Lessig on Network Neutrality

Larry Lessig, testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee this week [pdf]:

To answer that question, this Committee must keep in view a
fundamental fact about the Internet: as scholars and network
theorists have extensively documented, the innovation and explosive
growth of the Internet is directly linked to its particular architectural
design. It was in large part because the network respected what
Saltzer, Clark and Reed called “the ‘end-to-end’ principle” that the
explosive growth of the Internet happened. If this Committee wants
to preserve that growth and innovation, it should take steps to
protect this fundamental design.

Lessig makes sense, while the incumbent telcos do not. Cringely has more.

The Economics of Mulch

Tyler Cowen:

ST. FRANCIS: You’d better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle, As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

ST. FRANCIS They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.