Helen Coonan….Who’s Your Dadddy….???

Technology – May 1st, 2007 by Don

Come Come Helen…Don’t Be Shy!

Now is certainly not the time for shrinking violets…..Pray Do Tell!

Its Rupert isn’t? Jamie Maybe….Kerry Stokes or Our new amigo on the block Solly..or those recent loves of yours the boys over at Optus….? Who really is Your Daddy Baby???

In an ideal world, it would be me, and my fellow Aussie taxpayers, …aaah…alas…I shall stop dreaming now…..

Last Friday, the 27th, of April, I was flipping, through the Fin Review, with little to mild interest, when on page 21, the following headline caught my eye….”Coonan halts broadband study”.… and the first few paragraphs, went on to further state…. that, you Helen, had instructed the, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, (ACCC), to stop collecting data, because according to your office, ” the ACCC data gathering was impractical and a burden on industry” ….

To say, I almost keeled over in laughter was an understatement ….sic…

Helen, Seriously…. you could have woven, a far more elaborate and plausible porky pie, then that….my suggestion would have been along the lines of,…

Something a bit technical..with some legalese of sorts sprinkled through it…and then for extra effect you could have.. forced….some poor…bureaucrat…someone on a very short performance contract …someone with a serious sounding official title from the ABS …to come out and parrot the fact that, they would be far more skilled then the ACCC , to handle such a arduous and technically demanding role….and would collect the data, in a very tender manner, …so as not to hurt the big boys and gals within the broadband industry….hahahaha

I guess, ….what most of my fellow taxpayers, do not realise is that, this whole broadband thing (faster download speeds..etc..) and the ensuing debate between the virtues of what Kevin Rudd is promising and John Howard’s reply package, is far more important, and of far greater significance to the nation at this point in time…then we all realise!

Its demonstrably plain for all to see that, we now live in the era of true convergence, where both mainstream communications, internet technology and entertainment, are one and the same. YouTube, My Space, and Skype, allow a significant proportion of the world’s broadband enabled population, to make and create content, which can be traded and distributed, according to the end user’s perceived value, anywhere on the globe.

So, I bet you are saying where does this leave little old Helen, and the decisions, she is about to make on high speed internet services for the bush, and indeed future broadband decisions on a National Broadband Network.

Well, for starters, its very important to make very clear from the outset that, this proposed national high speed broadband network, is an essential piece of national infrastructure, kinda like the old road highways, that ring our beautiful country, and should never have ridiculous tolls placed on them, by any corporation, whether, it be Telstra/Optus, and any number of combinations, which could include and is not restricted to Jaime Packer, Kerry Stokes, Rupert Murdoch, and whoever else is out there with a spare billion or three…

Tolls are what would happen, should Senator, Helen Coonan, and John Howard, decide to jump into bed, with the above named suitors! Because of the convergence reality, everyone, now wants to own content. For the media moguls that currently own tv stations, Messrs Packer, Stokes, and Murdoch, content control, means, they can sell us more advertising, via shows like Idol, and Big Brother.

What scares them, is the very real fact,that, online entities, like the YouTubes of this world, come along, and facilitate the clever little person, with a high speed broadband connection, anywhere in the world, creating potentially lucrative content, and then, bypassing them (traditional media) and on selling said lucrative content, directly to the consumer!!!

What this means is that, we are no longer just passive consumers, but rather contributors, in more ways then one!!! We NO LONGER, have to put up with Messrs Packer, Stokes, and Murdoch, telling us what is real and what is not, we can as “REAL CONTRIBUTORS”, develop and TELL OUR OWN STORIES TO EACH OTHER.

Well peoples, what do you think, Should both John Howard, and Helen Coonan, be Visionary, and put the National Interest First, Should they come up with a business model, that would cover the cost of the this vital piece of nation building infrastructure, without handing over Ownership to any one party and yet allow the various players within the broadband/convergence industry to build and sell affordable, yet competitive world class services ??? Should They!!!!
DP!

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