Net neutrality- the greed and the need The issue of net neutrality has taken on a life of its own; a rallying point, a partisan stick and a measure of devotion to intellectual freedom. While all along it seemed to us, a pragmatic acknowledgement of basic property rights and profit motivations still left the flagon of truth and knowledge more than half full. Any attempt to control content usually results in a great many resourceful people looking for ways around the gatekeeping. A taste for unfettered connections to information and people has grown to the point that any attempts to throttle it would most likely just result in the growth of new networks and technologies.

It also seemed somewhat naive to ever think of the Web as neutral. Great and low forces moved on the Web such that all it ever really offered was the blind justice of the food chain. Suck it up, Web 2.0; not to completely obviate the great forces but sometimes community is just another word for herd.

Oh no, analogy stampede:

As some are running together with the likes of Google, Yahoo and the Christian Right to obtain the protection of law; it is important to remember that there are lions, jackals and other predators ready to latch on to your hind quarters. A law offers scant protection when all it takes is for one person to say that is not my interpretation of the law. And then all the sheep say, if you say so.

There are some wolves under that fleece. What version of a neutral Web is Google offering in China? What sort of designs on intellectual freedom do you think the Christian Right has?  ¶ 5/20/2006 10:08:00 PM