15 Years Ago - Net Neutrality Debate 1.0

Denise Caruso over at the Public Knowledge blog writes about the first round of Net Neutrality debates, 15 years ago:

...here’s a slightly shortened version of the May 19, 1991, “Inside Technology” column I wrote for San Francisco Examiner — yes, that’s 15 YEARS ago. I like to think of it as the proto-Net Neutrality problem statement...

She goes on to include an article about how well the "modified final judgement" was working to make sure that we had a competitive telecommunications marketplace here in the US. It includes this great quote from past-FCC commissioner Nicholas Johnson, commenting on why the telcos should not be allowed to sell information services:

“They already suck money out of both ends of the straw,” he said. ”They charge us for getting information out of the system and they charge the supplier for putting it in. They can get rich beyond their wildest dreams of avarice by concentrating on what it is they do best [i.e., renting the conduit] — the mere fact that doing so also happens to serve the public interest should not deter them.”

Denise also asks, "So: how can we kick this debate out of Wonkville and into the Zeitgeist?"