[PLUG-TALK] The Next Elizabeth Warren Susan Crawford’s crusade against lousy, overpriced Internet providers

Keith Lofstrom keithl at gate.kl-ic.com
Wed May 1 23:11:10 UTC 2013


On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 10:41:45PM -0700, Galen Seitz wrote:
> http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113028/susan-crawford-high-speed-internets-elizabeth-warren#

In a static world, with the same technology forever (like municipal
water) I would spend a lot of effort making sure that the 
infrastructure is not owned by a few monopolists.  If there was
no alternative to monopoly (again, like water seems to be) I
would make sure the public has effective control of the monopoly,
with broad and perhaps international oversight.  Most people
(including Portland voters, vis-a-vis regional water) get too
caught up in the politics of the moment and their own back yard.

The best way for technology to win against the suits is to crush
old technologies with new ones faster than the suits can figure
out what is happening.  Turn their trillion dollar investments
into scrap by replacing them with better and cheaper technologies.

I applaud those who are busting their asses in the Washington DC
circus, primarily because they are distracting the fat cats from
the real battle.  That means the fat cats are watching congress,
not watching the small competitors growing at internet speed to
eat their markets and blow them away.  

By the time the fat cats notice, and drain their bank accounts
buying up their new competition at dollars per penny of intrinsic
value (can you say "Time Warner AOL?"), a new round of competitors
will grow up to cream the ten year old competitors-now-incumbents.
The innovators who busted their asses for a decade have moved on,
either drinking mint julips on their yachts, or starting the next
wave of creative destruction. 

Yes, your outrageous phone rates paid for the techno-entrepreneur's
yachts.  The alpha male CEOs, on the other hand, get to watch their
investments crumble.  In good time, you will be able to buy their
glass-lined trenches for pennies on the dollar.  But by that time,
you probably will want to buy something better.

If you have technical chops, however, you should focus your energy
on new technologies, not distract yourself with a political/publicity
battle against the public relations wizards who p0wn the mass media
and their slavish audience.  Provide technical expertise when needed,
surely, but focus your efforts on creating the Next Big Thing(s).

And rest assured, there will be Next Big Things.  Your inability
to imagine them right-now-only doesn't mean that the other seven
billion of us cannot.  The US contains only 4% of the world's
population, a smaller fraction of its economic growth, and a
diminishing share of the world's brightest technologists.  Work
locally and for the moment, but please think globally and into
the decades ahead.

Keith

P.S. my favorite telecom provider (this week) is Roshan: 
http://www.roshan.af/Roshan/Home.aspx   
That will change soon, as new ones spring up like dandelions.

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993



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