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Free the Bits!

Dana Blankenhorn does a great job explaining the real issue behind all the "net neutrality" wrangling. [Link]

There’s a cable silo. There’s a telephone silo. There’s a broadcast silo. There’s a wireless silo. There’s an Internet silo.

Each silo has its own rules. Most have their own taxes. Each has its own monopolists.

The time has come to break up the silos.

Bits are bits. Cable sends digital bits that are turned into TV pictures. Broadcasters are going digital to send HDTV. Telephony switched to bits long ago. Wireless bits are all around us, on both licensed and unlicensed frequencies.

So the time has come for the government, and the market, to treat bits as bits. Since everyone is selling bits, all they really need are incentives to sell more. And since there’s no shortage of bits, there is no longer an excuse for content regulation. Put the power to censor at the edge, alongside the power to explore.

jon posted this at 5:28 PM
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