Cranial Gas – Desultory Musings

Net Neutrality

Your cable or phone company  sends you a monthly statement in which it asks you to choose your new level of service

• Over 80% of websites

• Internet Basic Service + Google and Yahoo $39/month

• Advanced Service + AIM + Youtube + Myspace + blog access $49/month

In the absence of net neutrality, certain services may be blocked or cost more to access. This digg of the day in September, 2007 explains it best.

Network neutrality (equivalently “net neutrality”, “Internet neutrality” or “NN”) refers to a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached and the modes of communication allowed, and where communication was not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most advocates.

Wikipedia Introduction

Some people argue that if your network provider charges too much or blocks certain services, you should just change provider. Now seriously, how many choices for broadband do have at home 0, 1 or 2?

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission)
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/08/neutrality.shtm

Deborah Platt Majoras, the FTC’s Republican chairman, said extensive Net neutrality legislation currently pending in the U.S. Senate is unnecessary because there has been no demonstrated harm to consumers, that normal market forces would likely prevent any problems, and that new laws would cause more problems than they solve.

http://www.news.com/FTC-chief-critiques-Net-neutrality/2100-1028_3-6107913.html

There has been no demonstrated harm to consumers – thats because tiered pricing is not in place yet

normal market forces would likely prevent any problems – how many choices for broadband providers do you have?

new laws would cause more problems than they solve – the new law would retain the status quo, how would that create new problems?

Compliance with the law would essentially not impose any new burden on the telcos. If the law is not in place then the telco’s will gladly install hundreds of millions of dollars worth of hardware in order to charge you more for premium services. Don’t think these premium services are something new and great that the telcos are working on, we’re talking about services that you use today that consume more network bandwidth than other services you use today, streaming video (youtube, cnn) are high bandwidth.

If you get your internet access from your telephone company would it want to block your VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) provider such as Vonage?

http://www.news.com/Telco-agrees-to-stop-blocking-VoIP-calls/2100-7352_3-5598633.html

Senator: Net neutrality push ain’t over yet

September 17, 2007 12:20 PM PDT
Led primarily by Democrats, the push to enact a law prohibiting broadband providers from charging content providers extra fees for priority placement or faster delivery failed last year in both chambers of a Republican-controlled Congress. Since then, no significant action has occurred on the legislative front, and recently, both the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice argued no new laws are needed.

http://www.news.com/FTC-chief-critiques-Net-neutrality/2100-1028_3-6107913.html

Crooks and Liars http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/06/ftc-abandons-net-neutrality/

Bruce Kushnick’s new book, “The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal” — it’s a powerful critique documenting the trail of broken promises and misinformation perpetrated by many broadband service providers in order to get favorable treatment, special dispensation, and competition-free access to residents across the United States. One of the most damning indictments, that United States residents have already paid for upgrades to our existing broadband infrastructure — being charged for services never delivered — and not a small amount either, but actually to the tune of $200,000,000,000. When you break it down, that’s roughly a $2,000 refund for every household that’s due for contractual obligations never fulfilled.

http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/5011

Kushnick’s “$200 Billion Broadband Scandal” says the government was promised 86 million households with fiber wiring delivering bi-directional 45 Mbps speeds, capable of handling 500 channels by 2006. He calls it a fraud case, with deft omission in the annals of the FCC, that cost households at least $2000 a piece but got nothing in return.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2006/05/12/telcos-lay-billion-goose-egg

Non-profit group Public Knowledge laments the current situation, calling it a “duopoly” that does not provide real competition. It’s because consumers don’t have many options that some form of Net Neutrality provisions are necessary, according to the group’s Art Brodsky. “Federal Communications Commission (FCC) statistics showing that just about everyone who has broadband gets it from either the telephone company or the cable company,” he writes. “The FCC has affirmatively pursued the policy of creating this situation, and it’s one of the main reasons we need a Net Neutrality policy. There is no real choice.”

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060712-7242.html