“Architects of the legislation that binds the nation’s communications infrastructure in the year 2010 were born in the 1870s and 1880s. There is talk today in Washington about categorizing technologies and platforms developed in the 21st century under different Titles of legislation written by people born in the 19th century. We don’t need to jettison [...]

With the release of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, we continue to hear all sorts of depressing stories about the sorry state of American broadband Internet access. But is it true? International comparisons in such a fast-moving arena as tech and communications are tough. I don’t pretend it is easy to boil down a hugely [...]

See our article today at RealClearMarkets . . . Entrepreneurial Innovation and the Internet by Bret Swanson As Washington and the states pile up mountainous liabilities – $3 trillion for unfunded state pensions, $10 trillion in new federal deficits through 2019, and $38 trillion (or is it $50 trillion?) in unfunded Medicare promises – the [...]

A number of interesting new articles and forums deal with our exaflood theme of the past few years. “Striving to Map the Shape-Shifting Net” – by John Markoff – The New York Times – March 2, 2010 “Data, data, everywhere” – The Economist – Special Report on Managing Information – February 25, 2010 “Managing the Exaflood” – [...]

The Internet has two billion global users, and the developing world is just hitting its growth phase. Mobile data traffic is doubling every year, and soon all four billion mobile phones will access the Net. In 2008, according to a new UC-San Diego study, Americans consumed over 3,600 exabytes of information, or an average of 34 gigabytes per person per day. Microsoft researchers argue in a new book, “The Fourth Paradigm,” that an “exaflood” of real-world and experimental data is changing the very nature of science itself. We need completely new strategies, they write, to “capture, curate, and analyze” these unimaginably large waves of information.

Wyoming wireless operator Brett Glass has 20 questions for the FCC on Net Neutrality.

With 16.5% of the nation “underemployed” and economists gloomily doubting next-generation job creation, Washington is considering a number of strategies, including the President’s “jobs bill.” “Jobs,” President Obama insisted in his state of the union address, “must be our number one focus in 2010.” But as Washington concentrates on employment, it also is considering a [...]

The Wall Street Journal‘s Digits blog asks, “Could Verizon Handle Apple Tablet Traffic?” The tablet’s little brother, the iPhone, has already shown how an explosion in data usage can overload a network, in this case AT&T’s. And the iPhone is hardly the kind of data guzzler the tablet is widely expected to be. After all, [...]

Just two more New York Times articles that point out what’s obvious around here: the Internet’s dramatic and unpredictable disruption of the whole “media” space. Isn’t Washington’s assumption that it can sort all this out and impose particular business models on the media space through prescriptive Net Neutrality regulation, a case of supreme hubris? “What if [...]

Amazon’s Paul Misener gets all reasonable in his comments on the FCC’s proposed net neutrality rules: With this win-win-win goal in mind, and consistent with the principle of maintaining an open Internet, Amazon respectfully suggests that the FCC’s proposed rules be extended to allow broadband Internet access service providers to favor some content so long [...]