Supreme Court cases show tech’s increasing role in American life
The tech industry is all hot and bothered over today’s two Supreme Counrt rulings on Grokster and cable TV.
I’m not overly suprised on either decision.
But together they show how technology is a driving influence of 21st century America.
There’s no doubt the Grokster decision worries the tech industry. But come on now, did anyone really thnk people were using Grokster for anything other than the swapping of pirated music and movies?
As to the decision that that cable companies are under no legal obligation to share their lines with smaller Internet service providers, this just followed an earlier FCC finding that cable operators were exempt from the common carrier regulations that apply to phone companies. No suprise there.
What may make this interesting down the road though, is what hapens when cable begins large scale roll out of VoIP Internet telephony features. That IS telephone service.
I’m also somewhat concerned about the legalized monopoly status that the decision gives the cable companies.
DSL service, for the most part run by regulation-saddled phone copmpanies, are going to have an even harder time competing.
