[this image was included with the NYT story]
I thought it was impossible, but I was wrong. Obama, Clinton, and McCain have one part of their platform that is exactly the same. This article talks mostly about the Internet aspects of Net Neutrality, but mentions the candidates enough to warrant a post. Here's the article:
Bits
Business, Innovation, Technology, Society
The Internet Traffic Challenge: The Policy Dimension
The New York Times ran a story today that looked at the rapid rise in Internet traffic, led by the increasing popularity of YouTube-style video and other bit-hungry services.
The article is an “explainer,” as we say. Projections of growth trends vary, as do views of the implications. But the takeaway: “The Internet traffic surge represents more a looming challenge than an impending catastrophe.” In the Internet economy, high-speed networks are the testbeds of innovation, so investment is required — mainly at the national and local level — to keep them healthy and fast.
The piece mentioned how the traffic issue feeds into the political debate about “broadband policy,” but only in passing — and intentionally so. The policy dimension is its own separate subject, often complicated and highly politicized. But it is also an issue that will get more attention when a new administration takes over in Washington next year. Both Democratic presidential contenders, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the Republican candidate John McCain have declared that high-speed broadband access for all should be a national priority.
The broadband policy debate will unfold over many months, but it seems to me there is at least one perspective-enhancing principle to keep in mind, which you won’t necessarily hear from the lobbyists for the warring sides. That is, this is in good part a business negotiation being conducted in a policy arena. Who pays for the needed investment in broadband infrastructure, and who stands to profit?
On one side stand the telecommunications carriers and cable companies, supported by free-market economists and some industry analysts. They say it is the telecom and cable companies that will have to make the crucial investments to deliver faster broadband into households, so they need the freedom to price their service as they see fit. They want to be able to charge the biggest users — from a file-sharing teenager to the big Web companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and eBay — for how much bandwidth they consume. It is a position with articulate exponents.
On the other side are the proponents of Net Neutrality, the policy of treating all users equally. They see the issue as preserving the freedom and openness of the Internet, and this side also has many articulate advocates, from well-known legal scholars to groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Christian Coalition of America.
Not surprisingly, the big Web companies are in the Net Neutrality camp, including Microsoft and Google.
Just how the policy debate will sort itself out is uncertain. But Larry Irving, a former senior technology policy official in the Clinton administration, expects the burden of paying for the needed investment will likely be spread broadly.
“You can’t deal with the future of American competitiveness and economic health without a broadband policy,” said Mr. Irving, co-chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, a coalition of nonprofits and corporations, including telecom carriers and equipment makers. “The reality is that carriers, Web companies, media content providers and consumers are all going to have to pay a bit more.”
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/the-internet-traffic-challenge-the-policy-dimension/
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