[PLUG-TALK] Netflix neutrality

Brian Stanaland brian at stanaland.org
Wed Mar 4 18:16:39 UTC 2015


Russel, I'm glad someone could articulate my thoughts better than me.

Also, this is another case of how screwed up our patent system is. Years
ago Akamai patented putting servers in the cable head end offices. No one
else, not Limelight, not Highwinds, not even Microsoft or Amazon (Netflix
uses AWS), can put content servers that close to the end user. Comcast can
add all the content servers they want. And they do. They also charge more
than Netflix or Hulu. Comcast would love to hold content from third parties
hostage.

Having said that, there really is no good "fair for everyone" way to deal
with this. Government will screw it up. Companies will screw over their
customers and/or each other.

Brian


On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 4:05 AM, Russell Senior <russell at personaltelco.net>
wrote:

> >>>>> "Keith" == Keith Lofstrom <keithl at gate.kl-ic.com> writes:
>
> Keith> "Keith" == Keith Lofstrom <keithl at gate.kl-ic.com> writes: You can
> Keith> move as much video as you want - if you choose to distract
> Keith> yourself rather than learn something, it is your life.
>
> Russell> A street analogy might be appropriate here.  Streets are a
> Russell> neutral platform.  There is a network of interconnections with
> Russell> access to many locations.  A local street owner doesn't get to
> Russell> decide that a particular destination is undesirable and then
> Russell> deny access to the streets on the basis of your destination.
> Russell> There aren't Subaru streets, Ford streets, and General Motors
> Russell> streets.  The streets are common carriers.
>
> Keith> That is /exactly/ why we must not confuse "net neutrality" with
> Keith> "netflix neutrality".  Of course streets are common carriers, and
> Keith> everybody with a driver's license and an approved vehicle can
> Keith> drive on them.
>
> [...]
>
> Keith> Comcast and other carriers are not "penalizing" Netflix because
> Keith> Netflix pushes movies rather than web pages.  The carriers are
> Keith> reacting to the equivalent of million ton, thousand trailer
> Keith> juggernauts going way faster than the speed limit without
> Keith> yielding to other traffic.
>
> Um, no.  Bits all go the same speed.  Einstein made rules about that.
> Someone might send more, but that's because the carrier's *well* paying
> customers asked for them.  The entire reason the FCC acted was because
> the carriers were beginning to exercise their power (otherwise
> unfettered) to interfere and play games with their customers ability to
> access third-party services, and the court told the FCC that the timid
> way they tried to regulate against this behavior before wasn't legal
> (and actually pointed them at the part of the statute they could use,
> title 2).
>
> Comcast *wants* to push video.  Their network is *capable* of pushing
> video.  It's when they want to decide whose video (or <insert-content>)
> gets to arrive that they step over the line.
>
> The FCC didn't go nearly far enough, but it was a step in the right
> direction.  Line unbundling should be the next step.
>
>
> --
> Russell Senior, President
> russell at personaltelco.net
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>



-- 
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." -Albert
Einstein
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