Paul Kapustka's Blog
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January 30, 2006
Verizon For Net Neutrality? Don't Believe It
While the headline of this report may give some false hope to Net Neutrality backers, don't believe for a second that Verizon is somehow different from AT&T in its views toward Net Neutrality. Where they are much different is in how they say it.
In terms of smoothness, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is the fist in the velvet glove, while Ed Whitacre is a cowhide mitt grasping a frayed rope. And as a second-speaker, Verizon's Tom Tauke is just as good, able to say things that sound like one thing but mean another.
For instance, in the Drew Clark piece cited above, Tauke says:
"We are trying to work with other players [in the technology and communications industries] to see how we can create the right climate to put market pressure on everyone to abide by the Internet principles."
What that means: Verizon won't block any services. Trust us! But we still think Google should send us bucks, or else... something.
More Tauke, from Clark's report:
But he [Tauke] said Verizon would continue to resist efforts to codify these Internet neutrality principles through legislation.Referring to efforts by the European Union and China to fragment the technical root structure of the unified Internet, and to efforts by China to filter Web content, Tauke said there is a "danger of having governments getting involved in the Internet space."
Ignoring, of course, that one government -- which is supposed to stand for democracy -- created the Internet in the first place. And what he really means is: Government should stay out of the Internet regulation, unless it involves rules to block local Wi-Fi or anything else that might infringe on Verizon's monopoly powers.
The moral? Don't be fooled by how they say it, but instead listen carefully to what they say.
Posted by paul at January 30, 2006 01:48 PM