Eric Reasons

The courts said today that the FCC doesn't have the jurisdiction over the Internet that they claim to, and Comcast is off the hook for packet-filtering BitTorrent traffic . Jeff Jarvis fretted thusly in response: Here’s the rub: On the one hand, I do not want government regulation of the internet. On the other hand, I do not want monopoly discrimination against bits on the internet. I see it as a principle that all bits are, indeed, created equal. But how is this enforced when internet service is provided by monopolies? Regulation. But I don’t want regulation. But… That is the vicious cycle of the net neutrality debate. I completely share his sentiment, but I am far from equating these two sides (government vs. business). Here's why. Depending on where you live, ISPs may be a monopoly, an oligopoly, or a dynamic and competitive market. Government, however, is by definition, always a monopoly. I'll take my chances with the market until we start seeing some real abuse...

Dennis Yang posted " If Amateur Photographers Are As Good As Professionals, Then We Can All Be Professional Photographers " over at Techdirt recently. It's a nice article and well worth a moment of your time to read. When I Buzzed the article , I got a comment that's really worth addressing from a friend and (quite skilled) amateur photographer. He says: While this is true in some senses, it really only affects the middle to lower tier of talent. Just like in any other medium where technological advances have lowered the bar to entry to fields that were once the preview of only "professionals", having access to professional tools and getting professional results are not the same thing. [...] Creative talent, in many cases, is still a "get what you pay for" field, whether the masses have access to the same tools or not. He's correct, and this is the real crux of the Information Revolution, and how it impacts our culture and economy. *** On one h...