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Apr 10The internet is productive! Details at 11.
Boing Boing plucks out a report that this whole “Internet” fad turns out to be a good thing:
The creation of new businesses (e.g., Google and Amazon) and business activities has in turn fueled demand from other sectors of the U.S. economy (e.g., fiber optics, routers and consumer electronics) and transformed a host of business processes (e.g., communications and procurement).
The advent of the Internet and networking technology also has been widely credited with reviving U.S. productivity growth after two-decades of below-trend productivity. As higher productivity is an important source of income to labor and capital resources, the “new economy” has helped spur overall growth and offset structural declines in other sectors of the economy.
Bold mine. Since the Internet is vital to economic health, it’s critical to establish reasonable net neutrality standards and eliminate the stranglehold a few capricious companies have on access; the FCC’s failed bid to prevent Comcast’s BitTorrent throttling and Google’s Fiber plan seem like good first steps in that direction.
BB also points out that the “fair use economy” has grown by leaps and bounds, while industries intent on suing their customers (primarily the RIAA and MPAA) have not done as well.
Tagged: nerdiness, news, technology, web