Six of the top industry policy stories today

NBN entanglements and software pricing enquiries - there's nothing like a bit of navel gazing to start the week, and this is something the tech sector does particularly well.

Industry policy and debate is normally publishing poison to page impression hunters everywhere, but surprisingly rates it rocks off in the IT sector.

Today we look at six of the most popular industry stories topping the local charts.

The NBN is always good fodder. And a simple tale about plans by a group of consultants and engineers in Victoria to launch a not for profit ISP has raced towards the top of the popular stories list on iTnews.com.au.

According to the report, a group calling itself "No ISP" has established as a cooperative in Victoria and wants to offer, "plans on the NBN with minimal margins, facilitated by near-zero costs, non-existent staffing and none of the support or service structures now commonplace in the telco and ISP industries."

It's Socialism with Victorian characteristics, as our future Chinese overlords might say.

A second NBN story also scored highly on iTnews. Again it's fairly esoteric but that's the joy of that magical Google-friendly TLA (three letter acronym).

"Telstra plots wholesale systems upgrade," draws from a letter written by the carrier to the competition watchdog outlining planned works to its service qualifications systems.

Meanwhile over at CIO, in a story called "Turnbull slams ACCC approval of Optus and NBN Co agreement" the opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull is making headlines of his own.

He slammed "the recent ACCC approval of an $800 million agreement with Optus and NBN Co which will see Optus decommission its HFC network and aid the migration of Optus customers to the National Broadband Network (NBN)."

But really, the great thing about the NBN, at least from the perspective of the people who write about it, is the fact that it provides endless angles to explore. For instance over at Computerworld, a report which is critical of Turnbull and the opposition is among the most read.

"Coalition's NBN cheaper? No says MyNetFone CEO" quotes the vendor chief claiming that using existing copper will result in higher costs or services issues.

While the NBN is a permanent feature on the IT landscape at the moment, it's not the only policy game in town.

The government enquiry into software pricing and the slippery contortionist efforts by industry to defend decades of gouging are also proving popular with the punters.

CRN's report titled "Apple hides from public IT price enquiry" may have been posted over a week ago, but it's proving most resilient.

The story, in case you missed it, reported that Apple was granted a "closed door hearing" which of course only increased the likelihood that it would be scrutinised and criticised for that very approach. 

Finally, a Computerworld/CIO opinion piece headlined "We are being royally corn holed on pricing, so let's stop pretending" about the same pricing enquiry states baldly that the vendors are lying through their teeth about the reasons for the often huge mark ups on software down under, which the author describes as a "most profitable grift".

Actually I wrote that story, and here I am now linking to it from another site in a story. What a perfectly ironic segue to our regular Click Whoring section.

Click Whoring 101

IT publishers might berate software vendors for defending the indefensible at the pricing inquiry, but in reality they are probably just looking for tips. How else do we explain some of the stories topping the trends on otherwise sensible Business/Tech sites.

Mashable for instance rarely disappoints. The site which claims 20 million unique visitors and 6 million social media followers bills itself as "reporting on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world."

Today it's offering some truly inspiring and empowering insights among  its top five stories.

These include "Don't block these 10 hilarious Twitter Bots", "Jack Daniels Sends the Most Polite Cease and Desist Letter Ever" and "Are these the best Etsy shops in the world".

That trifecta makes Mashable today's Best Click Whorehouse in town.

So from one shameless Bait Bandit to another - Mashable, we salute you.

Aye Carumba!

Andrew Birmingham is a Sydney based dotcom entrepreneur and occasional commentator. Follow him on Twitter @ag_birmingham *Actually Mashable is one of the authors favorite sites and a great source of social media news, Twitter Bots notwithstanding.