NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] "Net Neutrality's New Enemy: The Mythical Mushy Middle" [and my response]
"Net Neutrality's New Enemy: The Mythical Mushy Middle" (Craig Aaron - Free Press) http://bit.ly/aXiZzA (Huffington) - - - Lauren's comments: Well, I can't help but be somewhat honored by an entire section of the referenced essay being devoted to criticizing me (apparently) as a charter member of the New Enemy: The Mushy Middle. Ironically, my foundational views on Net Neutrality could be viewed as quite sympathetic to what I believe is Free Press' basic technical stance, and I'm quite obviously not a proponent of what's widely understood to be the dominant ISPs' traditional positions on these matters in general. Talk about a strange way to treat your friends on key issues ... It appears that what has Craig's petticoats all aflutter is simply my unwillingness to buy into a tactical approach that emulates among the worst aspects of traditional politics -- rhetorical and other techniques that have managed to drive parties on all sides of other important policy issues further apart rather than closer together. I completely reject such attempts to marginalize efforts to find reasonable compromise and common ground, efforts that could best serve the community of Internet users around the world. And frankly, Craig's attack on me only serves to solidify my view that the "no compromise -- take no prisoners -- scream and yell and berate" approach to these issues may perhaps be useful from a fund-raising standpoint, but is wholly antithetical to actually moving forward constructively on these critical topics. In today's toxic political environment, where Big Lies and backstabbing have seemingly become the orders of the day, it is perhaps unsurprising that some pro-neutrality stakeholders have chosen to apparently embrace the mind-set, methodologies, and rhetoric more commonly associated with the dark side of politics. It is still very disappointing, however. And entirely unconvincing, as well. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com) http://www.vortex.com/lauren Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance): http://www.gctip.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz