What is Digg?93 Comments
- Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+36 AT LAST! Someone has the ballzes to discuss this on US television!!!!
I'm astounded! - gameguy43, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34Thank GOD this issue is being presented to a non-computer nerd audience. Everyone thinks these issues are so distant from them, because they aren't "computer people", but that's just what they want you to think. A lot of modern american IT companies ENCOURAGE people to NOT UNDERSTAND the internet and their computers, in order to give them more money. Education is the only way to save America.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!! - misterpony, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Mark Cooper was excellent. His comparison of the net neutrality issue to the railroad boom of the 19th century hit the nail on the head. The result of the discrimination by the railroad tycoons to only ship goods from their companies or charge higher rates for competitors to ship on their railroads? The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the anti-trust lawsuits. America realized at that time that the fair and equal shipping of goods was a fundamental and basic good to everyone and they protected it. We need to do the same thing again: protect this fundamental good, protect our digital democracy.
Excellent show. I highly recommend everyone to go to pbs.com and watch the clips (I think they'll be available after the show is over, it's mentioned somewhere on the site). - GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Too bad its not network television (not that I watch anything other than PBS news these days).
I hope our Representatives are watching.
Time for a letter writing campaign. - misterpony, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Now they mentioned that the Save the Internet Coalition is a group of over 700 recognized organizations including the Christian Coalition, higher education associations, medical/health associations, banks and finance companies, and public associations--a huge variety.
The side against net neutrality? Just the telephone and cable companies. - misterpony, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Another excellent point: in the potential lame-duck session coming up in Congress (where a lot of incumbents will be returning for a short time because they lose the upcoming elections), a lot of budget bills will be passed, and the telcoms may be able to push and thus sneak in provisions that Congress will let pass just so they can get that last bit money approved for their pet projects (pork), since they will have to leave office soon. This is why it's vitally important to be aware of this issue right now.
- misterpony, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13They just said that the telcoms spend $1.5 Million a week in Lobbying.
- sdcdiggs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12PBS is a great... its like Americans wacked out verison of the BBC ... with British Comedy on Saturday nights!
- GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I've just finished watching this, and the show presented an excellent non-technical description of why this matters to regular people.
I was particularly interested in the concept of "Common Carriage"--which has a long history and is a clear basis for Net Neutrality (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carriers). - lwlehew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I agree a great show. It will be replayed several times over the next few days. If we had the high quality fiber communication lines we should we could just download this and send it all around. Now I'll just be setting my DVR to record it and getting it to other people via DVD.
I live in Austin, TX and local coffee shops and restaurants all over this town have worked hard to provide free wireless internet to anyone patronizing their business. Of course big business like a certain star-crossed coffee company charges for access.
I think we in Austin have the ability and chance to do something like they did in Lafayette. - madmaxjnsn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Watched it, loved it, hope the government watched it. PBS just earned itself a donation from my checkbook.
- misterpony, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Well, in the Eastern Time Zone this show is on right now...and it's great.
I wish I lived in Lafeyette, LA (have to see the show to understand).
And I wish this would have made the frontpage so more people would be aware of this. - patrickbwells, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Thank God there are still some journalists left who are willing to bring up these controversial topics. Bill Moyer ROCKS!!!
- GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I especially appreciated his comment concerning representation on the Internet.
Specifically, 60% of the Internet comes from regular people while commercial media (TV, Radio, Newspapers) is 99% commercial content.
So, laws became necessary to ensure a free market in the past, and this is clearly evidence that laws are needed to ensure that the 60% representation that people have isn't squeezed out. Imagine if these discussions on Digg were squelched to be because they weren't in the interest of Big Business. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I love their commercials.[sarcasm]
"""Are you Google-eyed with confusion over net neutrality?"
Net neutrality is nothing more than a scheme by the multibillion dollar Silicon Valley tech companies to get you the consumers to pay more for their services. Forget all the mumbo jumbo, you pay""
LOL havent paid for a google search yet. - Shmoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Why are you being a dick lakawak? Lets face it, the average citizen is less proficient in computers and internet policies than a digg user.
- GPGeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I just watched this and am happy to see the issue discussed, albeit on PBS. It was non-technical enough I hope to get the attention of the general public. Its up to us here on the net to help get the word out and this piece is a great way to spread the word.
Congrats to PBS - long live a free and open Internet. - ibeetle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8For those that missed the program many PBS stations rebroadcast in the wee hours of the morning. In my area (north east New Jersey/NYC) this program is being re-broadcast 2 more times this week.
Also, the web site is great. A ton of secondary, and indepth detail explanations not in the show. As well as some general information simply not include. Mostly teacher guide stuff, but still worth reading for even more information.
Any high school students here should bring this up to their Social Studies, Current Affairs, or Computer Lab teacher(s) for possible extra credit points. - GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8It was tough to dredge up some info on this guy. Hopefully, the following will be useful.
Mark N. Cooper:
- Director of Research for the Consumer Federation of America
- Fellow at Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
Books Mentioned:
Media Ownership and Democracy in the Digital Information Age
Cable Mergers and Monopolies: Market Power in Digital Media and Communications Networks
Blog:
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/content.shtml - KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7It did a nice job of trying to explain the debate to the average person.Would of been nice however if they showed how this is already a problem in Canada.
- KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I doubt the average person has ever heard of NN, let alone have any idea what it is about.
- LogicallyGenius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7http://www.torrentz.com/torrent_1050172.html
Check this out Guys - slashdotted, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You can watch it all here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/media_players/chapter3-1.html
Here's another installment in the same Moyer's series on "Capitol Crimes" - also excellent:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/media_players/chapter1-1.html
It's too bad Moyers' work isn't more widely known. - carlosglz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6BEST presentation I have seen on Net Neutrality...
- Miniman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I think i missed it, will someone post a Youtube or torrent for me?
- scottc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Bill Moyers is a class act. I haven't see this show yet, but in the others he was such a contrast to the typical "journalists" who dominate the airwaves today. He examines all sides of an issue instead the usual "for" and "against", asks questions that aren't easily ducked, and usually gives you some understanding of the people who disagree with whatever your own position might be. I wish that more Americans would get their information from him instead of from O'Reilly, Rush, and the rest who just like to hear themselves talk.
- ah802, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5This was a great show... hope there's a torrent for this must see.
- invader, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5i agree that PBS showed bias for NN. they did bring up several reasons why we have slower and more expensive internet. for example, the Teletruth guys talked exclusively about how we ended up with slow and expensive internet, and not about NN. i think NN is a must, but i agree it is not the only thing we should be talking about.
we should find out how much they got in tax breaks over the last decade and force them to pay that entire amount in 5 years if they don't provide the service they promised in the 90's. that or something along those lines, perhaps. - eclectro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I hope they rerun this, fantastic show - call your pbs station
- mbrolutti, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6http://youtube.com/watch?v=yxgCWzU_uVM
- LogicallyGenius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5someone please put the show on torrent, since all thoes who Digg are not Americans, let us know if our goverments are too screwing up the Net.
- KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5you can watch it now on the site.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6pure capitalism inst always good. i believe that the people need to tell their politicians to stand up against the big money telcos, and do whats in our best interests for once, and not some corporations.
- noreturn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Holy crap. Now that I actually know what this means (well-written article, btw), I can't believe the networks have the balls to say ***** like "Net neutrality costs you, the user, money." Bull ***** it costs us money, and if you try to blackmail us, the users, with price, we'll switch to another ISP because net-neutrality allows us to do so without worrying if we'll get "good" internet service.
- dopyoman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Sorry to hijack the your comment just wanted to post the PBS link for those who missed the show last night.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/index.html - GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5To simplify:
Monopolistic regulation is never better then Government regulation.
Net neutrality, as with historical common carriage laws, protect against monopolistic regulation. - ggko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Just because someone posts a video for free viewing on their website (even in some low-res quality,) does not necessarily mean it's free for anyone to distribute. Someone may still hold copyright and wish for distribution to be done in a certain controlled way.
- exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5What's that Colbert quote on PBS?
- GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The discussion is necessary, because laws that ensure an open market place need to be carefully written. I understand that there is a fear that some form of regulation will get mucked up with all kinds of special-interest riders. But, that doesn't negate the basic need to keep the market place open and not regulated by monopolies.
I sincerely hope that we get a net neutrality law that simply ensures an open market place and nothing else. We do not need another bureaucracy that will end up in the back pockets of Big Business. - GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So, please patronize your PBS stations, and make appropriate donations.
- GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Check your schedules and tell everyone!
- Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4 Well,the fact that this debate has only been discussed on PBS speaks volumes about what can happen if NN fails.
- invader, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5ah HA!
i think this is it, but haven't watched it yet..
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/media_players/chapter3-1.html - michaelb1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3someone put this show in YouTube.
Maybe then people will watch it - firsttube, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3dollar votes!
- KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3ISPs in Canada are openly doing the very things this program is warning about happening in the US.
- GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The opposing argument is often based on a claim that there are no examples of problems that need to be regulated. Of course, the show makes it clear that anti-trust laws were necessary before the Internet. But, we should consider looking more closely at Canada and other countries to see what problems that are having rather then just pretend that everything is O.K. with us.
- GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Perhaps we should stop calling it regulation.
The whole point about the long history of anti-trust laws is to illustrate that Big Business is trying to remove existing well-proven laws. This is a matter of the right that everyone has to to equal non-discriminatory access to the free market. It's your rights their trying to take away. I'm quite convinced that we can keep these rights and the exiting laws without excessive bureaucratic regulation. I'm thinking FTC not FCC. - firsttube, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3thanks everybody, a friend of mine is getting extra credit in class now that he saw the special!
- ggko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I assume you're responding to my comment to your question above. If PBS or the program producers provided or endorsed a torrent, then by all means go nuts. But because you can tape it off your TV does not make it fully kosher to download a non-endorsed torrent someone posted.
For example, just because you own a Super Mario World cartridge, it does not make it legal to download the game off a ROM site. That site has no right to distribute it.
WIll I beat down your door and stop you from doing it? No. I'm just dispelling your belief that just because it's free to grab in one form, it's free to grab in any form. -
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