Beware the "bag of goods"

posted on 3:31 PM | permalink

There are two debates raging in congress which have little to do with each other but illustrate the serious misgivings that many have about the "trojan horse" nature of our elected officials.

One debate concerns the question of putting the polar bear on the endangered species list. We all love polar bears but listing this creature on the ESL is just a means to an ends. The back story here essentially dictates that CO2 emissions can be regulated from the Fish and Wildlife department. In short, the effort to save the polar bear is a ruse for a bigger and wider agenda that effects every American.

The second debate (which begins in force tomorrow) pits consumers against themselves in a chicken match of mixed benefits and scary consequences. The notion of "Net Neutrality" has made its way to Capitol Hill. In short, this initiative would mandate that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) provide one set rate and one set speed for all internet users, period. But, here's the trojan horse part again:

On the face of it this seems like a worthy endeavor. After all the entrepreneurial spirit of companies like YouTube and Facebook started garage-style with a simple internet connection. But, the fine print behind this initiative is a bit disconcerting. Essentially, it would prohibit ISPs from regulating or discriminating against any content across their wires. This is where we share some serious concerns with other who oppose Net Neutrality.

With the growing use of advanced technologies (such as Peer-to-Peer and Bit Torrent) eating up bandwidth for the rest of us... one has to ask... what is all that stuff being downloaded? According to one study, over 60% of the bandwidth hogging is all about extreme sexual content.

So, given that Net Neutrality would prohibit ISPs from putting bandwidth hoggers in a separate lane on the information highway and given that Net Neutrality would prohibit groups like the Lighted Candle Society from putting the crunch on porn distributors... I can say this much: I don't like it and I don't trust it.