Market Equilibrium

Commons-based peer production according to Benkler, is not a victory of the left. It is rather an eqilibrium between market actors and non-market actors. He ended with the remark that leaving economic systems to the capitalist market alone is unforgivable.

That's from a synopsis by Trebor Scholz of a talk Yochai Benkler gave at Eyebeam last year.

Opposite of the Tragedy of the Commons

In what is decidedly the opposite of a tragedy of the commons (euphoria of the commons?), the COMMONS project has published its official report. Congratulations Sascha and kc! What a tremendous and exciting effort!

Here is a snippet from the report that captures the essence of the COMMONS project:

Through discussion, debate, and compromise, COMMONS Strategy Workshop participants consented unanimously on the following shared Statement of Purpose:

COMMONS is...

... a community of interest comprised of local networks, broadly defined, who seek to:

• utilize a AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) neutral communications infrastructure,
• mitigate geographic disparities in the cost of Internet access and wide-area network connectivity,
• enable competitive environment in the connectivity market,
• benefit from economies of scale, and
• realize a vision for ownership in an open, universal and scalable backbone infrastructure.

... a community of network operators who:

• recognize that the future usefulness and security of the Internet depends upon the availability of empirical network data,
• support the availability of that empirical data to the academic research community, and
• insist that the data collected and utilized be handled in a manner respectful of personal privacy.

....a community of interest of people who seek to exchange ideas on, and devote resources to, a wide variety of common interests in furtherance of the objectives stated above, including:

• approaches to social problems that leverage innovative technology and business strategies,
• political, legal, and regulatory strategies, and
• community networking.

I'll be writing more on the COMMONS project soon, but for more details, read the whole report, or visit the project page at Caida.