From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Tue Dec 14 2004 - 19:09:33 GMT
Hi Arlo,
You're not interrupting; this is an open discussion, and your ideas
are welcome along with anyone else's, and I'm sure Sam feels the same
way.
I haven't been able to give this thread the the attention it
deserves, being busy with the UQP discussion. I think I can handle
Sam over there, but might need your help here, so have at it.
I'll try to make a proper contribution soon.
Best,
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
--
InfoPro Consulting - The Professional Information Processors
Custom Software Solutions for Windows, PDAs, and the Web Since 1983
Web Site: http://www.infoproconsulting.com
"The shadows that a swinging lamp will throw,
We come from nowhere and to nothing go."
On 14 Dec 2004 at 12:11, Arlo J. Bensinger wrote:
Sam, Mark,
Just a brief comment...
Sam wrote:
> I think the issue here is about who gets to decide what counts as
> 'the highest
quality use of the
> public airwaves'.
I know this is little off what your point is, but I'd interject that
the issue is to whether or not "public airwaves" exist, or if all
bandwidth should be open to commerical purchase.
There is already a balance, the FCC has 'reserved' certain bandwidth
for public use (shortwave radio, etc), and has allocated other
bandwidth for commericial purchase. However, the conservatives are
irked that even a small allocation exists for "public use", and have
moved repeatedly to force the FCC to commercialize ALL bandwidth.
(The
same way they are irked that "public lands" exist, and are repeatedly
on record seeking to commercialize federal parks).
Underlying this is the naive belief that corporations, if given
control of ALL airwaves, will respond to "what people want", but
bandwidth in the public commons will result in "the government
deciding what people listen to". For a great review of the stifling
effects of corporate control on DQ (the author, of course, does not
call it DQ but innovation) read "The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the
Commons in a Connected World" by Lawrence Lessig.
What's funny is that the conservatives (who, unlike the liberals,
don't protect us from ourselves) have also repeatedly moved to
strengthen government's control over broadcast content (witness the
Howard Stern debacle). So I think we need to be real careful when
asserting that one side philosophically favors no-government control.
It is, in this case, an argument over government ownership, and not
government control.
Okay, didn't mean to interrupt...
Arlo
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