progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

The Telmarc Group
PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC
INTELLECTUAL
But some basic values have to be preserved. For example, the market system depends on
the rule that you can't photocopy money. Democracy depends on freedom of speech.
Freedom of connection, with any application, to any party, is the fundamental social
basis of the Internet, and, now, the society based on it.”
Thus, when we look at the issue of Net Neutrality, perhaps knowing who is the advocate
for whom is an essential factor to be included in understanding how to weigh what has
been said. Berners-Lee it appears is a broker of truth based upon facts and he is
advocating for the Net qua Net. The others as attorneys deal with the law which in most
cases is a backward looking process. The law is precedent at best and promoting your
clients views at worst.
2.4 THE THINK TANKS
The collection of Think Tanks which have erupted in the telecom and media space is
phenomenal. One of the oldest of the Think Tank intellectuals is Peter Huber who spent
several years at the Manhattan Institute. A Harvard trained lawyer and a PhD from MIT
in Mechanical Engineering, Huber established himself in this space by being the person
the FCC asked to write the first triennial review of the Modified Final Judgment, MFJ.
This was accomplished in late 1987 and it was this report, the Huber Report, which
started talking about an open network, a “geodesic” as phrased by Huber, which in many
ways set the path for the new Public Intellectual going forward in telecommunications
and in the early days of the Internet.
Huber apparently had little or no knowledge of telecommunications before he prepared
this report which made it ever so more the curious. Here is a young man, a brilliant as
said by many, engineer and attorney, tasked with assessing the evolution of
telecommunications. He of course did not see the re-consolidation of the market nor did
he see the Internet. To do so required one to have some experience in the business as well
as technical experience outside of his ken as a mechanical engineer, a degree from MIT
notwithstanding.
There are now many Think Tanks focusing on telecommunications and in turn supported
by companies who have a vested interest in policy turning out in a specific manner. Some
of the major Think Tanks are entities such as Heartland Institute 23 , Free Press 24 , Public
23 http://www.heartland.org Heartland refuses to supply its funders and states: “For many years, we provided a complete list of
Heartland’s corporate and foundation donors on this Web site and challenged other think tanks and advocacy groups to do the same.
To our knowledge, not a single group followed our lead.” However we have seen that Progress and Freedom does detail all of its
supporters. We have found that Heartland was highly critical of some of our early work on Municipal Broadband Networks. Ironically
had they waited to see the following reports, based upon our actual experience, our position and their sponsors, allegedly the
incumbent Telcos, would have reached a consistent position.
24 http://www.freepress.net/ and their support is not readily ascertainable from their web site.
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