A Series of Tubes
So this one is hilarious. A senator in the US, who for some insane reason is in charge of internet legislation, including the recent (and scary) net neutrality issue, explains for us how the internet works. Basically, it is a series of tubes. Extract:
I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?
Apparently it was being held up behind all the other Stuff on the internet. The tubes were flooded… anyway, I don’t want to dazzle you with the technical details. We’ll leave that to The Daily Show.
- YouTube – The Daily Show: Ted Stevens and the Internet
- YouTube – The Daily Show: Rips Republicans on America Values
- YouTube – The Daily Show: Net Neutrality With John Hodgman (To fully enjoy this one, you may need to have a quick glance at the Get a Mac TV Ads)
Don’t worry, though – the Senator has a letter from a big scientist confirming his theory.
I’d be interested in reading your summation of net neutrality and it’s implications. The Dave Version.
Comment by Santadog — August 2, 2006 @ 10:24 pm
I am humbled by your request, but even more humbled by my lack of knowledge on the issue. I don’t think I could sum it up any better than the third video in the post. It seems that basically the internet-as-the-great-leveller is under threat from greedy telco companies, but the chances of such a thing coming about are pretty slim. I guess it’s always worrying when something is in the hands of politicians, especially Republicans like this fucknut, but it seems very hard to believe it will fly. And that’s all I know!
Comment by db — August 2, 2006 @ 10:49 pm