Convergence cont.
Things I heard yesterday at CDT (this isn't an attempt to capture the thrust of the conversation, just to note some interesting assertions that I want to follow up on):
1. that the U.S. Post office attempted twice to claim that they had exclusive rights to deliver “mail” and that they should be in control of email. Looking for details.
2. that it would cost less to deploy fiber to everyone in America than to buy a new car every 15 years for each household.
3. that it would a good idea to require all ISPs reaching certain benchmarks (size of pipe, number of points of presence) not to depeer, and that in general it would be a good idea to abolish ISPs' ability to depeer based on asymmetry of traffic.
4. that companies offering everyone tiers of connectivity actually provide all subscribers with the highest tier, but charge the group asking for it specifically (”I want the highest level of bandwidth!”) more.
5. that all of the most subtle prioritizing techniques are possible, but no one knows whether they'll actually be used. And we can't tell whether they're being used now or not.
More generally, it seems clearer to me all the time that all the claims to exclusivity and specialness made by particular communications modalities don't fit reality. (”We're cable and we own our pipes.”) I don't understand how the user will tell the difference. It will just be a broadband connection to a sea of digital data, organized by entrepreneurs and groups into meaningful patterns with which we'll want to interact.
I'm still in motion (today in New Haven) and looking forward to getting back to NYC this afternoon. TMobile isn't letting my mail go out of this Starbucks. The cellular story is the worst part of this whole picture.
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