As I'm navigating the wifi in yet another airport, where I’m given 20 minutes of free, then I have to pay some arbitrary amount, and my Verizon Mifi doesn't do shit, yet again. Throughout these repeated cycles, I'm reminded of how narrow minded some of the market driven approaches are in the U.S. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a black and white issue, and I'm very much part of the machine, but being blinded by capitalism is something I refuse to be.
I’m writing a post about the AT&T promoted content API and how it flirts with net neutrality disaster, and just finished speaking at a smart city conference, where I had discussions about gigabit Internet connections for $40 / month, while I struggle with finding my own connection. As we nickel and dime, and fight over how to monetize every pipe, and packet, I can’t help but think about how ignorant we are.
If we just ensured that everyone has high quality Internet, things would be so much better, and there would be entirely new ways to make money, but because of short-sightedness we are going to fuck it up. Here is where all the telcos whine and complain about how expensive it is to build out infrastructure and how there is a shortage of bandwidth. To which I say, shut the fuck up you narrow minded, lying sack of shit. You know this isn't true, but it supports your monetization narrative and I know we all feel really, really bad for you.
Not only are you missing out on some really interesting, and lucrative opportunities, you are hurting your overall market, and our country. I guarantee this is one of the layers that starts unraveling this whole patriotic, capitalism, american dream bullshit you so heavily invest in, and places that have high quality Internet as a basic right for all of its citizens, are going to slowly start kicking our ass—all thanks to you!
Markets will take care of everything!! Merica!
