by Bob | Apr 23, 2014 | Broadband/Internet, Life notes
Update: If you’d like to comment on the new FCC proposed policy, the comment period is open.
I Loves Me Some Netflix. But Come ON!
When Netflix signed a deal with Comcast to pay them extra for faster, more consistent content delivery it was understandable from a business point of view. But it was clear that it violated the principle of network neutrality and that consumers were going to pay for it one way or another.
Sure enough, Netflix just announced it is going to raise rates for new customers, and while existing customers won’t see their rates change for now, as Netflix strikes the same bargains with other service providers it’s bound to happen that all our rates will go up.
FCC: Throwing in the Towel
And guess what, now that the Appeals Court ruled the FCC doesn’t have the authority to enforce Network Neutrality, the FCC has simply decided aw what the heck. Let’s just say we can have multi-tiered service after all.
I think the writing is on the wall. Cable providers are going to continue lose subscribers because of their high cost and bundled packages. People are going to use Netflix, Amazon Prime (which just signed a deal with HBO to stream older content), and Hulu through a Roku or Apple TV device, paying small fees to multiple services in lieu of high fees to a single source.
At least that’s where I’m headed. But then I fear the cable companies will start jacking up Internet service rates. So, we people at the bottom of the food chain will get bit in the ass one way or another.
by Bob | Mar 5, 2006 | Local Tech Notes
I may still be neutral (undecided not uncaring) about the Balloon Track development. But I am decidedly not neutral about Network Neutrality. I think it is crucial to the survival of the Internet as we have come to know it. What is Network Neutrality? Start with this article from the The Nation entitled The End of the Internet? by Jeff Chester which explains how the owners of major data lines are planning to offer a multi-tiered Internet, providing better service for those willing and able to pay.
The growing monopoly over the data lines that carriers our Internet traffic makes this threat quite feasible. The NY Times is reporting that AT&T (formerly SBC) is about to buy BellSouth. The Times further suggests this purchase will force Verizon to absorb Qwest. The consolidation of the telecommunications industry continues.
This news makes it clear that the network we all use and pay for in access fees will be owned by a small handful of corporations. And this makes the issue of network neutrality increasingly important. Steven Levy of Newsweek provides a good summary of the issue. Basically the owners of the big data pipes we all use to get information from place to place, are proposing to create a two-tiered Internet, charging fees for better data delivery. This means big business, which could afford to pay these fees would have a leg up on smaller business. The idea of a two-tiered Internet flies in the face of what has made the network such a powerful force for social and economic change and innovation. That is that the data delivery system is open and equally available to everyone, large or small, corporations or individuals. The level playing field allows everyone to compete equally.
This is a crucial issue for us in Humboldt County. Very few of us would be able to pay the extra fees that allow our information to be delivered at the same speed and efficiency of say ABC/Disney. Our videos and sound files suddenly have less value. Our communications over VoIP would be degraded in comparision to large corporate clients able to pay the higher tarriffs.
The carriers all claim that unpaid traffic won’t be degraded, only that premium service will be given to paid traffic. However, already there are rumours that carriers are experimenting with throttling certain kinds of traffic. The Humboldt Linux Users Group mailing list recently had a lively thread on whether Cox was throttling access to Peer to Peer (P2P) networks. According to an intrepid investigator on the list it appears they are. And there are now reports that Comcast may be degrading the service of Vonage, a voice over IP phone company. This means subscribers to Comcast’s broadband service who also use Vonage over that connection may be getting poor data transfers on purpose. Comcast would like to discourage use of VoIP because of the amount of bandwidth it takes up. They may be planning to start their own VoIP service which would be charged at a higher rate than Vonage’s. Of course, it’s difficult to confirm any of this as Comcast and Cox aren’t publicizing the practice. This article from The Register explains how all this works and is working. However, with these companies having absolute and unregulated control over the data lines, and little choice in carriers in most regions for end users, what power would we have?
This whole issue is starting to get some notice by Congress. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has introduced a bill to prevent service providers from charging higher fees for preferential treatment. But the article seems to imply this particular bill will get little traction. And while it does address the two-tiered Internet issue, it does not address the obverse issue of degrading and throttling existing services by major carriers.
The major carriers feel they have the right to control and charge whatever they want for traffic that passes over their infrastructure because they invested a lot of money to build it. They own it, so they can do whatever they want. That arguement carries some weight, especially when the alternative might be more regulation by the government. However, the carriers received a lot tax incentives to build the network and right of ways in communities to deploy services. In addition, the Internet has become as essential to commerce and communication as the highway system is to travel and commerce.
This is not a easy problem to solve. But it is a crucial one.
Technorati Tags: network neutrality voip
by Bob | Jul 5, 2007 | Local Tech Notes
Ars Technica has a good analysis of the current status of “Net Neutrality” issues. This paragraph offers a good summary of the what’s at stake, particularly for small businesses and end users:
Network neutrality can be defined in several ways, several of which may in fact be bad for end users. But when companies start talking about “charging Internet firms to use our pipes” and letting “the market sort it all out,” consumers and small business owners get nervous when they have limited ISPs to choose from. Will my webmail run more slowly if Google doesn’t “pay up”? Will the flash videos on my small business web site load so slowly that people won’t make use of them unless I cough up (a second time) for bandwidth? Will I have to pay for better speeds on every major US network? What about internationally? Will my own Internet access be free if you’re now charging the websites on the other end of the network?
The essay makes it clear that the current political climate in the U.S. still favors the telecommunications industry over the end user.
The problem most people have with potential legislation to protect Net Neutrality is the general ignorance of the legislators. The fear is that any new law will be more harmful than the ill it tries to cure. But I think a Net Neutrality law could be written quite simply: Thou shall not favor one bit over another for profit. Done.
by Bob | Oct 18, 2006 | Local Tech Notes
PBS is showing Bill Moyer’s latest program focusing on the issue of Net Neutrality tonight. KEET will be airing it at at 10 PM. It’s clear from the material on the site and from Moyer’s general perspective, the program will be in favor of maintaining Net Neutrality and against the telco drive to charge tiered pricing for data prioritizing. Still, the hour long program should provide a great deal of information on the issues leading to a broader understanding. And the web site itslef offers a lot of content including several ‘classes’ that cover various topics on Net Neutrality, the digital divide, community wireless, and media consolidation and control.
Well worth checking out.
by Bob | Sep 29, 2006 | Local Tech Notes
Thanks to Patrick Moon of HumLug (Humboldt Linux Users Group) for providing a link to Lawrence Lessig’s recent presentation at LinuxWorld. Patrick showed the presentation at last night’s HumLug meeting, but for those of us who could not attend, here it is.
Lessig is a law professor at Stanford and one of the driving forces behind Creative Commons, an
alternative approach to current copyright law. This talk is about open everything, open source software, open culture, open network architecture. That means it touches on a lot of topics crucial to anyone interested in our global dialog that the Internet offers. This includes copyright issues, network neutrality (he provides a succint and easily understood explanation of this issue if you would like to understand it), broadband as a municipal infrastructure, wireless mesh networks including municipal wireless projects.
Did I get enough buzzwords in there? Don’t be intimidated. He explains it all in very clear terms. And, he uses, his famous style that has become all the rage in geeky presentations. This is a must see! Thanks for the link, Patrick.
