a wise word from a long time network person -- Merccurynews report on Stanford hearing

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Tony Lauck [tlauck () madriver com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 1:11 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: Re: [IP] Merccurynews report on Stanford hearing

Comcast's technical problems are not with the Internet, they are with
their DOCSIS 2.0 cable modems, which have limited shared upstream
bandwidth and an ineffective multiple access protocol. Presumably these
problems will go away when Comcast finally upgrades to DOCSIS 3.0. Other
last mile network technologies such as DSL and fiber do not have these
problems.

Comcast was part of the consortia that developed DOCSIS and has only
itself to blame for its difficulties. Their problems are not the fault
of the Internet architecture or the IETF. They are definitely not the
fault of their customers, although Comcast and some of its apparent
shills continue to blame the customers, continuing to demonize them as
hogs and even thieves. Comcast's problems involve more than upstream
network performance. Comcast has damaged its reputation by a lack of
candor. They continue to be ill served by their efforts to push blame
elsewhere. To my way of thinking, this continuing behavior on Comcast's
part fully justifies any tough treatment they have received from the
Commissioners and other responsible adults.

Unfortunately, some of Comcast's critics now seem to be acting equally
irresponsibly. Perhaps this is to be expected of college students. As
for network professors, I think they should be delighted that users are
saturating some networks; this is the only way real experience with
network resource allocation mechanisms can be obtained.

In the real world any useful resource will eventually become saturated.
As a networking technologist I am delighted that this is happening.

Tony Lauck
www.aglauck.com



David Farber wrote:
> ________________________________________
> From: Richard Bennett [richard () bennett com]
> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 5:45 AM
> To: David Farber
> Subject: Re: [IP] George Ford is getting booed and heckled
>
> As predicted:
>
> In neutrality debate, carriers get blamed for Net's weaknessesBy Richard
> Bennett
> Article Launched: 04/17/2008 01:35:28 AM PD
>
> The circus is coming to Stanford University. The network neutrality
> circus, that is, which makes cable companies the whipping boys for
> underlying flaws in the design of the Internet.
>
> The Federal Communications Commission is investigating petitions from
> consumer groups and a local start-up, Vuze, against Comcast. The cable
> broadband giant is accused of disrupting video traffic uploaded by users
> of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network. But Comcast says its network
> management practices are legitimate, needed to ensure that other
> broadband subscribers aren't starved by bandwidth hogs.
>
> The commission already held one public hearing in February on network
> management practices at Harvard University, and is holding the follow-up
> today at Stanford.
>
> Little light came from the Harvard hearing, where FCC Chairman Kevin
> Martin badgered Comcast's solitary witness with loaded questions and
> failed to display any insight into broadband carriers' management
> challenges.
>
> What's more, Martin and the broadband critics have failed to acknowledge
> an underlying truth about the Internet: It was originally designed for
> the polite society of network engineering professors and students, not
> our rough-and-tumble world of large-scale copyright theft and video
> file-sharing. And it has design defects - bugs - that make it vulnerable
> to overload and abuse.
>
> rest: http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_8955737
>
>
>
> David Farber wrote:
> > From an IPer re the Stanford Net Neutrality meeting. Sad if accurate
> >
> > Dave
> >
> > "It is pretty sad that the only economist here today could barely be heard over the heckling and boos.  This event 
> > is really a farce."
> >
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--
"Difficulties can never be greater than your capacity to solve them."
    - P. R. Sarkar

Anthony G. Lauck
PO Box 59
Warren, VT 05674
Southface 5 (for UPS and FedEX)
81 Park Ave
Warren, VT 05674
(802) 583-4405 (802) 329-2006 (FAX)

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