David Weinberger ponders the Googizon proposal

I haven’t had time to blog about this much, but there are serious reasons to be concerned about the joint venture proposed by Google and Verizon. David Weinberger notes several, concluding:

I want to continue to believe Google wants the best for the Net. But, I fear the Googizon proposal if adopted would result in the creation of two networks, with huge incentives for the access providers to shunt users to the one that they control. This threatens to take the steam out of the Internet as the cultural, economic, educational, artistic, and democratic force it was well on it’s way to being.

It also takes pressure off of the Obama administration to boldly put the open Internet on a firm footing. By declaring the Net neutrality debate to be “intractable,” Google is giving cover to those who would compromise away a basic principle. It’s only intractable if you’ve given up.

I am not a Google hater. The people I know there are the same as they were last week. Google’s software kicks the same amount of butt as it did last week. The vast bulk of Google’s projects still generously support the same geek values as last week. But now I have to wonder why Google is coming home so late with Verizon’s scent on its lapel.</blockquote>

I can't help thinking that much of what I value about the current version of the Net is its ability to be a distribution platform for all of the wonderful creative stuff being put out by amateurs, volunteers, "prosumers," or whatever else you want to call those of us who create because we love to create, not because it will "produce" income. Now is the time for those of us who care about Net Neutrality to make our voices heard!