Telecom Plan To Take Over the Internet Isn't Real 89
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the well-color-me-fooled dept.
from the well-color-me-fooled dept.
wiredog writes "The Telcos' Secret Anti-Net Neutrality Strategy is actually a student project. The 'No Net Brutality' campaign idea was one of the four finalists created as an assignment for a two-and-a-half week 'think tank MBA' program. The other finalists were a project promoting free speech in Venezuela, one supporting education reform in Poland, and one dealing with sales tax rates in Washington, DC. ('No Net Brutality' came in third. The Polish reform idea won.)"
ThinkProgress responds (Score:4, Informative)
Response (Score:3, Informative)
Doesn't anyone remember when this started? (Score:5, Informative)
Doesn't anyone remember when this first started? We had everyone from the ACLU to the Christian Coalition jumping up and down and saying that the plan by major ISPs and telcos to hijack big web pages unless they were paid not to was flat-out intolerable. We were united.
Then came the lobbyists.
They started with the question, "What are you going to do about it?" And then we got split into market-based solutions (boycotts) and regulation, with neither side seeing eye-to-eye. Next, they tried to redefine "Net Neutrality." When we made it, what we meant by it was, "Don't hijack our web pages!" But they said "Neutrality? They want some kind of Communist equality! We can't use QoS any more or make our networks better!" And now, most people think in terms of their version of "Net Neutrality." They assume it's like the Fairness Doctrine and that it means the government would regulate the content of web pages or some other crap.
Doesn't anyone else remember when this started? Before the lobbyists split this into a conservative/liberal issue? Back when we all agreed that having ISPs hijack popular websites unless bribed not to was a terrible thing?
Because I do. And I feel like the only one.
Yeah right... (Score:3, Informative)
that's exactly what THEY(1) want us to believe.
(1) Replace with favorite conspiracy group (Illuminati, aliens, The Man,...)
Oh, Declan, you reactionary libertarian whore (Score:4, Informative)
The "Think Tank MBA" contest is not affiliated with any school or MBA program, but is run by a right-wing advocacy organization. The contestant in question is not even a student, but is an employee of another right-wing advocacy organization.
To think, I used to read that moron's old blog. I guess I've grown up since then.
Re:Nice cover story. (Score:5, Informative)
So this was a grassroots Astro-Astroturfing?
Wow mindblowing.
This was a "weather balloon". The *IAA posse is still behind this. If I was going to try something like this I would have students try it first.
BTW, netbrutatlity.com was registered by freedomworks.org [slashdot.org], which sure doesn't look like a student project.
Sounds feasible (Score:1, Informative)
Domains are practically free. A few dollars. Hosting is (if you at first assume it to be only a small project site that doesn't require above 99.9% reliability) practically free. Even a student can easily skip one night out and spend the same money for such a site. (Or - if he has friends studying CS who are willing to lend him some extra space on some server - they might get the hosting for free)
Now, assume you like to dabble with computers (which is a given for someone who would make a project around that concept), are getting closer to graduation and want to make a small portfolio. Project sites like that seem like a great investment, especially if you enjoy the time spent working with them.
I haven't RTFA (this is /., after all) and I haven't even followed the subject enough to know what this Telecom plan would have been all about. Even so, spending the handful of dollars and a few hours to build a site around some project about which you are proud seems like a completely normal thing to do for a modern student.