[opendtv] Re: Chairman Pai blog on bridging digital divide
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2017 07:39:26 -0400
On Jul 18, 2017, at 10:10 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Did you watch the video embedded in the one post?
No. As soon as I saw that the comment was just another attempt to blow up the
Net Neutrality debate I ignored it. It had nothing to do with Pai's blog.
Problem is, Craig, you have always championed anti-competitive solutions, as
I've explained many times. You have always gone for walled gardens,
proprietary systems, vertical integration, non-neutral systems. So the fact
that you want the Internet to go that same way comes as no surprise.
No Bert. I do not champion anti-competitive solutions. What Obama and Wheeler
did with Title II was anti-competitive. It advantaged Internet services like
Google and Amazon over ISPs, who are now subject to the same heavy handed
regulatory regimes we have suffered with for a century.
And the Obama Justice Department went even further, going after Apple to
protect Amazon's monopoly on e-books.
Walled gardens exist everywhere Bert, especially on the Internet. And you are a
huge champion of "walled gardens" or monopolies, IF they APPEAR to be "Natural
Monopolies."
There is NOTHING wrong with vertical integration. Both Windows and MacOS are
"proprietary" operating systems. Apple chose to build both the hardware and
software to improve the end user experience, while Microsoft and Intel created
a reference hardware platform allowing many companies to create PCs; BOTH rely
on third party developers to create the software we use on these platforms.
These were just business decisions, and both have advantages and disadvantages.
The PC is plagued by a wide range of variations in the basic hardware design
that make software development a huge problem for proper testing; this is
aggravated by the fact that the installed base is running five different
versions of Windows software, some more than a decade old.
But that is mostly history now. The desktop PC (and notebooks) have now been
relegated to niche markets where the graphical GUI with menus and pointing
devices are needed to run complex productivity applications...or games.
Mobile devices now rule the roost, with billions of devices is use every day.
Apple's vertical integration, and curated walled garden have proven to be the
superior approach in a world where hackers and malware place our personal data
and privacy in danger. But more important, developers now focus on the iOS
ecosystem FIRST. Forbes recently reported:
Apple reported that its App Store generated over $20 billion in revenue for
developers last year which was up more than 40% year over year.
More important, iOS Apps generate far larger profits for developers because of
the demographics of the users who CHOOSE Apple's walled garden.
As I have pointed out before, the Netflix walled garden has grown rapidly and
is now used by more than 50 million subscribers around the world. But the
revenues from Netflix, HBO and the rest of the OTT subscription services are a
tiny fraction of those generated by the MVPD walled gardens.
And you continue to tell us that "the MVPDs walled gardens" have no
competition, when almost all of us now have at least a dozen choices for TV
entertainment bundles.
I do not have any meaningful way to convince you that I am 100% committed to
the open culture of the Internet, and that I want to protect it from government
overreach. You simply refuse to listen to logical arguments, and believe that
government regulation PROMOTES competition - it DOES NOT.
So you tell us to watch a propaganda video in support of heavy handed FCC
regulation of the Internet.
Everyone, except Craig and self-serving special interests, seems to
understand that market forces don't work when monopolies are at play.
I fully understand this Bert. That is why I keep pointing out that the
perceived need for government regulation of "Natural Monopolies" has caused
EXACTLY what you claim I want.
I have spent time in the K-Street offices of a former FCC Chairman, where
special interests developed a proprietary ATSC digital television standard,
which was already outdated by the time it was deployed. Then mandated by the
FCC to enrich those special interests.
I spent time working with the FCC to educate them about the real digital
transition that has led to the mobile revolution and the Internet we now enjoy.
I have spent time lobbying FCC commissioners and seen the pressure they are
under to keep the special interest that they regulate happy.
I have seen the ease with which these special interests move from one side of
the table to the other, working to lobby the FCC, then becoming FCC
commissioners or Chairmen, then moving back to lobby again.
AND MOST IMPORTANT: I have seen market forces work, only to be replaced by
regulation that protects incumbents and limits competition.
You really should read The Political Spectrum. It might help you understand how
corrupt the entire regulatory system is and WHY we cannot trust it to maintain
Net Neutrality.
It's rather humorous that Craig creates the opposite "good guy bad guy"
definitions of almost anyone else on the planet, but the reality is, there
are no good guys or bad guys. There are only guys looking after their
self-interests. What reasonable people should do is to see what forces exist
to keep all these self-interested organizations honest.
Sadly, the world is filled with bad guys too Bert. Just look at what we hear on
TV every day: Is Putin just a good guy who is looking out for HIS special
interests?
The history of this country, and the economic system that has led to our
prosperity is based on two key things:
The Rule of Law and Competition.
Now we see the political class use the rule of law and regulation to protect
special interests from competition. And we see our prosperity in decline.
If natural market forces exist to keep them honest, GREAT. And they sure do
exist for companies that operate over the Internet.
Sorry, but market forces are not working over the Internet. We are seeing all
kinds of monopolistic behavior unchallenged by the political class, if not
strongly encouraged. We see the FCC attempt to muzzle ISPs so that they cannot
compete with Google and others. We see the Justice Department propping up
growing monopolies like Amazon.
If market forces DO NOT exist, because the companies enjoy a monopoly or
quasi-monopoly status, then something is needed beyond ultra-right-wing
slogans. Seems pretty obvious.
Market forces CANNOT exist when the government choose winners and protects them
via laws and regulations.
Government has to power to bust up monopolies; unfortunately we see governments
creating and regulating monopolies, as formerly competitive industries finance
our elections to seek government protection for competition.
There's a reason that the area where you live, which surrounds our nations
capital, has the highest incomes and some of the highest real estate prices in
the nation. 40% of the Gross Domestic Product of the Untied States now flows
through, or is directed by the politicians, regulators, lobbyists and not for
profit organizations that live in your area.
You work in support of them, as the division of Boeing you work for exists at
the pleasure of these special interests..
I'll buy you a copy of The Political Spectrum Bert. Would you like the hard
copy or the E-book?
Regards
Craig
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