"The End of the Internet?": analysis of telco war on open networks

[cyberpj]

Snip from "The End of the Internet?,"
an article by Jeff Chester in the current issue of The Nation:

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.
Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency.

According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester

[bemildred]

1. Looking for more suckers, are they? nt

[mainegreen]

2. Please, this has been going around to long.

For every step these guys take forward, technology takes about 20. They can't keep up. There will always be a way to get around them. And there will always buy idiots who pay to much for service.
(AOL zombies anyone?)

The first one to do this will be cutting themselves off at the knees. There is to much capacity in the network. One path charges to much? Direct your business elsewhere.

:eyes:

[cyberpj]

3. It never seems to stop them from trying tho, does it? Also

as several of my friends say...

Man makes it, man can break it. Any code can be broken.

[RoyGBiv]

4. Trial Balloons ...

IMO, a lot of this is akin to a trial balloon thrown up by a congresscritter "leaking" some plan to the media. The intent is to gage public and, more importantly in this case, business reaction to the idea so they can judge just how far they can go while maximizing their profits.

The Internet will change, but how it will change is entirely unclear. One big problem in guessing at the moment is that a lot of this stuff comes across as a cooperative effort between telcos and cable companies when in fact those two industries are currently battling tooth and nail for control and in the end for customers. The third element is the so-far understated and unrealized potential of public networks, and this throws a whole new wrench into the works. In my view, this is the real source of concern. Both telcos and cable providers are trying to lock their position as controlling interests with patents and exclusive rights so that public networks won't be viable.

[Wordie]

6. If the large corps can patent plant DNA and have it stand up in court,

they are capable of anything. This needs to be watched closely, and opposition needs to be very vocal, imho.

[FormerDittoHead]

5. Let the Market Decide, you Socialists!

The 'socialists' I refer to are the telcos which want to do this.

If they want to create a free-access, pay-as-you-go subnet and filter everything that comes and goes, I say, let them and see if anyone wants it.

We had a system like the one they referred to - it was called Compuserve, AOL and Prodigy...

The problem is that they want a monopoly/oligarchy and CONTROL the market.

This REVEALS that these business people are NOTHING ABOUT "free enterprise" and "open markets" and "competition"....

[Wordie]

7. Thanks for a great post, cyberpj.

I'd recommend it if I could, but, alas, I found it too late.