Getting Real About the Internet (was: Re: Re: OPEC 2.0 -- Barrels vs Bandwidth)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Lauren Weinstein [lauren () vortex com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 5:09 PM
To: David Farber
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Getting Real About the Internet (was: Re: [IP] Re: OPEC 2.0 -- Barrels vs Bandwidth)

Dave,

Let's get real.  Either the Internet is a crucial resource -- and
getting more important every day -- or it isn't.

If the latter, we can let ISPs do pretty much whatever they want --
and subscribers will just have to make do and pony up for whatever
the ISPs deem fit to offer.

On the other hand, if we view the Internet as an infrastructural
necessity, we need to start thinking in the same terms as power and
water, and strike a balance between the commercial interests of
network operators vs. society's needs.

As for bandwidth caps, historical surveys of past news items are
instructive.  Go back to 2002, or 1998, or even earlier, and you can
find stories warning of the imminent need for caps due to concerns
over "bandwidth hogs" and the like.  I remember similar scare tactics
back when the ARPANET backbone was 56 Kbps!

The big ISPs' newly resurrected infatuations with bandwidth caps are
often disingenuous at best.  As we've seen, DOCSIS 3 is going to
provide a whole lotta bandwidth for the cable ISPs.

On the DSL side, AT&T is particularly suspect.  For years, they've
been publicly boasting that they didn't see a need for bandwidth
caps for their subscribers, since supposedly AT&T DSL didn't suffer
from the same "architectural limitations" as cable.

Less than a year ago, AT&T was saying that their DSL superiority made
bandwidth caps unnecessary, to wit:

   Some AT&T customers use disproportionately high amounts of
   Internet capacity, "but we figure that's why they buy the
   service," said Michael Coe, a spokesman for the company.
    -- September 7, 2007 - Washington Post

Why suddenly all the talk of caps from AT&T?  Could it have anything
to do with their ugly U-verse VRAD boxes sprouting like mushrooms in
AT&T service areas, ready to provide television programming, PPV
movies, and other content that might monetize more effectively if
competing Internet-delivered offerings were effectively stifled by
bandwidth caps?

More and more, we're being flimflammed when it comes to Internet
connectivity and associated terms of service limitations.

Sooner or later, subscribers are going to push back.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com




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