Op-ed roundup: The week in Tech Opinion

Is AT&T’s new pricing plan evil?

YES: Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine contends the plan, in which users’ data usage is
capped on a monthly basis, is just that — evil. He says that AT&T’s response
to its service problems is “not to improve its service, to invest in better
ways to handle more customers.” Rather, “it’s to change its pricing to make us
use its service less.” He says the change is nothing short of a “bait-and-switch” for those who signed onto the service expecting unlimited data plans.

NO: Atlantic blogger Daniel Indiviglio goes to bat for
AT&T, saying users should celebrate
the change. It “makes sense,” he argues, and will only be tough for the 2
percent of customers who are the heaviest data-users. “Less data usage will
improve network traffic,” he writes. “Even though customers will hate it at
first, the average smartphone user is better off at this point. They’ll pay
less and the data network will function more smoothly.”

Is Steve Jobs Big Brother?

HE’S JUST AN ARTIST: The New York Times posted an op-ed on why Steve Jobs is seen
as a contender for both “comeback of the decade and villain of the year,”
written by Robert Wright.
He commends Jobs on surpassing Microsoft late last month as the world’s most
valuable tech company, but notes his “authoritarian tendencies,” including a sometimes-fraught
relationship with journalists and the high level of control he exerts over what
can be viewed on his platforms. “Put these two Jobs profiles together —
emerging infotech hegemon and congenital control freak — and you get a scary
scenario: growing dominance of our information pipelines by a guy who likes to
filter information.” Wright winds up finding something admirable in Jobs’
strategy: “Maybe Jobs is just intent on building the perfect product. Yes, he
wants to make money, but, beyond a certain point, he’ll trade off money for
perfection.” For that, he muses that Jobs may be “basically just an artist.”

And finally, a cartoon from the USA Today lampooning the debate over Facebook’s privacy settings.