Sunday 28 February 2010

Opening the Internet — with an Axe

Fernando Herrera-Gonzalez has published a great opinion, from the austrian economics and libertarian points of view on the Mises.org web site about the new regulations of the Internet proposed by the FCC.

The whole post is very much worth reading. I'm pasting here the conclusion:
The FCC's policy goal of guaranteeing the openness of the Internet as an engine for innovation and growth might seem appealing.

However, the Internet has played the role of "economic engine" up to this moment without the need of any intervention. The threats depicted by Mr. Genachowski are just not credible. Telecom companies have no incentives to block contents or services, because their business model would suffer even in the face of a possible cannibalization of revenues.

On the contrary, it is the proposed measures that are a serious threat to the Internet. The granting of these legislated rights will only have negative effects for their recipients: If the users demand those rights and they are ready to pay the costs, then there is no need of intervention. If the users do not demand them, then the enforcement of these legally defined rights will lead to the bankruptcy of the operator and thus a lack of service.

Moreover, the obligations of nondiscrimination and transparency will have negative effects on innovation, investment, and prosperity, instead of the positive effects that may be expected from the openness of the Internet.

This is what will happen if the government mandates the openness of the Internet by means of regulatory obligations. If we try to open the Internet with an axe, it is very likely that we will end up destroying it — and investment, innovation, and prosperity with it.

Friday 5 February 2010

Police Want Law to Provide them with easy access to your Private Data

Another Slashdot report:
"According to this story on CNET, police again are pushing for new laws requiring ISPs and webmail providers to store users' private data for five years and also want a new electronic way of speeding up subpoenas and search warrants via police-only encrypted portals at all ISPs and webmail providers."

Microsoft to auction you're personal information?

Slashdot reports:
"Give Bill Gates your 'pictures, videos, documents, e-mail, instant messages, addresses, calendar dates/scheduling information (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, appointments), voice mail, phone logs, RSS feeds, subscriptions, bookmarks, mail lists, project management features, computing device data, tasks and location data,' and he'll improve your 'quality of life.' That's the promise behind a patent issued Thursday to Bill Gates and his 20 co-inventors for 'Personal Data Mining', which Microsoft notes 'can include a monetization component' that 'could initiate an auction to sell information to the highest bidder.'"