Mike Godwin sez
In order to get to a world in which free markets can meet our demand for high-bandwidth connectivity, we have to dig ourselves out from the market-failure position we're in now. And because government is part of the problem, changing government policy is part of the solution. So, that's one of the major thrusts of EFF's NII policy.
As I understand it, for both telephones and cable TV, it is still common for local governments to "grant" "franchises" to single companies for phone and cable wires. If there were one thing to change, that would be it. In other words, the "market failure" you're talking about is in a situation where the law forbids a market. And the change required is that the government not be involved. It would be nice if that were how EFF stated its NII policy: Yankee Go Home. Also, isn't the FCC is somehow involved in defining cable and telephone services, and what combinations of services companies are allowed to offer? Or am I thinking of "information providers" vs....something? Here again, the limitation is merely in what's legal. -fnerd@smds.com quote me -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a aKxB8nktcBAeQHabQP/d7yhWgpGZBIoIqII8cY9nG55HYHgvtoxiQCVAgUBLMs3K ui6XaCZmKH68fOWYYySKAzPkXyfYKnOlzsIjp2toust1Q5A3/n54PBKrUDN9tHVz 3Ch466q9EKUuDulTU6OLsilzmRvQJn0EJhzd4pht6hanC0R3seYNhUYhoJViCcCG sRjLQs4iVVM= =9wqs -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----