[opendtv] Re: B&C: Walden: We'll Hold Hearing on Paid Prioritization
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2018 07:56:36 -0500
As if on cue...
So Congress is going to look into the misguided “paid prioritization” rule.
Nothing like shedding a little light on reality!
On Jan 29, 2018, at 4:08 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"ISPs generally have all pledged not to block or throttle but have reserved
judgment on prioritizing, which they suggest has pro-consumer and
pro-competitive aspects."
What kind of naïve nincompoop would believe that?
Anyone who understands that the ISPs did not break these rules before the Title
II order.
I think that to drive the point home, instead of confusing the issue with
minutiae, the question SHOULD be whether people want their Internet service
to become more like their MVPD service. Do you want the (typically
monopolistic and very sticky) service provider to be in cahoots with the
sources of content? Do you approve of your broadband service inspecting
packets, for purposes other than just security, and deciding what content
gets through? Do you think it's okay if your broadband provider turns the
Internet into an AOL-like walled garden, deciding for you what you have
access to?
Do we want to continue spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about something
that never happened and is not going to happen in the future?
Yes there will be bundles of cellular and/or fixed broadband services with
entertainment content in the future Bert. These are services that almost every
consumer uses today, and bundling is a popular technique to attract and retain
subscribers...
T-Mobile is bundling Netflix with their unlimited data plans; Sprint is
competing by bundling Hulu. THis is competition at work.
NO ISP is building walls Bert. I benefit by subscribing to both AT&T cellular
and DirecTV Now; my celllular DirecTV Now bits are zero rated.
But I rarely use DirecTV Now on my cellphone - but I use at least 600-700 GB of
Cox broadband data each month to access DirecTV Now. Neither AT&T or Cox block
or throttle my access to DirecTV Now or ANY OTHER Internet content.
And it would be a useless exercise for an IPS to inspect subscribers packets,
as almost all of them are encrypted. They have no incentive to do so. But they
may have an incentive to buy subscriber data, as Google and Amazon do, in order
to deliver targeted ads to subscribers. OR they can build edge services like
Google search and collect data the way Google does.
People on the take will pretend this won't happen, because of course, it
lines their pockets. But we've seen this model in operation for at least 4
decades, and we've seen the consequences. We've seen those pathetic cases of
both (too-greedy-for-their-own-good) parties trying to blame the other side,
for providing piss-poor service to the paying customer. When very clearly,
the problem is inherent to the business model itself.
Bert seems to be talking about the sad saga of re-regulation of the cable
industry in 1992, which resulted in the unintended consequences of continuing
higher than inflation increases in rates, and the re-aggregation of content by
the five content oligopolies. Fortunately this was likely the last pay-off to
TV broadcasters who are spinning down into irrelevance.
There is nothing that obliges the telecoms to be corrupted that way. No
historical precedent, no common sense argument. Only crooks on the take would
want this.
Fortunately the biggest crooks are now out of power in D.C.
Regards
Craig
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