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[ NNSquad ] "Net Neutrality's New Enemy: The Mythical Mushy Middle" [and my response]


"Net Neutrality's New Enemy: The Mythical Mushy Middle"
(Craig Aaron - Free Press)

http://bit.ly/aXiZzA  (Huffington)

 - - -

Lauren's comments:

Well, I can't help but be somewhat honored by an entire section of the
referenced essay being devoted to criticizing me (apparently) as a
charter member of the New Enemy: The Mushy Middle.

Ironically, my foundational views on Net Neutrality could be viewed as
quite sympathetic to what I believe is Free Press' basic technical
stance, and I'm quite obviously not a proponent of what's widely
understood to be the dominant ISPs' traditional positions on these
matters in general.  

Talk about a strange way to treat your friends on key issues ...

It appears that what has Craig's petticoats all aflutter is
simply my unwillingness to buy into a tactical approach that emulates
among the worst aspects of traditional politics -- rhetorical and
other techniques that have managed to drive parties on all sides of
other important policy issues further apart rather than closer together.

I completely reject such attempts to marginalize efforts to find
reasonable compromise and common ground, efforts that could best serve
the community of Internet users around the world.  

And frankly, Craig's attack on me only serves to solidify my view that
the "no compromise -- take no prisoners -- scream and yell and berate"
approach to these issues may perhaps be useful from a fund-raising
standpoint, but is wholly antithetical to actually moving forward
constructively on these critical topics.

In today's toxic political environment, where Big Lies and
backstabbing have seemingly become the orders of the day, it is
perhaps unsurprising that some pro-neutrality stakeholders have chosen
to apparently embrace the mind-set, methodologies, and rhetoric more
commonly associated with the dark side of politics.

It is still very disappointing, however.

And entirely unconvincing, as well.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance): 
   http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz