Like the digestive effects of my Superbowl chicken wings, the issue of Net Neutrality just won’t go away [stay tuned next January for my recipe for wings]. And like my wings, I’ll bet you can’t help but come back to this issue for more!
xchange magazine has staked its turf in the battle, and it appears to be more to the right than even I would venture. As part of the magazine’s e-book series, there is a piece of propaganda that confuses Net Neutrality and Fair Use in a free download.
Part of the nature of independence in my consulting is my willingness to take shots at either sides of an issue – awarding darts and laurels where appropriate. There is cause to present both types to each both side of what should be a more serious discussion of a reasonable set of operating rules for compensation for use of private assets that make up the global network.
Apparently, some network operators, looking for a catchy term for their position on the issue of net neutrality have hijacked the term ‘fair use’ from the copyright dialog. As we have written before, the issues are related, so I am somewhat concerned that using ‘fair use’ to refer to the antithesis of net neutrality will do nothing more than add more confusion to an already difficult discussion. Dart to the service providers. Get better marketing and be sure to distance yourselves from this piece in Xchange!
We’ll be hearing more at The Canadian Telecom Summit on this issue.