Not Net Neutrality

[digitaldiscipline]

If my reading of this is correct, and, informed by my buddy and former colleague Pat (who is still much more in tune with the ISP end of things than I am[1]), I think it's looking like the open internet side took a solid punch to the junk with today's FCC Net Neutrality thing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/obama-fcc-caves-on-net-ne_b_799435.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20026326-94.html
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/still-dont-think-net-neutrality-is-a-big-deal_b18850

The big ugly: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1593761

[For those of you in the IT/networking profession, if my ire is misplaced, please educate me, but right now, this looks like a potential bucket of flaming hell and badness.]


[1] His remarks on my FB are thus:

a. the telco's are ready to implement. The gateway devices have more intelligence than most folks realize. A few parameter changes at the ACS will send RULES to the RGW [residential gateway; ie, your cablemodem modem/router]. Tier of service will be managed in any way the telco desires. Good luck. oh, and this will lead to a new brand of hacking. channel surfing will have new meaning. WHITEHAT

b. ACS = advanced communications service. essentially a network element which manages the RGW. Most folks refer to this element as an ACS although there are other names. Check out (TR-069) most providers have a way to manage your RGW already today by MAC, serial, email addy, IP address etc. The ability exists to put your device in a walled garden, force it to have allowable destinations, restrict destinations etc. ability to force your RGW to any proxy.

c. so not only is this decision bad as as we know, the technology to manage rules as the telco's desire is already upon us. day 1 the telco could force you to their walled garden. Think AOL. lets hope the telco's are responsible with this power. knowledge dissemination will come to a halt if not.

Comments

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

The thing I keep thinking about is ... what does the worst likely scenario actually look like? And I can't find an example that will really have a big impact on me. There's lots of babble about "small sites! dirt roads! oh no!" but what does it actually mean? 50 more ms ping time? I get only half my 7 Mbs connection to Hulu without a subscription? I'd care a lot more if there were provisions that required (for example) ISPs to pro-rate EVERY month's bill by the amount of uptime they provide or measurable linespeed, or made overselling last-mile bandwidth considered fraud.