newprotest.org: THE INTERNET IS A SERIES OF TUBES

THE INTERNET IS A SERIES OF TUBES

July 12, 2006
by: jovial_cynic
We have some senators involved in our government who have no idea what the internet is.

If you haven't heard the "internet-is-a-series-of-tube" rant that Senator Stevens gave back in late June, make sure you read up on it on wired blog. And remember... people like Senator Stevens are involved in making LAWS to regulate the internet making decisions regarding how the internet is to be used..

Full-text of Sen. Stevens speech from the article:

There's one company now you can sign up and you can get a movie delivered to your house daily by delivery service. Okay. And currently it comes to your house, it gets put in the mail box when you get home and you change your order but you pay for that, right.

But this service is now going to go through the internet* and what you do is you just go to a place on the internet and you order your movie and guess what you can order ten of them delivered to you and the delivery charge is free.

Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet?

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.

So you want to talk about the consumer? Let's talk about you and me. We use this internet to communicate and we aren't using it for commercial purposes.

We aren't earning anything by going on that internet. Now I'm not saying you have to or you want to discrimnate against those people [?]

The regulatory approach is wrong. Your approach is regulatory in the sense that it says "No one can charge anyone for massively invading this world of the internet". No, I'm not finished. I want people to understand my position, I'm not going to take a lot of time. [?]

They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.

It's a series of tubes.

And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.

Now we have a separate Department of Defense internet now, did you know that?

Do you know why?

Because they have to have theirs delivered immediately. They can't afford getting delayed by other people.

[?]

Now I think these people are arguing whether they should be able to dump all that stuff on the internet ought to consider if they should develop a system themselves.

Maybe there is a place for a commercial net but it's not using what consumers use every day.

It's not using the messaging service that is essential to small businesses, to our operation of families.

The whole concept is that we should not go into this until someone shows that there is something that has been done that really is a viloation of net neutraility that hits you and me.


That's horrifying.

After you read that article, make sure to go to the boldheaded blog and download the dance remix of Sen. Steven's rant. Or you can just download it directly: Techno Tubes

If people like Sen. Stevens have their way, the internet is doomed.
np category: politics
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COMMENTS for THE INTERNET IS A SERIES OF TUBES


HandsOff said:
"And remember... people like Senator Stevens are involved in making LAWS to regulate the internet. "

I know! They shouldn't. The Hands Off the Internet coalition agrees that members of Congress should not be trying to regulate the Internet. They don't understand it. Sen. Stevens gave us a great example of why Congress should not be writing new laws.

July 12, 2006


jovial_cynic said:
Clever. You're quoting the one section of my post that I typed incorrectly. I've fixed that.

No. We disagree entirely. There are times when regulation is vital to democracy. Big business, unregulated, has historically been a terrible problem. Net Neutrality is the kind of regulation necessary to maintain a level playing field.

July 12, 2006


Kristen said:
I hope someone on his staff has the guts to explain to him what the internet really is.
July 12, 2006


Luke said:
Are you on hiatis? The world's crumbling and you're sleeping. C'mon my favorite blogger let's mount up our collective electronic offensives. I don't know what I'm saying just make another post for me.

XOXOXOXOXO... JK

July 14, 2006


chris said:
This is a good demonstration of the idea that politicians are only as smart as the people around them when it comes to issues outside of the politican realm. I doubt Senator Stevens did his own research on this. Instead, I'm sure some staffers were tasked with explaining this to him so he could have a position. I can hear it now...

"I give up. This is impossible. He doesn't understand anything about the internet. It's just beyond him".

"We need to explain it in terms he can understand. Compare it to something he can relate to. I know! How did they send messages and mail back in the day? Pneumatic tubes!"

"Close enough."

I've heard the same theory advanced to explain why President Bush's speeches are so...simple. They are limited to short sentences, small words, and concrete images since that's how the topic was explained to him.


Also, the internet is like a bridge. A bridge connecting two Alaskan islands which are in turn connected to nothing, and relatively uninhabited.

July 14, 2006


Kristen said:
I think Bush's speeches are simple because the American people need to understand him...
July 18, 2006


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