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These monopolies appeared whenever one person or entity had the sole rights or supply of some sought-after commodity and it gave the exclusive supplier huge leverage in the marketplace.

Of course we (the consumer) soon realised that such monopolies and those who hold them can grossly distort markets and result in prices that are excessive, service levels that are sub-standard, or both.

In reading today's news wires I notice that little has changed through the millennia.

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ISPs are getting pee'd off that Telecom has been seen to favour its own ISP (Xtra) in preference to its competitors when provisioning DSL connections.

Indeed, there's a good story (linked in the headlines below) on the IDG website today about just this very situation.

Of course things are much better on the DSL front than they were before the government waved the spectre of local-loop unbundling over Telecom's head -- but many still claim that they're not playing 100% fair, because they don't have to. After all, they *own* the copper and, aside from a few grudging concessions to government sabre-rattling, they'll do exactly what they want with it.

Another monopoly that can clearly be seen to be acting like a monopoly is the recording industry.

Steve Jobs made it very clear that the RIAA is trying to squeeze more money out of iTunes users and the Association's money-lust has resulted in Microsoft walking away from the table while trying to negotiate its own access to music titles.

What's more, it was reported yesterday that the RIAA now wants Google to pay them a fee everytime someone clicks on a paid link during a search for the name of a popular artist or band -- such as Madonna, Black Eyed Peas, etc.

That would be a wickedly dangerous precedent. Imagine if Google buckled to this pressure (and the possibility of a costly law-suit) -- every trademark owner and his dog would probably demand the same kind of deal, which would be ridiculous. Mind you -- the prospect of getting a few bucks every time someone Google's the phrase "the Simpsons" sounds attractive :-)

But wait folks, there's more -- believe it or not!

In Japan, the recording industry has decided that it should also get a bigger slice of Apple's success with its iPod and iTunes combo. It wants the government there to introduce a tax on the iPod -- in much the same way that recording-industry taxes have been applied to players and media in countries like Canada and Germany.

I think it's safe to say that monopolies and greed seem to go hand-in-hand if recent reports are anything to go by.

Perhaps the most astute observation I've encountered in respect to the recording industry and its future was seen on Slashdot yesterday. The poster said that since the invention of the tape-recorder, music has been effectively turned into something you can no longer sell. What we're actually paying for when we buy a CD or cassette is *convenience*. The value in such a commercially pressed recording is the fact that we don't have to record it (from radio, or TV) or track it down and download it ourselves.

Maybe the recording industry should listen to that little gem of wisdom. If they appreciated this fact, regardless of how unpalatable it might appear, they could come up with a new business model for the 21st century -- a model that didn't involve taxation and excess greed.

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