Free Internet, and a side of government regulation please
Everyone likes free stuff.? And apparently lately the government likes giving stuff away.? So it seems like it’s a good fit.? On Dec. 2nd, the FCC decided that they would consider giving free Internet away.? And by “give away free Internet,” what they meant was forcing?the corporation with the winning bid to pay for it.? The?public spectrum soon to be available after the HDTV switch in February will be up for grabs mainly for cell companies looking for new spectrum to place their wireless broadband networks on.? The proposed regulation would dictate that any company that won spectrum would have to set asside parts of it for free network.
Now let’s step back and think about this for a second.? This is a Republican appionted individual that wants to tell a free market company what they can or can’t do with a spectrum that they would have won in a gigantic lottery (read: tax) bidding war with other companies.? Some company wins (pays) for the spectrum and then gets the privelidge of having to build and support a free broadband network.? What?? I’m all for someone providing free Internet.? When Google tried to do it in San Francisco though, all the big boys went to the FCC and cried about competition.? Is this Karma??
In all seriousness though, a lot of people out there do indeed need Internet access and it is not affordable to them.? And Internet access may benefit them a great deal.? But there are a heap of problems here.?
Does the company manage the free network as well as networks their real customers are paying for?? Does it run as well? If not, is it even worth it, or a shill to meet a useless government regulation?
It would most certainly raise the prices of paying customers as they have to cover the costs of the company building a network for freeloaders.? Socialism?? Getting a little board of it.
Why would the paying customers continue to pay if they discover the free network and it is a decent alternative?? And as for those that have a genuine need to use a free network, what incentive do they have to start paying for service when they reach a point in their lives to be able to afford it instead of continuing to abuse the system and everyone else that is having to pay for their own network and the free one?
In addition to these pontifications, some of the wireless companies are babbling on about getting interference from a side-by-side free network.? This is much like picking up a downed enemy in GOW2 and using them as a shield until they are shredded away.? i.e. deflection.? The only real concern here that is probably justifiable is coming from the Net Neutrality people.? Any free network would be regulated by the FCC to filter certain content.? This would obviously have to be done.? You can’t be the US Government out on the net providing access to freebie porn and whatever else.? There would have to be some moral/ethical business standards simply because of Unky Sam having a hand in the thing.? But anything that has to do with filtering Internet content even puts those of us still skeptical about heavy handing Net Neutrality regulation to shivering in our cold winter DC beds at night.
I personally don’t think any of this will happen as there will be some change over at the FCC fairly soon, and the votes just won’t be there to make this a factor for bidding.? But just the same, I think this is something I would advise the FCC just washing their hands of and walking away.? You’d simply just be bringing a nightmare on yourself.
-nick
