The internet is over!

[xoxoxoBruce]

It'll continue until enough people take them to court.

[tw]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

It'll continue until enough people take them to court.

From the NY Times of 28 Mar 2008 - or about 12 months after Bruce posted this:

Comcast Adjusts Way It Manages Internet Traffic
Comcast ... said on Thursday that it would take a more equitable approach toward managing the ever-expanding flow of Web traffic on its network.

The cable company ... has been under relentless pressure from the Federal Communications Commission and public interest groups after media reports last year that it was blocking some Internet traffic of customers who used online software based on the popular peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol.

Comcast said it would change its fundamental approach to playing Internet traffic cop. Instead of interfering with specific online applications, it will manage traffic by slowing the Internet speeds of its most bandwidth-hogging users when traffic is busiest. ...

The change was part of an announcement by Comcast on Thursday that it had been working with BitTorrent ...

The companies said they have been working together for the last year on ways to optimize BitTorrent applications for the Comcast network. They said they would publish their findings to Web forums and standards groups so that other software makers, peer-to-peer services and I.S.P.’s could adopt them. ...

Comcast and BitTorrent said their collaboration showed the corrective power of the market and obviated the need for further federal oversight. But in a public statement, the commission chairman, Kevin J. Martin, vowed continued scrutiny and expressed concern that the old filtering practice would continue at least through the end of the year.

Marvin Ammori, general counsel at Free Press, ... “The only reason Comcast came to the table and made a deal with BitTorrent is because of the unrelenting pressure,” he said.

[tw]

From the BBC of 18 April 2008:

Action urged to keep net neutral
The meeting was called by the FCC in reaction to the news that US net firm Comcast had been exposed as managing traffic by stopping some of its 13m customers uploading files to BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer networks.

The FCC has started a formal investigation to see if Comcast merits a fine for its actions.

In response to the publicity surrounding its actions, Comcast has said it would change its policy.

A fast bit rate does not necessary mean a fast packet rate.

[tw]

From the Washington Post of 23 Apr 2008:

Comcast's Network Practices Need Scrutiny, FCC Chief Says
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin ... said in his testimony that it appeared Comcast had singled out content for delay over its network, even when the network may not have been congested with overuse. He also said he doubted the company's statements that it would stop some of its practices by the end of the year.

Why does Comcast just not turn off the software today? Why wait 8 months to stop filtering network content?

The entertainment industry, meanwhile, is divided on net neutrality. Yesterday's panel included Hollywood writers and actors who testified in favor of regulations that would prevent media companies and cable and telecommunications carriers from controlling content over the Internet networks.

"The Internet holds incredible potential to resurrect a vibrant industry of independent creators with free access to, and distribution of . . . content," Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West, said in his testimony yesterday.

But groups such as the Songwriters Guild of America have argued against net neutrality, saying a network without controls would effectively enable rampant piracy and copyright infringement.

[tw]

For most part, the computer industry has been responsible. Therefore little government regulation was required. Comcast is a repeated exception. Comcast was even caught subverting Skype packets to self serving purposes. Comcast has bought NBC for reasons that include controlling another potential threat to its business - interactive TV. Ongoing is a Comcast lawsuit.
From the Washington Post of 15 Jan 2009:

FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access
The issue may have reached a turning point last week when a federal appeals court questioned the limits of the FCC's authority in a 2008 case involving Comcast. The agency had ordered the Internet and cable giant to stop blocking subscribers' access to the online file-sharing service BitTorrent. But in an oral hearing last Friday, three judges grilled an FCC lawyer over whether the agency had acted outside the scope of its authority.

The appeals court is still hearing the case, but analysts predict that the FCC will lose and that the ruling could throw all of its efforts to oversee Internet access into question. A loss could undermine the legality of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's push for policies that would prohibit service providers from restricting customers' access to legal Web content -- the concept known as net neutrality -- and throw into doubt the agency's ability to oversee pricing and competition among Internet service providers.

[mbpark]

TW,

Comcast bought NBC so that they could own a ton of the original content and charge anyone that is not them a lot of money to use it online. By a lot of money, I mean "make it prohibitively expensive".

Fox is doing the same thing by putting all of their content behind a "paywall", i.e. charging for access to the WSJ, Fox News, and other content of theirs online. Rupert Murdoch makes a lot of money by pandering to the fear, uncertainty, and doubt of the Republican Party and their fans. Since it's "entertainment" and not news, they can officially lie to them, and get them to pay for their fix.

The difference is, Comcast is going to end up with the rights to many classic TV franchises, and the ability to charge competitors a lot of money to view content.

Michael Andreakis, their CFO, will hopefully toss Jeff Zucker out on his worthless, Jay Leno loving ass when this deal closes for blowing millions on that tripe.

In other words, it's not all that bad.

[tw]

Originally Posted by mbpark

Comcast bought NBC so that they could own a ton of the original content and charge anyone that is not them a lot of money to use it online. By a lot of money, I mean "make it prohibitively expensive".

Key to that (which is part of a larger objective) is to get control of interactive TV. The music industry ignored an equivalent future market. Therefore Napster, et al occurred.

Comcast is only a data transfer company. But Comcast hopes to use their 'position' to obtain or control where real money can be obtained and (as noted) to increase the price (and profit). Any effort to control the data (using their position as a data transport company) means Comcast can cut out or out maneuver other competitors. One key objective is to control what would only be, for example, all archive entertainment for lower prices.

Net Flicks and interactive TV are examples of what Comcast fears - equivalent to what Napster did the music industry. If not controlled, then Comcast would be forced to provide more bandwidth for the same price - must respond to market forces rather than control them.

The internet model worked when data providers and data transporters were separate. By controlling both aspects, Comcast can more easily subvert free market competition to favor their bottom line.

GM did something similar by purchasing all Trolley companies.

I would bet most everyone never even considered any of this. Which is why that Comcast FCC lawsuit is so interesting only to those who saw this coming.