of our duty not to reconsider some of its more outmoded provisions."

Weinberger Correction

David Weinberger has an error in his post today regarding the latest Pew Research Center poll on Presidential Approval.  When Pew asked voters to say what word comes to mind when they think of President Bush many more people thought incompetent, idiot, or liar before they thought of honest.  But David says, "Note that when stupid is added to idiot, it becomes the top choice by a wide margin."  Not by my calculations David!  I find that incompetent still squeezes out stupid idiot, if only by a narrow margin.  Do the math...

Bitch Globally, Act Locally...

The emergence of a dominant and repressive ideology is the biggest threat to human welfare on this planet since the plague years of the middle ages.  The ideology is all the more dangerous for its lack of a label more descriptive than "Globalization."  In the twentieth century three big ideas fought it out to determine which set of national values would dominate.  Communism, capitalism, and national socialism each took the stage in a competition for the hearts and minds of the people.  (And was it Lyndon Johnson who said "When you have them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow?")  Whatever...

In fact the Nazi paradigm won out, but given the excesses of World War 2, public relations affirmed the need for a certain amount of repackaging of the peculiar alliance between corporate wealth and big national governments.  Voila, the multinational corporations and "globalization."  But let's step back from name calling.  It's tasteless at best to compare common criminals like Ken Lay and Dick Cheney with competent administrators like Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco.  Wait... that may not have come out right.

Here's the point...  today Dan Gilmor encourages us to write our congressvolken regarding the AT&T buyout of Bell South.  I'm here to tell you that a letter to congress is spit in the ocean.  However, we do have a chance to affect the local market.  During the nineties the Wisconsin Public Service Commission was emasculated by ideological buffoonery in the guise of free market economics, but the PSC is the agency that can make a difference in terms of services and rates and market control in my community.  Working to strengthen the Wisconsin Public Service Commission's role in public utility regulation and governance is where I can be most effective.

So sure, I'll register my concern on a macro scale with the Democrats who represent me nationally - Baldwin, Feingold, Kohl.  But I'll also be working to see that a regulatory framework is restored that will prevent the excesses of multinational corporate greed from spoiling the place where I live.  And I have to work to grasp an understanding of just what a government of, by and for THE PEOPLE means, as distinct from a government in partnership and service to large corporate bodies.

Breaking the cycle of dumb...

Madame Levy shares a link to Frank Zappa's congressional testimony...

GOP Adoption Ban Proposed

John Nichols reports today Ohio State Senator Bob Hagan's progressive bill to outlaw Republican adoptions...

"Credible research exists that strongly suggests that adopted children raised in Republican households, though significantly wealthier than their Democrat-raised counterparts, are more at risk for developing emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, an alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves, and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities.

"In addition," the Democrat noted, "I have spoken to many adopted children raised in Republican households who have admitted that 'well, it's just plain boring most of the time.'"

Diane Farsetta on media ethics...

A year ago, Dan Gillmor appeared via phone on Madison's WORT community radio station talking about his book, "We the Media."  Diane Farsetta hosted the show, and she had me in the studio with her providing a little local blogger color.

Today on Alternet I noticed a reference to a recent Sandhill post.  That made me happy, but I was happier still at the company I kept there...  Diane Farsetta, was quoted extensively regarding media ethics.

I haven't seen Diane since October at the UN Day banquet here in Madison, but her picture in the Alternet posting reminded me of what a good and true person she is.  I am so proud to know her.

Internet Freedom

[Comments closed here.  This post and the conversation has been moved to Listics. -fp-]

I listened-in on a conference call yesterday featuring a panel that included Lawrence Lessig, Mark Cooper, Jeff Chester, and Ben Scott. Here's what I came away with:

A battle of Star Wars proportions rages around us and we, the people, the consumers of Internet services at the edges of the net don't even know it.  I'm not sure who plays Yoda, but the four panelists on yesterday's call are certainly among a ragtag band of Jedi knights who have our best interests in mind.  The forces of "the empire" have several faces and a monolithic interest in controlling content.  They include both cable and telephone companies, companies like Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, Bell South, Charter, Verizon, and Qwest.  While the giant cable companies and telcos battle each other for the broadband market, we - the consumers - are likely to get trampled.

An alarm must be sounded, a wake-up call to Americans who are in danger of sliding even further into a second class swamp of deteriorating end-to-end service while Europe and Asia using a model of network neutrality provide ever faster on-ramps and cheaper and better transport than we expect.

What would it be like to have a metered Internet, an Internet where every data packet that leaves your house is inspected before it is delivered to the end-point?  The capability for metering is in place and the telcos are promoting it as a "Quality of Service" initiative.  The argument is seductive.  The sequence of packet delivery for audio and video is important.  Why not prioritize them on an express track and put all the email spam over on a siding while the media content goes roaring through?

I'm afraid some babies will drown in that particular bath water.  If we give the telcos and the cablecos gatekeeper privileges, if we allow packet inspection, then we will see services blocked.  Why should SBC allow Skype or Vonage service through its pipes if it can block that service and require you to use the SBC voice services?  Content will also be "managed."  If the bandwidth providers can block your access to a website, if they can sideline the delivery of a message from your computer to my computer, then they will be limiting free speech in a terrible way. 

Sascha Meinrath asked "What are the critical battles?" and Yoda  umm, Lessig said that step one is to fight for Network Neutrality principles.  Step two, and also of critical importance, is to influence the government to turn over a meaningfully large chunk of unlicensed broadband radio spectrum for wireless broadband access competition.

The rest of the world is pretty much united in imposing Network Neutrality principles, but in the United States there is a trend toward empowering the owner of the network with control over the content.  There is, in other words, no longer a principle of regulating a common carrier.

If you're still reading, then it's likely you have more than a vague interest and understanding of all this.  In that case, you might find the following post rewarding.  In it, I offer you a chance to go to Washington DC and get deeper into just what Freedom to Connect actually means.

ment

Freedom to Connect

This is the second of two blog posts, posted here first so it will appear consecutive to the first of the two which I must post second in a bloglike manner.  (i.e.  see above)...

David Isenberg thanks me for writing about F2C:Freedom to Connect and offers this opportunity:

"...here's the deal: Friends of Frank Paynter's Blog are entitled to a special deep discount $295 (vs regular early bird $595) if they register by February 28."

[Disclosure:  While there isn't a dime in it for me and I am paying my own way to this event, I do my best to cultivate cordial, indeed friendly, relationships with David and a number of other people whose work overlaps my interests.  This is also called sucking up.  And, while the phrase "my interests" might be inferred to mean something financial, you shouldn't interpret it that way because that is so mundane, really...] 

To get the special deep discount for Freedom to Connect, register at http://pulver.com/f2c with Priority Code FOBDL

The current speakers list includes
     * Jonathan Askin, General Counsel, pulver.com
     * Jim Baller, Founder, Baller Herbst Law Group
     * Rick Boucher, Congressman, Democrat, Virginia
     * Drew Clark, Senior Writer, National Journal
     * Mark Cooper, Research Director, Consumer Federation of America
     * Cynthia De Lorenzi, CEO, Patriot.net
     * Ed Felten, Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs, Princeton University
     * Dewayne Hendricks, CEO, Dandin Group
     * Dave Hughes, CEO, OldColo.com
     * Reed Hundt, Principal, Charles Ross Partners
     * David Isenberg, Principal, Isen.com
     * Jeff Jarvis, Creative Director, Advance.net
     * Jim Kohlenberger, Executive Director, The VON Coalition
     * Bruce Kushnick, Chairman, Teletruth
     * Om Malik, Editor, GIGAOM.com
     * Rick Ringel, Dir. of Engineering, Media Applications Grp., Inter-Tel
     * Doc Searls, Senior Editor, Linux Journal
     * Ron Sege, CEO, Tropos
     * Clay Shirky, Professor, Interactive Telecommunications Program
     * Gigi Sohn, President, Public Knowledge
     * Esme Vos, Founder, Muniwireless.com
     * David Weinberger, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
     * Frannie Wellings, spokesperson, Free Press
     * Tim Wu, Professor, Coumbia Law School