Verizon and Google and the Great Network

Maps of the brain and internet.

Google and Verizon announced a proposal to the FCC for how they think the internet could work in the future and a there has been a lot of excited hype around it, mostly from people proclaiming it's the end of the internet as we know it.

Here's the proposal:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35599242/Verizon-Google-Legislative-Framework-Proposal

I believe that Google is, in fact, not evil. Also, I believe Verizon is not evil. I believe this because Google and Verizon offer the most incredible information technologies that have ever existed on planet Earth and it's hard to imagine a world without them.

What I also believe is that all the hype around the proposal is quite misguided, mostly because in fact most of the people responding to it don't seem to actually believe, as I do, that the Great Network is something that is an unstoppable force growing with increasing speed and power. It's actually kind of reaffirming to see such passion and such a concern for Rights and Freedom (kind of like our growing attachment to mobile devices as extension of personal liberties).

Here is the rundown of what I believe is important about this proposal:

1. It is a proposal. Nothing has happened yet because of it.
2. Google seems increasingly bad at managing its own PR. They might not be evil, but sometimes I wonder how they can be so dumb.
3. The nastiest part of it is how Google endorses the idea that Verizon (and others) can do whatever they wish on their wireless network.
4. It's a very American Corporate thing, wrapped in the very old concept that free markets will solve any problems with the proposal, revealing that Verizon and Google think they are not monopolies (and hope we don't either).
5. It's about Verizon and other "Broadband Service Providers (That Use Wires)." Does this mean Google is going to be a Broadband Service Provider in the future? Why else are they involved?

This was a dumb move for Google in my opinion. Let Verizon come out with these kinds of things. Does anyone really need to make a statement at this point that broadband internet access to the world wide web should be something available to everyone? No. But as the Great Network continues to evolve, it's a very good thing that we are all discussing what it really means.

At present, we are in a very strange world with apparently limitless possibilities for information to spread between us. For example, right now, millions of people have broadband internet at their home. Also, they have a computer connected to their TVs, usually referred to as a DVR. If everyone made their home DVR a web server, there is nothing stopping us from creating a massive distributed content network where any person can watch whatever is on another person's DVR.

In another example, there are millions of people with Android phones on the Verizon network and if every one of them were running in WiFi hotspot mode, there would be much less of a point in paying for wired broadband connections because on the 3g network, you can play HD video, download huge files quickly, etc.

When I had a 1200 baud modem, I was desperate for a faster connection. Now, 20 years later I have a HD satellite receiver and a 12 Gigabit connection at home and 3g pretty much everywhere else. Do we really need more bandwidth, more speed, more more more? This blog is one of thousands written on the original subject, being published among billions of websites. I have a hard time seeing the reason for much outcry at this point.