[Chapter-delegates] [ISOC-NY Discussion] Google plan would offer free Internet throughout SF

[Desiree Miloshevic]

Fred

You raise right questions, such as how is the cost of service subsidized.

If Google decides to send you ads that are really of interest to you, 
also known as personalization service, then, this is in my opinion fine 
substitute for the cost of access.

I think that Google's answer might be:
a) run everything that will be free as a free service
b) use that service to amass useful personalized data and make money 
from the personalization
c) keep the interface between a and b scrupulously well-defined.

The separation that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt talks about is by analogy 
to newspapers, the separation between the business side and the 
editorial side, e.g., so theoretically the newspaper can write a big 
story about environmental issues at the local supermkt while accepting 
ads from same supermarket.

Schmidt thinks that maintaining the sep betw "service to users"
and "revenue from ads" is key to the don't-be-evil equation.

and btw an interesting partnership was announced today:
http://news.com.com/Google%2C+Sun+plan+partnership/2100-1012_3-5887923.html?tag=nefd.lede
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3553371

Desiree
--


Fred Baker wrote:
> the key question is "how will it be paid for?" If access is free, but  
> the access network has to pay the backbone for transit services,  
> money would appear to be coming out of thin air.
> 
> I suspect that the real result of this will be that the Internet will  
> be free if you want the service that is provided for free, and that  
> service will be subsidized by back room deals that leave the user  
> receiving content he doesn't want so that the subsidizers will be  
> willing to subsidize. Very much like the color-glossy-magazine and  
> the newspaper industries; the service you receive is primarily paid  
> for by advertisers, perhaps advertisers that know your location (what  
> hot spot are you in?) and have some level of access to your private  
> communications patterns (think about what google does with hit  
> counts) and perhaps even your communications (gmail).
> 
> It's an Internet, I suppose, and you won't be being directly charged,  
> but the advertisers are coming up with their cash somehow - you will  
> be paying the advertiser. And ask yourself, if you were offering it,  
> what services you would offer and on what basis.
> 
> It doesn't result in an internet for everyone. It results in an  
> internet for the advertisers.
> 
> On Oct 2, 2005, at 1:13 PM, Veni Markovski wrote:
> 
> 
>>That's the way to make sure Internet will be for everyone.
>>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Chapter-delegates mailing list
> Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
> http://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/chapter-delegates
> 
>