EU annoys industry and activists with net neutrality proposal Europe’s telco ministers have finally come to an agreement on net neutrality – but it’s one that makes both digital activists and industry unhappy. On Wednesday, a council made up of EU member states' telecoms ministers published its position on the so-called Telecoms Package and managed to alienate almost everyone with a …
What do the paying customers want?
I'd guess that most people interested in mainstream use of t'internet would be happy to pay a small premium (a quid a year?) to have a system devoid of intrusive porn, ads, scamming, phishing, ...
The quid seems reasonable on basis of the cost of hardware required to widespread popularity of the medium and also to prevent cash strapped organisations/guvmints from trying to turn it into a nice little earner? No?
What the hell kind of crazy backwater religious nutter must you be to think that any but a tiny fraction of the population would pay to have porn filtered from their internet? And how horrible is your life if you've got a stick up your pigu so large that you honestly think blocking porn is a good thing?
"I don't see a problem with allowing QoS depending on how much you pay or other condintions."
This is one of the challenges, especially with the move towards VoIP. QoS allows that to work when there's congestion. We probably want that permitted so when we try and phone 112/911 we can get help. I've seen that as all broadband (except MPF) has a default prioritisation for xxKbps for that purpose. How it gets used is then up to the retail customer, so remains neutral. Badly thought out neutrality regulation may remove that option.
QoS must be based on media type. There is no problem if VOIP media gets a higher QoS then an HTML file. As long as all VOIP media gets the same QOS. This ensures that all VOIP providers compete on a level playing field, as it ensures that all HTML providers (any web page) are treated on a level playing field. The only caveat is that media types must be recognized standards. Fortunately, there is already a process for this, it's how MIME types are created and registered. Media type standardization prevents a company from creating an ONLY_I_AM_FAST media type or types in an attempt at exclusive media privilege.
Badly thought out neutrality regulation is neutrality regulation that favours companies at the expense of the population. Amending legislation a year or two down the road with something that allows QoS for emergency services would be a simple sell and easily done.
Regaining civil liberties (like equality, privacy and so forth), once lost, is nearly impossible.
Whilst Europe continues to allow telcos to use their old copper phone lines and doesn't invest in modern technology there will always have to be 'traffic shaping' in the form of throttling or capping, because ISPs have to pay a fortune for transit. Once the government wake up to the fact that we are working on a scarcity model and do something about it, then we can truly have an open internet using the abundance model that real fibre brings. If we continue to prat about with obsolete technology, we will get left behind. Or even further behind I should say. Other continents are forging ahead. They won't have to prioritise traffic so it can get through the choke points. Other continents don't have a legacy phone network to prop up. They have fibre. Moral and Optic.
Once the debt-laden governments wake up to the fact that we are working on a scarcity model and make the taxpayer (and increasingly the poor mugs expecting pension payouts) do something about it
FTFY. HTH.
Oh, I forgot:
Just for reference, should any particular questions crop up.
The solution to which, of course, is to drop taxes on the rich, abandon the poor and have everything run by private corporations! Oh, and don't forget to drop taxes on the rich. It's really important. And zero taxes for corporations!
That's the only way to solve debt problems. An upside-down piece of candy corn in a wig made of used medical gauze told me so.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
