WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

December 2, 2010

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski spoke Wednesday, offering a roadmap to net neutrality rules and regulations that he and other commissioners will discuss and inevitably vote on at the FCC's December 21 meeting. One of the things that many journalists noted was that the Chairman seemed to have backpedaled on many key points. Besides excluding wireless carriers from the equation, Genachowski mentioned "usage-based pricing."

Naturally, companies such as Comcast, Time Warner and AT&T see some of the concessions the FCC has made in its latest proposal as a strong victory for their side. Genachowski's support for pay-as-you-go pricing is a victory for these companies because it declares that broadband providers have the power to charge users for bandwidth they consume.

This should be especially troubling for anyone that enjoys watching movies through Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. A typical streamed movie uses up 4 GB of bandwidth. Naturally, if a company forces you to use a data plan, then you will be less likely to use services like Netflix, Hulu, and more because it is just not economical. Of course, you can always watch those movies on Pay-Per-View...

The Wall Street Journal Blog offers a good overview of why what the FCC wants to do later this month is not a victory for consumers.

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Comments

Re: WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

Submitted by Shahab on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 00:05.

Jesus, how can people misunderstand NN so profoundly? The basic principles of network neutrality is that ALL data gets treated the same. An ISP like Comcast could charge you for all data over 250gb a month, or disconnect you, but they couldn't charge you extra for just one type of data, i.e. only video data. They also couldn't disallow lawful content on their networks, i.e. no more throttling bit torrent. Anyway, I'll take what I can get at this point, as these companies abuse their position, as is sure to happen, we'll see more regulation, although I am not hopeful. We need forced line sharing in this country.

Re: WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

Submitted by killatia on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 22:41.

This is not Net Neutrality, is IPS forcing a tier-based pricing.

http://www.magicinkgaming.com/

Re: WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

Submitted by greevar on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 12:09.

This is exactly what net neutrality was intended to prevent and now it's standing on our doorstep!

This is what will happen once this new measure is passed.

dvice.com/archives/2009/10/net-neutrality.php

-Greevar

"Paste superficially profound, but utterly meaningless quotation here."

Re: WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

Submitted by Craig R. on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 20:37.

The United States of America: By the corporations, for the corporations.

Re: WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

Submitted by Neeneko on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 14:02.

Oh, editor note.. the 4GB quotes was not bandwidth, it was total transfer. Bandwidth is how much you can transfer at a time (bytes/second), which is a differnt type of cap.

Re: WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

Submitted by Neeneko on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 14:00.

I will have to read more before really commenting on this comprimise.. but charging one's own customers based off usage I have no issue about.... though I am displeased that wireless providers would be exempted since we went though this already with wired connections decades ago with all the same basic arguments.... wireless providers are raking in piles of money while producing an inferrior service when compared to other countries.... they do not need more special protection, they need to be forced to compete.

Re: WSJ: ISP Victory on Net Neutrality

Submitted by DorkmasterFlek on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 12:00.

Okay, that is not what Net Neutrality is about. We charge people for water and electricity based on how much they use too. That makes sense. What we're talking about here is making sure that they don't throttle your connection based on the type of traffic or the source/destination of said traffic. Basically, you get the connection that you paid for, whatever you use it for.

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beemoh: Unless that pic of a Kinect taped to the underside of a phone is a joke05/25/2013 - 1:58am

beemoh: Kinect being used in prototype to stop people walking into people while texting: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-2263173105/25/2013 - 1:57am

Cecil475: @hellfire7885 - Makes me want to support Nintendo even more.05/24/2013 - 4:49pm

hellfire7885: Man, EA seems to be determined to destroy the Wii U ,and the evidently are so arrogant as to believe not making games for it will do that.05/24/2013 - 4:45pm

DorthLous: Pwahahahha http://www.destructoid.com/wii-u-sales-drastically-spike-after-xbox-one-presentation-254449.phtml#LlG8HEYbQj2krql5.0105/24/2013 - 2:23pm

james_fudge: she gets no credit until she employs some common sense. - 2 credits for her.05/24/2013 - 11:22am

Andrew Eisen: To Stender's credit, she did unmoderate my most recent comment within a day's time. There's even a couple other replies. None from her though.05/24/2013 - 11:18am

james_fudge: apparently gamers are all 14 - 21 years-olds living in basements according to her way of thinking...05/24/2013 - 11:11am

ZippyDSMlee: EZK: 0_o thier video card chipset is at the very least 3 versions behind the top PC video card.......05/24/2013 - 7:38am

MechaTama31: "You just wouldn't understand how my parenting preferences are more important than everybody else's freedoms."05/24/2013 - 7:37am

DorthLous: I love how she plays the "I'm a parent, you're a gamer, you couldn't understand" card... I'm a parent and I find her position despicable...05/23/2013 - 4:16pm

E. Zachary Knight: She didn't address your questions because she doesn't have any answers.05/23/2013 - 3:38pm

Andrew Eisen: I replied to her comment. Maybe in a few weeks I'll get a reply.05/23/2013 - 3:24pm

Thomas Riordan: @Andrew Eisen To what bowling alley does she go that puts sexual images in the faces of 6 year olds?05/23/2013 - 3:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, it took a month but Linda Stender finally replied to me... and didn't address a single one of my questions. http://aswlindastender.com/2013/04/23/follow-up-video-games-and-their-effect-on-children/05/23/2013 - 3:13pm

Imautobot: Also, from a tech perspective the PS4 is apparently already winning. http://bgr.com/2013/05/22/xbox-one-vs-playstation-4-specs/05/23/2013 - 3:12pm

Imautobot: Sony's PS4 motto should be "We play games." Microsoft's should be "We play games, when we're not rewinding your tapes."05/23/2013 - 3:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Oh look, Dying Light was just announced For Everything But Wii U. That's 73.05/23/2013 - 2:06pm

james_fudge: Zippy: they said the same thing about Cell. How did that turn out.05/23/2013 - 1:28pm

Andrew Eisen: Need for Speed Rivals is coming out For Everything But Wii U - PS3, 360, PC, PS4 and Xbox One. That brings the grand total up to 72.05/23/2013 - 12:55pm

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