This is the FCC a-hole who will go down in history as the person who killed the net! Can you spell yuppie?

Networking Pipeline – March 22, 2006:

FCC Chief Kevin Martin yesterday gave his support to AT&T and other telcos who want to be able to limit bandwidth to sites like Google, unless those sites pay extortion fees. Martin made it clear in a speech yesterday that he supports such a a “tiered” Internet.

Martin told attendees at the TelecomNext show that telcos should be allowed to charge web sites whatever they want if those sites want adequate bandwidth.

He threw in his lot with AT&T, Verizon, and the other telcos, who are no doubt salivating at the prospect at charging whatever the market can bear.

John has written about this issue in his PC Magazine columns:

You buy the 1.5-Mbps link, it costs a fixed amount. You actually want to use it, it costs more. How about putting a server on it? Nope, you have to pay extra. Can you make a VoIP Skype call? No way, costs more. So you’re not getting a real 1.5-Mbps line at all—you’re getting scammed, in fact.

His pipes? What an egotist. This is so silly it’s ridiculous. It’s wrong on so many levels. Hey Whitacre, take your pipes and close them off. We’ll go with Comcast, or Covad, or independent Wi-Fi. When did you become a gatekeeper? Isn’t the fee people pay for your lackluster connectivity enough for you? In Sweden you get 30 Mbps and IPTV! Here we get 750 Kbps—maybe.



  1. Brady says:

    I would like to mention that the conference he supposedly said this at TelecomNext 06, he was no even present at this year. He has one recorded speech which is available on the conferences website. I’d like to know where what he said is even sourced. All I’ve seen is news sources commiting media incest and quoting each other as “official” sources.

    Why doesn’t John throw some weight around and see if he can get a hard answer on this. He seems to have a fair number of contacts that might know someone that could verify this quote. Just a thought anyways…

  2. Alex says:

    Remember this when you vote this November. Call your congressman and senators, let them know how you feel about this crap.

  3. thatedeguy says:

    Here’s the link for the video if you haven’t seen it up on http://www.supergeekblog.com

    http://podcasts.yahoo.com/episode?s=fa88e89d49dbbdbc77221b561570105a&e=12

    About a third of the way in is where the quote comes from. Notice the interview takes place at CES with Gary Shapiro, not at TelecomNext.

  4. Me says:

    Before the Internet you only heard about Global Warming once in a while. Now you hear about it all the time. The logical conclusion is that the Internet causes Global Warming. Shut down the Internet now before we all die!

  5. Mike says:

    I’d like to break that FCC dweeb’s glasses.

    And then, his neck.

  6. Mr. Fusion says:

    thatedeguy

    Sorry dude, but that link is phony. This blogger does the exact same thing he accuses the other author of doing. First he accuses the original author of inserting editorial comment, which is an accepted journalistic form as long as it is evident. Thenhe says he is quoting Martin, but then turns around and from quotes someone writing about the speech.

    (excerpt from your link)

    …Allow me to paste the entire section of the speech here:

    >However, Martin also added that he supports network operators’ desires to offer different levels of broadband service at different speeds, and at different pricing…

    Unless Martin is speaking in the third person this isn’t a quote. If you have the actual speech then fine, link it, but this isn’t an honest link.

  7. GregAllen says:

    Serious question: Does there only have to be one Internet?

    Could those who don’t want to play b AT&T’s rules start another one?

  8. Joao says:

    Like I said in 10.
    The internet began using the backbones provided by the military. It was needed then because there were not enough computers around to ignite what today is already working on P2P networks.
    Mesh internet. Forget backbones or Hi speed pipes. the combined user installed base of 100T and wireless home or soho networks if put together and some “twist” on the internet protocols to take advantage of redundant paths to route packets can, I´m sure, produce a faster and more resilient internet.
    Hey Mr. “Site Admin” please spin a debate on this subject. I´m sure it will be highly debated…..

  9. Me says:

    GregAllen,

    Even if you manage to create “two” Internets, at some level they have to be “one”. There has to be cooperation within the Domain Naming System or it all falls apart and you don’t have access to the other network.

  10. M. Minor says:

    Yeah.. I think that guy is earning some dimes from Telcos. 😉
    Internet raised free and it must be free forever.
    Sounds like give Internet control to religious fanatics.
    []s.

  11. jake says:

    Mr. Fusion: If you listen to the actual speech, which was at a different conference entirely thatedeguys link is not phony


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