IP: Cisco offering cable+content cartel discriminatory routers!

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 09:28:03 -0800
> To: farber () cis upenn edu (Dave Farber), freematt () coil com (Matthew Gaylor),
>    State and Local Freedom of Information Issues <FOI-L () LISTSERV SYR EDU>
> From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com>
> Subject: Cisco offering cable+content cartel discriminatory routers!
>
> If you provide content on the net, or search for or receive content on the 
> net, and dream of having truly competitive broadband ... this bullet's for you!
>
> This isn't paranoic rants without substance.  It is hard evidence of 
> PLANNING and INTENT to discriminate against unfavored (competing?) content 
> providers and users by cable+content cartels such as AOL-TimeWarner and 
> AT&T-MediaOne.
>
> This is a smoking gun -- but made visible for all to see, *before* the 
> trigger is pulled.  Only Clinton-Gore's FCC, FTC and DOJ can install a 
> trigger-lock.
>
> --jim, Jim Warren; jwarren () well com
> Contributing Editor & technology public-policy columnist, MicroTimes Magazine
> Editorial contributor, Government Technology Magazine
>
>
>
> At 2:09 AM -0400 7/27/00, James Love wrote:
> > CPT comments to July 27, 2000 FCC en banc hearing on AOL/Time Warner
> > merger  [at the 7/27 FCC hearing]
> ...
>
> > 2.   The Open Access Issue.
> >
> > ...  AT&T, Time-Warner and
> > other companies are building new differentiated levels of service
> > for Internet content, and mechanisms to control and manage
> > Internet data.
> >
> >      The cable companies are buying technology from firms like
> > Cisco Systems.  In its 1999 White paper, "Controlling Your
> > Network - A Must for Cable Operators,"
> > (http://www.cptech.org/ecom/openaccess/cisco1.html) Cisco tells
> > cable operators to build a "New World network," to replace "the
> > Internet" as it exists today.
> >
> >      The ability to prioritize and control traffic levels is
> >      a distinguishing factor and critical difference between
> >      New World networks employing Internet Technologies, and
> >      "the Internet."
> >
> > Part of the "New World" architecture is Cisco's Quality of
> > Service "QoS" model.  According to Cisco:
> >
> >      . . . traffic-type identification allows you to isolate
> >      different traffic types in your IP network. Through
> >      Cisco QoS, you can identify each traffic type - Web,
> >      e-mail, voice, video. Tools such as type-of-service
> >      (ToS) bits identification allow you to isolate network
> >      traffic by the type of application, even down to
> >      specific brands, by the interface used, by the user
> >      type and individual user identification, or by the site
> >      address.
> >
> >      Admission control and policing is the way you develop
> >      and enforce traffic policies. These controls allow you
> >      to limit the amount of traffic coming into the network
> >      with policy-based decisions on whether the network can
> >      support the requirements of an incoming application.
> >      Additionally, you are able to police or monitor each
> >      admitted application to ensure that it honors its
> >      allocated bandwidth reservation.
> >
> >      Preferential queuing gives you the ability to specify
> >      packet types - Web, e-mail, voice, video - and create
> >      policies for the way they are prioritized and handled.
> >      For example, although voice and video traffic are
> >      intolerant of delays and drops, you still might want to
> >      ensure that lower-priority residential Web browsing is
> >      allocated enough bandwidth to deliver an acceptable
> >      level of service during peak usage.
> >
> > Among other things, Cisco points out that:
> >
> >      QoS can also propel you forward by giving you the
> >      information you need to offer advanced differentiated
> >      services at a profit. For example, time-and usage-based
> >      billing via NetFlow measurements provide you with a
> >      means of encouraging (or shifting) demand during
> >      periods of light network loading by offering off-peak
> >      discount pricing.
> >
> > And, with the new levels of service:
> >
> >      [cable companies] can optimize service profits by
> >      marketing "express" services to premium customers ready
> >      to pay for superior network performance.
> >
> >      To appreciate the significance of this new approach to
> > Internet traffic, consider the Cisco discussion of its Committed
> > access rate (CAR) technology, and its use to enhance or diminish
> > the performance of content services:
> >
> >      Committed access rate (CAR) is an edge-focused QoS
> >      mechanism provided by selected Cisco IOS-based network
> >      devices. The controlled-access rate capabilities of CAR
> >      allow you to specify the user access speed of any given
> >      packet by allocating the bandwidth it receives,
> >      depending on its IP address, application, precedence,
> >      port, or even Media Access Control (MAC) address.
> >
> >      For example, if a "push" information service that
> >      delivers frequent broadcasts to its subscribers is seen
> >      as causing a high amount of undesirable network
> >      traffic, you can direct CAR to limit subscriber-access
> >      speed to this service. You could restrict the incoming
> >      push broadcasts as well as subscribers' outgoing access
> >      to the push information site to discourage its use. At
> >      the same time, you could promote and offer your own or
> >      partner's services with full-speed features to
> >      encourage adoption of your services, while increasing
> >      network efficiency.
> >
> >      . . .
> >
> >      Further, you could specify that video coming form
> >      internal servers receives precedence and broader
> >      bandwidth over video sourced from external servers.
> >
> >      With CAR, the choice is yours, and it's easy to make
> >      constant revisions and adjustments as traffic patterns
> >      shift.
> >
> >      With a plethora of new tools and mechanisms to identify,
> > control and discriminate the levels of quality for Internet
> > content, cable companies can do to Internet data traffic what
> > they have done for years to video content  --  pick winners and
> > losers, charge different content providers different rates for
> > access and exclude rivals.
> ...
> <snip>
>
> >                    TACD Resolution Ecom 17-00
> >  Merger of America Online and Time Warner and Privacy Protection
> >
> >   see: http://www.tacd.org/ecommercef.html#aolmerge
> >
> >
> > =======================================================
> > James Love, Director           | http://www.cptech.org
> > Consumer Project on Technology | mailto:love () cptech org
> > P.O. Box 19367                 | voice: 1.202.387.8030
> > Washington, DC 20036           | fax:   1.202.234.5176
> > =======================================================
> >
> >
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