[ NNSquad ] Re: Mr Rogers on Externalities... was "Captain Kangaroo" on File Sharing

["Dan Doyle" <dan.c.doyle@gmail.com>]

Your road analogy is flawed and leaves out important details about the
nature of the roads. After all, download/upload speed is asymmetrical
so your road analogy should have big roads in one direction with a
tiny road in the opposite direction. It is this assumption that is
flawed and non-neutral in the first place that creates externalities.

Mr Road Owner recognizes that because the market is embracing Mr
Torrent's novel delivery system and Mr Road Owner deliberately created
a tiny upload road, this is creating "congestion". So, Mr Road Owner
illegally stops vehicles on his road to illegally inspect the contents
and discriminate Since Mr Road Owner created the tiny road for his
benefit, how is this not an externality passed on to me and my
neighbors? If Mr Road Owner wants to develop his own premium traffic,
as many Road Owners seem to want to do, this will compound the problem
since Mr Road Owner is not going to let his premium traffic suffer
from congestion.

In addition, Mr Road Owner is saying that I cannot use Mr Torrent's
services which seems to be another negative passed on to me as my
choice is now limited to someone else's discretion/blessing.
Furthermore, why is Mr Road Owner dictating to the market what can be
in the market or what can grow the market? That is an externality
passed to our economy and the Internet from Mr Road Owner.

The lesson is simple: externalities create conflict. Especially
externalities that are created based on non-neutral and flawed
assumptions about the Internet. There is the externality of limiting
my choice and violating my privacy. There is the externality of
slowing innovation to adapt to changing traffic patterns because money
is spent on technology to preserve the status quo. There is the
externality of dictating to the market that it cannot grow itself in
new and innovative ways without being blessed by Mr Road Owner. I
would say those costs dwarf the benefits that Mr Road Owner enjoys
from keeping a tiny upload road that creates artificial scarcity.

So, now you understand neighbor, why neighbors need to stand together
to prevent Mr Road Owner from shaping our behaviors in his image,
dictating our choice, violating our privacy and creating a detriment
to the growth of the Internet and our economy.

So please open up your roads Mr Road Owner, unless you want neighbors
to band together and decide that roads will be neutral and fair. After
all, it is at the luxury of the neighbors that a private industry
exists at all to be a road owner.