Tim Wu : Apple a danger to net neutrality

[KnightWRX]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/one-on-one-tim-wu-author-of-the-master-switch/

An interesting read by the man who first coined the term net neutrality and one of its greatest defenders. Unless you would enjoy the Internet becoming the next cable TV, locked down to what a few media conglomerates decide to feed you as scraps, you want to be for net neutrality and against corporate control of the network of networks.

For anyone not wanting to read through the whole thing, ComputerWorld summarizes the parts about Apple :

http://blogs.computerworld.com/1735...r_to_internet_freedom_says_columbia_professor

 

[belvdr]

Honestly, I agree with him:

What worries you about Apple?

As I discuss in the book, Steve Jobs has the charisma, vision and instincts of every great information emperor. The man who helped create the personal computer 40 years ago is probably the leading candidate to help exterminate it. His vision has an undeniable appeal, but he wants too much control.

Emphasis is mine in the quote.

 

[gkarris]

http://blogs.computerworld.com/1735...r_to_internet_freedom_says_columbia_professor

Tim Wu, a law professor, states that he fears Apple the most when it comes to net neutrality. Honestly, I agree with him:

As I discuss in the book, Steve Jobs has the charisma, vision and instincts of every great information emperor. The man who helped create the personal computer 40 years ago is probably the leading candidate to help exterminate it. His vision has an undeniable appeal, but he wants too much control.

Emphasis is mine in the quote.

LOL - not if Microsoft can help it...

 

[Blue Velvet]

No follow-up question to the assertion 'too much control'. Control over product, user experience, vertical integration... well, yes. However, Google and Facebook have far greater control over user privacy, in my opinion, and have been shown to be deliberately lax at times.

Still, if you want to argue the opposite, you'd have a good case:

Essentially, Apple's patent provides for a device to investigate a user's identity, ostensibly to determine if and when that user is "unauthorized," or, in other words, stolen. More specifically, the technology would allow Apple to record the voice of the device's user, take a photo of the device's user's current location or even detect and record the heartbeat of the device's user. Once an unauthorized user is identified, Apple could wipe the device and remotely store the user's "sensitive data." Apple's patent application suggests it may use the technology not just to limit "unauthorized" uses of its phones but also shut down the phone if and when it has been stolen.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/08/steve-jobs-watching-you-apple-seeking-patent-0

The danger with Apple is that such a huge corporation is that its brand is seen as far more cuddly than many others. But you know, when push comes to shove, I'll still choose a Mac any day.

 

[garybUK]

"charisma", "vision", "instincts", "exterminate"....... wasn't someone else described with similar words once?

Fact is google, apple, microsoft... it's all about control something that's open, and ultimately I don't think it'll work, especially with the likes of MeeGo getting more and more support.

 

[roadbloc]

Whereas I do think Apple are controlling, I don't think it has become a problem yet. Or, at least it hasn't for me. It may become a problem in the future, especially as Apple is concentrating more on less professional products.

At the moment however, I'm personally more concerned about Google.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8B117)

Wu's argument is that we're too fond of Apple and Steve Jobs. Apparently it's not good for us.

As long as Apple appeals to so many, Wu and others like him will have something to write about.

So no iPad for me come January. Because I'd like it too much.

 

[jaw04005]

Sounds like Wu is looking for free press for his book. Apple has become the new buzzword in the tech industry. Anything Apple gets picked up by the news outlets no matter how ludicrous the statement.

Apple's not an ISP. In fact, they should be a strong supporter of net neutrality since their competitors like Comcast and AT&T control a large portion of the United States' broadband access while offering competing services to iTunes. Comcast and AT&T could (in theory) throttle the bits to Apple's iTunes service to a point where it's unusable unless Apple paid extravagant fees to them while at the same time prioritizing their content services. That's the crux of net neutrality as I understand it.

If Wu thinks Apple is going to become a major internet service player and offer a sanitized version of the Internet, he's nuts.

 

[Tilpots]

Apple is not yet an ISP, but I think the day is coming that they will take on this role. It's the one major step in the process Apple doesn't have a hand in and it's one of the most important for the overall experience of their products. A complete end to end Apple experience is not something I fear as long as our government can keep laws up to date with the technology. No content delivery company should be able to block parts of the open internet.

I think Wu has some interesting points, but these firms and their "dangers" tend to live and die with their leaders and maybe a successor or two. As one of the articles commentators suggested, these firms are very much like Chinese Dynasties of old. He seems to suggest that to succeed is evil and I can't agree with that vision. I'm not the biggest fan of capitalism (though it's the best monetary system we've got) becasue at its roots, money is valued over people. The reason why it works more often than not, though, is that people ultimately make more "good" decisions than "evil" ones. This currently holds true for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. and I think it will continue.