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Wednesday, December 21, 2005 |
And Now For An Angry Word About The Future Of The Internet
The telcos aren't satisfied with common carrier status on the Internet, and are lobbying hard to get special treatment that would allow them to shun traffic from outside their networks destined to their captive customers. How is this bad? Let me count the ways:
- For starters, it means the Internet is no longer the Internet. That is, all traffic is no longer the same, but for the Baby Bells -- who aren't quite so juvenile now that SBC is about to recreate the old AT&T monopoly again -- it means their customers get second-class service.
- Second, it means they can pretty much screw you out of seeing content they don't want you to see. Oh, sure, you might have some theoretical right to watch video on another site at close to streaming rates, but if they choose to dam the stream by making it come out at a trickle -- say, 56 kbps for everyone but their own walled gardens -- you're hosed.
- "Our IP [Internet protocol] video service is not the same thing as the Internet," claims AT&T spokesman Mike Balmoris, but there's no guarantees, a fact that a comment by Edward Whitacre of AT&T made baldly clear last month when he said, "For a Google or a Yahoo or a Vonage or anybody else to expect to use these pipes for free is nuts."
Comments:
What Mr. Whitaker fails to comprehend, is that Google isn't using the pipe for free, we as customers (and Google itself) are paying for the pipe at the rate that our ISP's charge. It's like attacking Ticketmaster because they have a phone #, and people spend money over the phone with them.
# posted by 
: 12/21/2005 11:26:00 AM
: 12/21/2005 11:26:00 AM
This is just one more example of industries taking advantage of open resources to build immensely profitable businesses and then lobbying government to shut down the open systems that made it all possible in order limit any possiblity of competition. You see it occuring in the entertainment industry, the pharmaceutical industry and a number of others. At some point, people are going to have to put their foot down and make sure the government says no.
well, thank all those who vote corporate jackasses into power. The people don't matter, the corporations need more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
# posted by : 12/21/2005 03:50:00 PM
: 12/21/2005 03:50:00 PM
GET REAL - no politicain running today is immune from the $, like there is some idealistic choice who will save us from their incessant lurch toward carteldom. HA!
# posted by : 12/21/2005 04:00:00 PM
: 12/21/2005 04:00:00 PM
Not to change the subject but . . . Finley is gonzo. Traded for S.F.'s Edgardo Alfonzo. Garbage for garbage, I guess.
# posted by : 12/21/2005 04:55:00 PM
: 12/21/2005 04:55:00 PM// Links to this post:
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