Month: July 2007

Craig Newmark gets really irate when I point out that his net neutrality advocacy serves the interests of his corporate masters at eBay, owners of Skype. This story in Valleywag sheds some light on his sensitivity:

Everything you know about Craig Newmark is wrong. The tale that Craigslist’s founder and CEO Jim Buckmaster like to tell about how eBay got a stake in their company goes like this: Newmark, the clueless business naif, issued shares to an employee, never thinking they’d be cashed in. That employee turned around and sold the shares right under Newmark’s nose to rapacious auctions giant eBay back in 2004. It’s a good story. But it’s nothing like the truth, according to sources close to the transaction. And the truth? That Newmark and Buckmaster, who love to portray themselves as unpretentious types who care nothing for money, can be bought. For a mere $16 million.

So Newmark put 10 million eBucks in his bank account, and draws a breath-taking salary from Craig’s List today. He’s not exactly the well-meaning simpleton he’s supposed to be, is he?

Is it just me or is there an increase in net neutrality paranoia recently? The arguments are changing, but they’re still misguided and confused. In the Weinberger article, there’s a link to a new piece of Isenberg fantasy about how the Internet works. Isenberg wants to ban source- and destination-based network service:

the prohibition of, “any service that privileges, degrades or prioritizes any packet . . . based on its source, ownership or destination,”

…which would put all of our core networking suppliers out of business. That doesn’t strike me as a very good way to bring cheaper and faster broadband to America’s computer-lovers. If they love the Internet so much, why do they want to ban its basic operational principles?