All Things Net Neutrality

MLB Net Neutrality Comments reveal strong opposition to ISP fast lanes | BGR (http://bgr.com/2014/07/31/mlb-net-neutrality-comments/)

Well, MLB has already came out and trashed the ISPs so I wouldn't expect anything less from the NFL. It's going to be interesting watching the cable companies duke it out with some huge corporations out there.

MLB Net Neutrality Comments reveal strong opposition to ISP fast lanes | BGR (http://bgr.com/2014/07/31/mlb-net-neutrality-comments/)

Well, MLB has already came out and trashed the ISPs so I wouldn't expect anything less from the NFL. It's going to be interesting watching the cable companies duke it out with some huge corporations out there.

MLB kind of surprised me but I wouldn't expect the same kind of reaction from the NFL. As long as they have their money from DirectTV for Sunday Ticket they could care less. ~$20 a game (when you don't include National or Regional Broadcasts), only available to DirectTV subscribers and people who can't get DirectTV, if you follow one team and yet some people at the league office wonder why people put up with poor quality streams.

It's been stated over and over again but when going legitimate becomes a pain in the arse people resort to piracy. In essence a service problem as the great Gaben once said (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe-Newell-Says-Piracy-Is-a-Service-Problem). Which brings me to this.

DOJ: Make Unauthorized Streaming a Felony | Multichannel (http://www.multichannel.com/news/policy/doj-make-unauthorized-streaming-felony/382723)

But yeah great idea. As if we don't have enough people in jail for petty crimes while guys who beat women get community service (http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/showbiz/california-chris-brown-court/).

I guess this is the downside to get the govt more involved in the internet. However it did make me wish that there was a Napster for internet service. In every industry where providers were gouging customers piracy has been one of the greatest means to pave the way for a reliable and legal service. MP3 piracy gave way to I-Tunes. Torrented TV shows and Movies gave rise to Netflix. It's a shame that internet service can't replicate this because as long as local monopolies exist, providers can essentially get away with things they could never even attempt in a free market with competition.

In other news, oh how I would relish these peering agreements made public.
FCC asked six more ISPs, content providers to reveal paid peering deals | Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/fcc-asked-six-more-isps-and-content-providers-to-reveal-paid-peering-deals/)
The FCC has asked another six Internet service providers and content providers for copies of similar agreements, a commission official told Ars this week. The FCC will likely announce more details of its probe in the fall, but the public probably won't see any specific details of the contracts. Ars sent the commission a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain Netflix's contracts with Comcast and Verizon, but it was denied due to their confidential nature.

"In this case, Verizon and Netflix assert, the agreement contains highly sensitive, detailed commercial and financial terms including pricing, forecasts, capacities, and network information that the parties do not make available to the public," the FCC's response to our FOIA said.
If I had to guess the capacities aspect would be pretty damming as it would likely either expose a refusal to upgrade infrastructure or it would show more then enough network capacity bringing rise to the legitimacy of data caps.

I swear some of these politicians are slower than Netflix on Verizon Fios. I guess better late then never but between Reid and Obama each respective politicians stories should have been published back in January not August. As I've frequently pointed out with Reid he's had more then enough time to make strong public statements against the name of an 80 year old football team name but only recently found the time to provide an updated defense towards net neutrality.
Obama on net neutrality: My administration is against Internet fast lanes - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/08/05/obama-strikes-a-populist-tone-on-net-neutrality/)
The last time President Obama weighed in on net neutrality, it was to offer a vague, tepid response — claiming to support the idea without really defining how he understood it. It was a big contrast from what he'd previously said on the campaign trail in 2008.

On Tuesday, however, Obama offered a much more forceful defense of net neutrality, more clearly describing what activities he viewed as antithetical to the open Internet. Addressing reporters at a summit for African leaders in Washington, Obama said making the Internet more accessible to some at the expense of others was against his administration's policy:

I love what the MLB has done with the internet. They've been ahead of the other leagues by far and I think if diehard NFL fans had access to what die hard MLB fans have, NFL fans would love it.

I say that as someone that's not really a fan of the MLB.

The NFL won't follow suit - they just signed a 10 year tv deal that is closely tied to a lot of this, some of the TV companies owning, or being owned by, some of the ISP companies.

I love what the MLB has done with the internet. They've been ahead of the other leagues by far and I think if diehard NFL fans had access to what die hard MLB fans have, NFL fans would love it.

I say that as someone that's not really a fan of the MLB.

The NFL won't follow suit - they just signed a 10 year tv deal that is closely tied to a lot of this, some of the TV companies owning, or being owned by, some of the ISP companies.

Same here. Honestly with the frequency of games during the summer for MLB I wish I was still a hardcore fan like I was growing up. However since then NFL, NHL, and NBA have drawn more of my attention over the years.

One thing I have learned though about NFL owners as a group, if they were players negotiating a contract their top priority would be guaranteed money. Every licensing deal I see the NFL involved with over the years seems to have an emphasis on guaranteed money.

Honestly I kind of feel like its gotten to the point where Congress should scold the league for abusing their antitrust exemption though I would never want the league to be rid of it. After all the antitrust exemption has helped the NFL create a uniform league where the best players and coaches can compete.

Though its kind of an apples to oranges comparison I would never want American Football to resemble European Club Football where you have the best teams scattered to maybe 3 or 4 good teams per league and no real limits on spending in hopes of creating parity. And you can forget things like the draft.

It might be dollars and cents for a handful of the owners but for the fans it's about competition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjOxNiHUsZw&list=PLuKg-WhduhkmIcFMN7wxfVWYu8qnk0jMN&index=10

This is the closest I've come to a full documentary on the issue. Well it's kind of a mockumentary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mockumentary) as the premise is 100% fake (guy doing market research for the ISP's on how to kill Net Neutrality) but the actual information is true. Ironically enough it features the PC guy from the I'm a Mac-PC commercials as a telecom lobbyist. It also features interviews with probably two of the biggest advocates for Net Neutrality in Tim Wu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu) and Susan Crawford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_P._Crawford#Internet_activism).

And no it's not a 30 minute commentary where a guy sits in front of a webcam giving a stump speech.
Pp1MAMkIa6A

So now there's a second phone call that's gone viral.

If You Thought You Were Mad At Comcast Before, Listen To This Phone Call (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/comcast-customer-service-phone-call_n_5668191.html)

All is fine until a week or two later when Davis receives a bill that includes $99.99 for “Failed Self Install,” another $32 for “Failed Video [Self Install Kit], and $49.95 for “Wireless Network SET Up.” That’s $181.94 in total:


“Every time we send out a technician there’s a $50 charge for that,” she explains.

“Well, I have a call recorded where the agent tells me in no uncertain terms that there will be no charge,” counters Davis. “You can not bill me for something that I did not authorize. You can not tell me that it’s free, then bill me anyway and then tell me that you can not un-bill me or credit me for the bill.”

“I apologize for that, but there’s no way that I can credit the account,” says the rep, desperately trying to jump back on to her script. “We value you as a customer, that’s why I am trying to check what I can give you.”
http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/comcastcallgrab.png?w=680

Net neutrality? The FCC's public commenters were overwhelmingly in favor - The Week (http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/266311/speedreads-net-neutrality-the-fccs-public-commenters-were-overwhelmingly-in-favor)
http://media.theweek.com/img/generic/NetNeutralCluster.png
More than 30 percent of the comments were from letters or templates, primarily from five major advocacy groups — four in favor of net neutrality, one opposed — and Quid collapsed each template into one comment. The largest cluster of comments (15 percent) focused on how a pay-to-play system — proponents call it a fast-lane for web services willing to pay and a regular lane for everybody else — would harm the diversity of the internet.

But "taken with the entire body of comments sampled, there weren't enough unique or organic anti-net-neutrality comments to register on the map," explains NPR's Elise Hu.


On Net Neutrality, California Cares; Texas? Not So Much : All Tech Considered : NPR (http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/08/13/339712519/on-net-neutrality-california-cares-texas-not-so-much)
http://media.theweek.com/img/generic/KnightNetNeutMap.png

you mean areas that contain majority of the tech workers and have developed areas (in some cases entire cities) around major technology corporations opined to the FCC at a statistically-significant larger rate than those that don't on the biggest technology issue at present in?

you don't say... awesome analysis there NPR. :p