There is a story in today’s Star that continues the discussion of Net Neutrality. Today’s entry cites Tim Berners-Lee, who is called “chief architect of the World Wide Web” and he is said to be ‘very concerned’ about talk from phone and cable companies about their desire to collect tolls from content suppliers.
A couple points come to mind. First off, Berners-Lee may have been the inventor of the Web, but to suggest that there is a ‘chief architect’ implies that there has been an orderly design to the Web and its evolution. I think that the power of the Web has been enhanced by its chaotic evolution. Innovation has been added without the need to work through an office of the Chief Architect.
Which brings me to the concern of charging tolls. My brother once told me that in his first litigation class in law school, the professor said that whenever people come into the office and say “it isn’t the money, its the principle of the thing” that a good lawyer will recognize that it really is about the money.
I just can’t get past the feeling that so many of the free access advocates are just plain cheap. They want someone else (like the government) to pay for their stuff. Whether it is stolen intellectual property like music or movies or software, or government funded fibre.
I wonder if these same people know that supermarkets collect fees for shelf space and companies pay money to have their products placed in movies and TV shows.