[ NNSquad ] Re: Dave Farber Warns Against Net Neutrality (Washington Post)I

[Vint Cerf <vint@google.com>]

Dave,

I think some very serious effort is underway at FCC to be much more  
precise about what is meant and measurable about the notion of  
transparent and non-discriminatory service. I agree that clarity is  
important here.  I think it is possible to achieve clarity and that it  
is important that we attempt this because to ignore the problem space  
is to leave the users very much at risk.

vint

On Sep 26, 2009, at 4:42 PM, David Farber wrote:

> Vint,  believe you misinterpret what I said in writing and  
> interviews. I have never said that regulation is not good. What I  
> have said is that hazy  and ambiguous terms that have been used on  
> dangerous to innovation.  Suppose you were about to build a new  
> building and the regulations said it should be "reasonable", "open",  
> "fair". An architect attempting to design such a building would face  
> a very confused task. You may have the building  mostly built  and  
> then find that your assumptions about what these terms mean were  
> wrong. You may face lawsuits by your neighbors over what these terms  
> mean as well as facing the need to sue the city etc.
>
> The bane of many such regulations is that all it does is to slow  
> down innovation and create jobs for lawyers.
>
> I'd be happy to join a SMALL group which attempted to create a set  
> of principles and a framework for regulation which avoided these  
> pitfalls.
>
> Dave
>
> I have said often that leaving the future of the Internet to the  
> Congress is even more dangerous. Witness the 96 act and what it did  
> to the CLECs.
> On Sep 26, 2009, at 7:51 AM, Vint Cerf wrote:
>
> I think Dave's position, which is largely unchanged, is that  
> regulation is never right. Plainly, I disagree here and believe that  
> it is entirely possible to establish a fair framework in which it is  
> not necessary for broadband service providers to do anything more  
> than manage congestion and allocation of capacity in a fashion  
> commensurate with the service level to which the users have  
> subscribed.
>
> vint
>
> On Sep 25, 2009, at 10:43 PM, Lauren Weinstein an architect
> > Dave Farber Warns Against Net Neutrality (Washington Post)
> >
> > http://bit.ly/uAC2i  (Washington Post)
> >
> > --Lauren--
> > NNSquad Moderator