Time to make a competitive Internet a priority
High barriers to entry were allowing Microsoft and Oracle to expand their monopolies before open source helped companies both new and old make them work for it.
Working for it has helped everyone. It has even helped Microsoft and Oracle.
But open source depends on the Internet. Competition is vital to the Internet. Without competition you don't have a level playing field, you don't get the price advantages of new technology, and your economy will wither.
For proof just look south, to Mexico. Only 21% of Mexicans have Internet access in 2007. Access is mostly through Internet cafes. Service is a virtual monopoly of Telmex, which bought the old Prodigy from SBC and is controlled by Carlos Slim (right), the world's third richest man.
What's good for Carlos Slim has been very, very bad for Mexico. And it is that model of Internet service that the FCC is importing to the U.S. It is far more dangerous to our security than all those illegal aliens put together. (I'll bet more than 21% of them have Internet accounts.)
Between them, AT&T and Verizon (which owns the former MCI) control the bulk of the Internet backbone. They also control the bulk of access lines. Not to mention the mobile market. And now the FCC will let them use this monopoly to price access competitors out of the market. Just like Mexico.
Monopolies are easier for governments to control than competitive markets. But they don't deliver innovation. In fact they tend to quash it.
My question is how far down the Mexican road does the U.S. government have to get before this becomes an issue outside our elites and a few idealists? Astroturf campaigns work when their sponsors can remain hidden behind media and government indifference. They can't stand the light of day.
This is a political opportunity open to both parties, and it's the responsibility of both consumers and business users to bring it to politicians' attention. If you want a competitive content market, and a competitive software market, you also need a competitive access market.
And right now we don't have one.