A partisan divide pitting Republicans against Democrats on the question of Internet regulation appears to be deepening.
By an 8-to-23 margin, the committee members rejected a Democratic-backed “Net neutrality” amendment to a current piece of telecommunications legislation. The amendment had attracted support from companies including Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and their chief executives wrote a last-minute letter to the committee on Wednesday saying such a change to the legislation was “critical.”
What this means is that your ISP will be able to block any competing website and hold up any website for ransom. For example, your DSL provider will legally be able to slow down Vonage to make it unworkable, leaving their own VoIP service as the only option. And all ISPs will be able to force Google or Amazon to pay for access to you. Heck, isn’t that what we’re paying our monthly fee for?! To access the internet? Not any more! We’ll be paying for bandwidth but won’t be able to use it.
John has written about this before.
Update: It’s already happening…
VoIP customers around the world are discovering that their calls cannot be connected because telecom companies are blocking the movement of such traffic across the net.
“I contacted the ISP and was told it did not support third party VoIP,” explains Peckler. “Vonage ran a test. It seems the ISP was blocking the cable modem when the Vonage adapter went into use. I ran a test of my own. I ran pingplotter for 10 minutes: no blockage, then I picked up my Vonage phone and placed a call: immediately there was a 100% blockage on the cable modem. This was a continuous loss as long as the phone was used.”
Peckler is not alone. Users on VoIP online forums in the US and other countries, including Qatar and Mexico, have been noting similar problems since last year. For while VoIP might seem like a great deal for the average person, entrenched interests in the telecoms industry see it differently – and are taking action against it.
Vote: 23-8
Republicans on the Committee: 17
Democrats on the Committee: 14
Hmmm…. Do the math…
Ya, it’s all the Republican’s fault.
You can always make sure you vote in the next election FOR people who will not favor this kind of crap. That’s assuming your vote is even counted…lol
I’m not worried… if this gets too bad, I think the geeks and hackers will take care of this. If these companies insist on putting locks on the gateways to information we’ve always had and then begin charging money for everyone to enter, the geeks shall shut it all down.
Remember when AOL created “exclusive” content from all of its AOL Time Warner entities and only allowed access to sites like Entertainment Weekly to AOL, magazine subcribers and people willing to pay for a site account? Well, it didn’t work for AOL then and it won’t work for the Telcos now.
On the bright side, this may open the way up for some new ISP wars. Those who block stuff will have a devalued service.
This may also be cause for a larger number of people to have multiple internet connections in their household.
If the cost of our internet connection is not suffiecient for the bandwidth we use, then raise the rate. We are already more expensive than the rest of the world. American telecom is somehow left in the dust by every other nation when it comes to cost per megabit.
Extreme situations breed extreme changes. Something will break but what will it be?
This is some sad shit. I have a feeling this will be getting more and more popular. Prepare for a completly governed internet. Mayby there will be ISP’s that offer service without governs but who knows if you will be able to get them in your area. all i know is if this gets out of control I will be leaving my ISP in the dust. Back to BBS’s for me. I actually enjoyed the tight knit communitys on BBS’s much better than the internet.
Yes I remember the BBS days, and I also agree that if your ISP is one of the companies pulling this shit, that you should go elsewhere. But what if you can’t – I’m not in the US but my understanding is that in most areas you only have access to one ISP. Where does that leave people? This kind of business practice (as well as micropayments for essential items in computer games – I’m sure John will get to that) could destroy this beautiful thing called the Internet that *we* created. I don’t want to have to sit my grandchildren one day and say “hey kids – let me tell you about the internet. It was this great place where you could meet people from all over the world, share your ideas and have fun” and have them look at me as if I’m mad – this stuff has to stop.
#33 It is a DMCA violation to unencrypt encrypted data…
That would work if the Telcos were blocking based on the _data_ in the packets, but in the case of VOIP they appear to be blocking based on the “wrapper” the packets are enclosed in.
There is no need to decrypt the data when the wrapper ‘flags” what the content is being used for.
Similar idea is used by net traffic monitors to determine which P-toP software is generating the most traffic – since the packets are clearly marked…
#27 most of us would jump ISPs if we found out that they were screwing with our services (you do have a choice …
How many broadband providers are available in my area? I’ve already switched from Verizon DSL to Comcast. So, if Comcast ticks me off – I can go back to Verizon, or some 3rd-party ISP over Verizons lines.
I guess the answer is to go back to dial-up – since nobody cares what you do at 44kbps… 🙂
I get to witness the VOIP part, every week. A buddy of mine on the East Coast uses Comcast for his broadband. His sole big pipe option. He uses Skype. Comcast started offering VOIP a few months back and, now, every time he’s in a Skype conversation for at least 10 minutes — he gets disconnected. He also has Vonage for a business he runs from home. Same thing. Online with Vonage for 10 minutes, he gets disconnected. Comcast “service” says “we know nothing!”
I have Comcast for broadband, my sole option. I use Skype. Comcast does NOT offer VOIP, here, yet. My calls go on forever with no problems.
Skype forums report exactly the same crap showing up wherever Comcast starts to offer VOIP.
That’s not corporations evil by definition, btw, Paul. That’s evil by intent. Greed 101. Not enough to make a profit. Rape your customers and ruin the competition by political and any other means — instead of competing.
VoIP is banned in the UAE also. We have a proxy server we all must go through. And the Telco is owned by the government, you know the one buying the P&O ports! Well the law says VoIP is illeagel so all the sights are blocked. I understand that you can still use such things as Skype as it is software but you can’t access their site to get credit. I am unaware if they are blocking the calls now or still just the websites. This had caused quite a stir here as about 90% of the population are expatriates and making cheaper phone calls home was a god send to many people! Also we only have one Telco here! So we don’t get much of a choice!!!! We have to pay the fees or don’t get anything. Even Sattalite BB isn’t available as in other Gulf States. We do get good speed just cost us!
The laissez-faire Republicans/Libertarians above who make the argument that the cable companies who block VoIP (and, potentially, anything else that travels through their lines) are perfectly within their rights as the owner of the infrastructure once again make no distinction between a public good and a commodity. Like education, transportation and healthcare, clearly “net neutrality” falls into the former category — allowing private companies to regulate the communication that takes place over their lines ultimately hinders an open society. (Imagine if phone companies could regulate what you actually said over the phone — that they listened in, and cut you off if you said anything bad about Verizon, for example.) Furthermore, in most cases, the “let the market decide” solution is in practice impossible — it’s frequently the case that consumers *have* to use a particular company for high-speed access — there’s no other choice.
A free market is a wonderful thing — the very engine of discovery and growth — but to completely abdicate the role of elected leadership to the whims of the marketplace is a grave misunderstanding of both government and economics. Capitalism is not democracy. They compliment each other. Regulation is, and has always been, an important part of the capitalist economy.
“But what if you can’t – I’m not in the US but my understanding is that in most areas you only have access to one ISP.”
Exactly. People keep saying, “Well, your ISP will never try to screw you, because they know you’ll just go some place else for your internet.”
No true. I don’t live in the smallest town, but I can tell you that Comcast is the *only* broadband provider in my area. (Except for Satellite, but their Internet is a joke). If Comcast decides to screw me, then I just have to bend over and take it, or else live without Internet.
The only reason Republicans would go along with this is simply because they don’t understand it. The crap with Bush being the root of all evil in the world is getting so old. Instead of demonizing and throwing Hitler’s name out their like it means nothing, and diminishing the real meaning of Democracy for your partisan purposes, try to be productive for once. Why is Bush, or any other fair Republican going to listen to the constant hissy fits from left wingers? Your hissy fits and your overblown charges are so wrong, so childish, and completely destroy ANYTHING you might say that has value.
I agree with you that this is a travesty, but to say democracy is on the line here is so completely untrue and wild that you lose the fight before you even start it.
If we don’t like it, we CAN vote for new leadership in this country. THAT is democracy. Now, if you can stop throwing tantrums, and start acting like normal adults, perhaps you might win a few elections!
Bush is not Hitler. Bush is not ending Democracy despite your wild delusions. Bush will not be president in 2.75 years, and then who will be your lark?
@ #29.
“i love all these ‘evil corporations’ rants. by people sitting at their Ikea desk, typing on their Logitech keyboard…”
Geez Paul, I hope you didn’t waste too much time on that. You see, while I sit here at my Ikea desk, I’d much rather be sitting at a desk build by a local craftsman, but unfortunately K-Mart put them all out of business.
I’d love it if the cloths I’m wearing were sewn together by local seamstresses, but Wal-Mart put them all out of business.
I could go on and on, but the fact is, using a large corporation’s products isn’t a thumbs up towards for the company. If I want to have a desk, I have no choice but to buy it from a large company. If I want to wear cloths, I have no choice but to buy from a large company. And on and on…
According to Jason Kowal, managing director of TeleGeography(http://www.telegeography.com), the vast majority of consumers have a choice of more than 2 ISPs meaning that, if given the chance, the market can and will eliminate a company that limits degrades or otherwise blocks service for long.
I am pleased with the extensive and thought provoking debate here. While I disagree with many of the things posted, it is still nice to read. That being said, I’d like to see just where people believe that these supposedly evil telcos are planning to hold the internet hostage to make a dirty profit. It’s just unrealistic. No customer would stand for it.
I really don’t think any of us can accurately predict where this is going to go. I realize many of you are worried, but as with most things the end result won’t be nearly as bad as you’re making it seem. The Internet has thrived because government has stayed out of the picture – innovation is at a premium in an open market. The minute we let Congress in we change the game forever. Regulation would be a major mistake, and would leave us even further behind in the broadband world by stifling the expansion of infrastructure.
Hmmm, Where I am, I have a choice of 2 isp’s for broadband. I can either go with ATT/SBC/DSL and be FORCED to sign up for phone(as in my area you cannot get dsl without a “live” phone line) OR I can go with time warner/road runner/aol/the devil If the latter forces me to use THEIR voip then what choice do I have. Their voip sucks too! It sucks slightly less than Regular phone, but it still sucks.
Readers of this comment thread should know that Paulaner01, pkp646 and oldhats are part of a tag-team of industry shills who invade blog comments on net neutrality to argue against any government regulation of the telephone companies. Other names who run with this crowd are John Rice, lessgov and AJ Carey. (Google any of these names in combination and you’ll see how their game works. They’ve ganged up on dozens of blogs who oppose the telco position).
By tag-teaming the blogs, this small handful of individuals gives the false impression of broad popular support for an industry-friendly position.
It’s more of the same deception from the likes of AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth that are determined to swoop in and become gatekeepers to Internet content — in a way that benefits no one except themselves.
I’d like these commenters to tell us how it is that they appear together (usually one after the other) across the blogosphere spouting identical industry talking points.
What gives fellas? Are you being paid to do this? And by whom?