[TriLUG] OT: TIME WARNER ANNOUNCES INTRODUCTION OF PACKET SHAPING TECHNOLOGY NATIONWIDE

[sholton at mindspring.com]

Glenn Starling <GJStarling at charter.net> writes:

>This should be considered a federal marketing issue as this is true of
>many cable systems throughout the US.  I suggest lodging a complaint
>with the Federal Trade Commission, with a copy sent to the FCC and the
>cable company.  

My how things have changed.

It /used/ to be that the Internet was the home of the anti-government,
Libertarian, zero-regulation, "It's my Internet and I do as I please 
with it, thank you" crowd. Back in the day, there wasn't any talk about
'network neutrality' because the network was just assumed to be 
neutral. And everyone just *knew* that the free market would eventually 
give us dozens of competing broadband providers with a la carte services
and competition-enforced exquisite service. And bits almost too cheap
to meter.

Of course, back in those days, the portion of the Internet most of us
had access to was either provided on a not-for-profit basis (by schools
or employers), or run over dial-up connections (where 'network 
neutrality *is* Federally enforced).

Now we begin to see the most clued netheads look to FCC intervention, 
apparently finally realizing that government regulation is not the 
enemy of network neutrality but rather a prerequisite for it.

So, some (rhetorical) questions to consider:
1. Would you be in favor of an "Internet Tax" (tax on broadband 
   service) to support government-sponsored initiatives, such as
   universal service, enforcement of service and quality 
   standards, etc? 
2. Is it better to regulate consolidation among broadband service 
   providers (to promote competition) or allow consolidation and 
   re-regulate the resulting new Ma-Bell?
3. How, exactly, does one go about legislating, enforcing, or even
   verifying network neutrality across IP networks where every router
   has (by design, and according to protocol) the option to dump 
   any packet it chooses to dump?

Methinks the network neutrality crowd has an uphill battle ahead
of them, and they'll get nowhere until they at least get their
own supporters on board.
 


-- 
Steve Holton
sholton at mindspring.com
"Convenience causes blindness. Think about it."