You Don’t Matter

That’s right. You don’t matter. Neither do I. While the internet was created with my tax dollars and yours, who cares? Certainly not the FCC.

While you and I pay far too much to be connected others are making fortunes from it that would embarrass King Midas. It appears that nothing embarrasses Comcast, Verizon and AT&T. They need even greater advantage over my little blog.

Everyone is concerned about the loss of net neutrality, and rightly so. If the FCC takes that away, Comcast, Verizon and AT&T will provide a fast lane for companies extorted to pay more and a slow lane for the rest of us. That means Netflix and some other services and sites will cost us more.

Be forewarned, however, AT&T is pursuing a patent that takes a different route to their enrichment. This patent will allow them to determine what kind of content you are downloading and increase the prices for various types of content. They intend to get you both coming and going.

Stay with me. After you’ve read my blather you will find a treat. It’s worth hanging around. I guarantee it.

With all of the money these parasites make from our investment one might think they would be nice to us. They might give us a broadband system to be proud of. Don’t be silly.

How much do they appreciate us? Spend a minute or two perusing the chart, then read below.

This chart is from the BBC. They have a fairly well-deserved reputation for honest reporting. However, as good as the United States appears from their graphic, it is a little misleading. You see, this chart just includes members of the OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The greatest country in the world would not fare quite so well (19^th) were we to include such technological leaders as the Republic of Moldavia, Lesotho, Slovenia, Belarus, Uruguay and other such titans of technology.

From the New York Times we learn that, “The World Economic Forum ranked the United States 35^th out of 148 countries in Internet bandwidth, a measure of available capacity in a country. Other studies rank the United States anywhere from 14^th to 31^st in average connection speed.” And, we are further up the list on cost than we are down the list on speed.

While South Korea ranks 2^nd on this chart you can get a full gigabit, yes, a full gigabit, if you are willing to pay extra for it. The cost is around 31,610 won. That’s about $31 a month. This is a country that didn’t have paved roads between major cites when I was there in the 50s and 60s. This was a country where the average college graduate made about $20 a month. The average for everyone is now in the neighborhood of $30k per annum.

Take another look at where we are; how much we have regressed from first-, and only, place, when we invented it.

You have likely already scrolled down sufficiently to see that my treat is a video from John Oliver’s new show. John is entertaining. He is funny, very funny. You will enjoy it BUT John also has a bad habit of slipping in facts, clarity and insight.

There are two points you absolutely should not miss in this video. One is the chart he shows regarding the negotiations between Comcast and Netflix. Then pay close attention to Obama’s nominee to the FCC. But, it’s okay to laugh at the other parts. You can’t help laughing. It’s one of his best.

Update: Here is a follow-up from John Oliver’s show two weeks later. Apparently the show was noticed.

 You and I may not make our fortunes on the Internet but it should not be the tool to fleece even more from us. My blog, my voice will never be as prominent as those of the big boys but at least I wish to retain access to a platform.

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Tagged as: AT&T, bandwidth, BBC, Belarus, blog, broadband, comcast, FCC, internet, john, korea, Lesotho, Moldavia, net, Netflix, neutrality, new york times, nominee, obama, OECD, Oliver, prices, Slovenia, technology, uruguay, Verizon, won