Comments on: Freedom Time: Google Voice Letter to the FCC, iPhone App Store & Mobile Gatekeepers

By: Apples karikaturstrid og avisenes fremtid | Eiriks forfatterblogg

Apples karikaturstrid og avisenes fremtid | Eiriks forfatterblogg — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:05:37 +0000

[...] heller ikke den fullstendig lovlige varianten vi her snakker om. Så la oss heller se på historien om Freedom Time, en app som ble lansert i forfjor høst som et nedtellingsur mot Obamas overtakelse. Freedom Time [...]

By: Apple Rejects Health Care Reform App for being “Politically Charged” « Cloud Four

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:48:26 +0000

[...] Freedom Time: Google Voice Letter to the FCC, iPhone App Store & Mobile Gatekeepers [...]

By: grigs

grigs — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:11:30 +0000

From some of my email correspondence, I think there may be some confusion about why I talked about the Open Mobile Consortium.

My point wasn't that we need entirely open source phones. I'm a freedom of speech advocate, not necessarily an open source advocate. I don't care that my iPhone has a closed operating system as long as I have the freedom to do what I want on the phone. Some will argue that the open source is the only way to get that, but I feel fine with the balance struck in Mac OS X between open source and proprietary software.

I find Open Mobile Consortium interesting because it is an example of how in other countries we need to mobile solutions simply to ensure that people have freedom of speech, but in the United States we're quick to hand that right that others are fighting for over for the expediency of the App Store and its goodies.

I hope the Open Mobile Consortium is successful, but I doubt I will ever own one of the phones that they produce.

By: grigs

grigs — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:17:08 +0000

I'm very interested to find out how the Net Neutrality principles that FCC Chairman Genachowski* proposed today may impact mobile web. I think you are right that we perceive desktop Internet as being something that should not be restricted, but tend to think that the carriers own their networks and should be able to do with them as they please.

I am actually less worried about carrier constraints on the mobile web than I am on having the mobile web mature into something that provides the tools we need to build applications and businesses around. But I'm happy to see the FCC taking on the issue.

Thanks for commenting.

* In the interest of full disclosure, Julius Genachowski championed the creation of an iPhone application for the Obama campaign. I have never met him personally, but would likely have not had the opportunity to work on the Obama iPhone app without his advocacy for the project.

By: Markalop

Markalop — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:49:37 +0000

Great post Jason. I finished reading thinking that the Internet grew out of the Universities. Of course also the DOD, but the Universities' culture of free speech and willingness to allow the open communication of ideas must have played a key role int he "information wants to be free" culture of early Net users, information publishers and service providers. The Mobile Web, by contrast is "owned" by the mobile service providers, or at least they have the perception that they OWN the network and therefore must be accountable for the information that flows across his network, an attitude that invariably leads to litigation-averse vetting. This commercially-driven structure that we're all forced to live with, in order to access the mobile web, is liable to be the biggest hurdle in bringing the mobile web as you envision it, to the mass market. Early adopters, readers of this blog, "tech people" know that there are ways to circumvent 'Big Brother' controlled mobile experiences, even if we don't take advantage of them. The rest of the consumers? Can the mobile web as you envision it even form without the market being there? Or will the presence of the mobile web attract enough consumers to make it real, and not just an alternative for nerds and anti-business types? I certainly don't know – but that's what I'm thinking about after reading this post. Thanks for posting.