[Latest draft of Internet regulation bill]

Sun Nov 13 01:12:35 UTC 2005

On Nov 12, 2005, at 8:03 PM, Tom Vest wrote:

>
> On Nov 12, 2005, at 6:48 PM, Christopher L. Morrow wrote:
>
>>> Are you suggesting a return to cost-based regulation?  At one  
>>> time airline
>>> prices were regulated based on air mile distance.
>>
>> No, I'm not, actually I think that the answer to my question was:  
>> "All
>> bits cost the same to push inside 'my' network" (where 'my' is  
>> really any
>> single entities network, and the cost is for that entity).
>
> Is cost-based regulation so bad for critical, non-substitutable  
> infrastructure? That's how the US market got flat-rate Internet  
> access.

Are you trolling?

Cost-based regulation is pure evil.  It creates a managed economy  
with short term benefit and long term pains, because over time the  
cost of goods should decrease as tooling improves.  Yet, it doesn't  
because in a managed economy there are no or very few incentives to  
improve tooling and pass the results on to the consumer.

There's no reason why a free market can't produce the same result  
without gov't regulation.  Tariffs are not good for consumers in the  
long run.

Flat rate's an inside joke anyway.  People generally only consume x  
amount, even if you open the spigot all day long, every day.  Flat  
rate pricing very much keeps that in mind.  Figure out what x is,  
price accordingly and voila.

It's amazing how many people fall for simple marketing devices.  But  
to see people proclaim we need more regulation to get some marketing  
product...  There is no such thing as a free lunch.