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The telcos want to destroy the Internet.

 
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directorblue
Lt.Jg.


Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 121
PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:14 am    Post subject: The telcos want to destroy the Internet. Reply with quote
Imagine if you plugged in your new refrigerator only to find out it didn't work because the electric company no longer supported GE. Only Samsung had paid the power company an added "compatiblity tax".

What if the Internet worked the same way? What if the cable companies and telcos decided which content providers would get preferential treatment? What if Yahoo paid the tax but Google refused? Yahoo might return search results instantly but Google -- and any small, but poor, startups -- would run slower than dirt (if they worked at all).

Sounds silly, right? Well, it's not. It's what's happening in Congress right now as the telco and cable companies have spent a fortune to change the rules on "network neutrality".

Quote:
...Given the concentration of market power between the telcos and the cable companies, Wu said it was clear AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other power players could make more money by distorting competition between Internet firms.

"It AT&T can, through implicit threats of degradation, extract a kind of protection money for those with the resources to pay up," Wu said. "It's basically the Tony Soprano model of networking, and while it makes sense for whoever is in a position to make threats, it isn't particularly good for the nation's economy, innovation or consumer welfare."


This isn't a Democratic issue... a GOP issue... or anything else. It's a freedom issue. Please get involved by signing a petition, raising funds, and otherwise spreading the word: http://www.savetheinternet.com/


* Quote from: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/04/26/1611587.htm
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dusty
Admiral


Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 1264
Location: East Texas
PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Went, signed and delivered.
Thanks for the link db.
If we don't overwhelm our congressmen/women about this we know which way they will vote.

Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!
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directorblue
Lt.Jg.


Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 121
PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:44 pm    Post subject: thanks... Reply with quote
The Gun Owners of America, Instapundit and many other GOP and libertarians have joined forces with Democrats and independents. Need some facts to make up your mind?

Here's a description of the hardware that Cisco is pitching to the telcos to meter, filter, degrade and block traffic they don't approve of:

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2006/02/network-neutrality-what-cable.html

Here's an overview of why destroying the current state of network neutrality is such a big deal:

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2005/11/network-neutrality-why-its-big-deal.html

Here's a description of Internet2 -- the current high-speed, next-generation Internet -- that delivers HDTV and other real-time data without any tiering whatsoever. Makes you wonder why the telcos want to tier, doesn't it?

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2006/02/is-best-effort-good-enough-term-best.html

Lawrence Lessig wrote:
Quote:

[W]hen the Internet first reached beyond research facilities to the masses, it did so on regulated lines -- telephone lines. Had the telephone companies been free of the "heavy hand" of government regulation, it’s quite clear what they would have done -- they would have killed it, just as they did when Paul Baran first proposed the idea in 1964. It was precisely because they were not free to kill it, because the "heavy hand[ed]" regulation required them to act neutrally, that the Internet was able to happen, and then flourish.


Vinton Cerf (one of the Internet's key inventors):
Quote:

The remarkable social impact and economic success of the Internet is in many ways directly attributable to the architectural characteristics that were part of its design. The Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services... My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity.


Interview with Bob Kahn, inventor of TCP/IP:
Quote:

I asked Bob Kahn, the father of TCP/IP, and he made the point that the Internet is a Best Effort network and if you change that, well, you no longer have the Internet.


TechSearch reports:
Quote:

AT&T certainly knows how to spend its money wisely. It's donated $1 million to fund the pet project of a Congressman who has vowed to back a law letting AT&T and other telcos hijack the Internet. Is the contribution an illegal payoff?


Ever wonder why the telcos seem to spend more on lobbyists than inventing cool applications like Vonage and Skype? Now you know why.

Go to SaveTheInternet and act! http://www.savetheinternet.com
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