What if …?

An article by Navarrow

The last few days have seen the best and worst of the Net Neutrality debate.

First, I encourage you to watch this video on CNET – http://cnettv.cnet.com/net-neutrality/9742-1_53-50091412.html?tag=mncol;2n . You will see two experts do a superb job summarizing the Net Neutrality issue. You may not agree with every point (I didn’t), but you will have a far better grasp of the topic. I do agree with Maggie Reardon of CNET and author Larry Downes that the issue has been unnecessarily “politicized.” There is no evidence that ISPs might attempt to control content over their networks; in fact, there are tremendous disincentives in place to discourage and prevent that from happening. The duo also a good job of outlining the proposal that Google and Verizon has offered toward a compromise.

Meanwhile, precisely while the CNET interview was taking place, there was a rally at Google’s headquarters by activists and their recruits to protest the Google/Verizon proposal. This episode is described by a journalist embedded with the protesters http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/the-siege-of-google.ars, It is obvious they were grandstanding, at least as well as 50 or so people could do. Check out this, for example:

“We had a bunch of papers which had, like, talking points so that we could all be on the same page,” explained the net neutrality activist leaning over the front seat of our chartered bus. “But we can’t find them.” Laughter erupted from the rest of the vehicle. Nobody cared. It was Friday afternoon. And after all, this was San Francisco, where two or more people being on the same page about anything is a misdemeanor.

I write this blog post after a long week, and these two examples of discourse leave me wondering: What if every ounce of energy, every creative brainstorm session, every dollar, every speech, every rally, every minute that has been devoted to the pseudo issue of Net Neutrality could instead have been aimed at the all-too real problem of broadband access in America’s inner cities, small towns, and low-income neighborhoods? What if?