Net Neutrality // Current

All your OS are belong to US... with Apple's new advertising patent!

Would you love Apple quite so much if they forced you to jump through hoops, click buttons and answer survey questions at random intervals while listening to music? How about some banner ads as you browse the music and documents on your computer? No?

See, this is the problem: with our every-day activities slowly centralised and usurped by a handful of multinational juggernauts, we are quite simply at their mercy. If Google decide to turn around one day and shut down their services we have no recompense. If Microsoft shut down their messenger service, what then? What if MSN is your only lifeline to your family or friends on the other side of the world?

We invest a lot of faith into just a few large companies: Apple, Microsoft, Google. A lot of damn faith. And it's misplaced and misguided faith. We trust these vast corporations with our life -- or what constitutes our modern-day life at least: our friends, communication and entertainment.

Why do we trust them? Because we're cheap. Because there's no better alternative to Gmail or iTunes or Windows. Money makes the world go around, ladies and gentlemen. It's the very same impulse that drives us to these free services that will eventually make them unwieldy and useless.

Now that these guys have our attention -- now that we have enough invested that it's too late to back out -- you will begin to see the monetization of their services. First it will just be text-only ads. Then banners. Then full video!

Which brings us neatly onto news of Apple's new patent (PDF). As reported by the New York Times, it seems Apple has an ingenious new system that will plaster unskippable commercials onto your Apple devices at an operating-system level. Enjoying the latest episode of Fringe? WHAM! Advert! Just reaching the zenith of Muse's new album? BLAM! Some banal jingle for hemorrhoid cream.

Ominously titled 'Advertisement in Operating System', you can imagine your own nefarious uses for such an invention. Uses as wide-ranging as Flash ads in 'My Computer' to survey questions you have to stop and answer on your iPod when you go for a run.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/11/16/all-your-os-are-belong-to-us-with-apples-new-advertising-pate/Would you love Apple quite so much if they forced you to jump through hoops, click... more

lordsbassman
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1 day ago
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2 comments

Blame the Internet for Ft. Hood?

Talking about extreme views...

Jenime
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5 days ago
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1 comment

Readers would pay for online news, study shows

Rupert Murdoch's plans to impose fees for newspaper websites received a morale boost... more

bansheewail
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5 days ago
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60 comments

Google says Murdoch stories can be taken off

GO GOOGLE!! Net Neutrality is the war over the dissimination of information.

bansheewail
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12 days ago
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34 comments

Rupert Murdoch could block Google searches entirely

Rupert Murdoch says he will remove stories from Google's search index as a way to... more

bansheewail
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13 days ago
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52 comments

Losing Net Neutrality: What The Worse Case Scenario Looks Like

As we've previously discussed, Senator John McCain hates him some "net neutrality."... more

atomiclegion
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24 days ago
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3 comments

Jon Stewart Slams Politicians Against Net Neutrality

Jon Stewart lampooned politicians who have come out against an open Internet,... more

Future_America
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26 days ago
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Jon Stewart Speaks On Net Neutrality

This whole issue is driving me insane. I have never seen so much doublespeak in my... more

StrangE2U
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26 days ago
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24 comments

Net Neutrality Foes: What If The 'Bad Guys' Are Right?

An interesting read. Perhaps net neutrality proponents should be careful what they... more

JeremyGoode
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30 days ago
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McCain introduces bill to block Net neutrality

Raw Story-Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill in the Senate on Thursday that... more

RFIDemocracy
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1 month ago
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104 comments

The Internet: Public forum or commercial enterprise

The federal government this week is stepping squarely into a high-stakes technology battle with this seemingly straightforward question at its core: Should Internet providers such as Comcast and AT&T be allowed to control what you do online once you buy access to their networks?

If the answer seems obvious -- of course they shouldn't -- the debate hardly ends there. What if your activity online hogs so much bandwidth, like watching TV or downloading movies, that it slows your neighbor's Internet speed to a crawl?

Or what if the application you're using undercuts the Internet provider's business model? One example: Should AT&T be allowed to stop you from making free calls over the iPhone data network, bypassing the company's lucrative cell phone network?

Those are the kinds of vexing issues at play as the Federal Communications Commission assumes an enhanced role as Internet traffic cop. The goal, according to the commission's new chairman, Democrat Julius Genachowski, is to keep the Internet as open and accessible as possible for consumers and innovators.

"It's about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the Internet," Genachowski said in a recent speech. "This is about preserving and maintaining something profoundly successful and ensuring that it's not distorted or undermined."

But in pursuing that aim, the FCC is thrusting itself into a real-world business clash between some of the nation's fastest-evolving industries, raising questions about the appropriate level of government regulation.

On Thursday, the five-member commission is expected to vote to take an initial step toward adopting so-called "net neutrality" rules, siding with top Silicon Valley content providers such as Google and Yahoo (which benefit from open, unnegotiated access to the Internet to promote their services) over telecommunications giants including AT&T and Verizon (which argue that they should maintain control over their networks after investing billions of dollars in them). In a significant shift, the rules would extend beyond wired broadband networks to the realm of wireless networks.

(more after the jump)The federal government this week is stepping squarely into a high-stakes technology... more

logicpocket
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McCain Battles Google, Twitter, eBay Coalition Over Net Neutrality

Federal regulators took an important step Thursday toward prohibiting broadband... more

atomiclegion
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1 month ago
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9 comments

Private Investment: FCC Should Tread Carefully On Broadband Rules

The Federal Communications Commission recently led discussions on proposed Net... more

LeonardGrace
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1 month ago
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Senator Al Franken Speech On Net Neutrality

I taped Sen Franken at the recent Fututre of Music Conference in Washington DC which I... more

Mike_Johnston
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1 month ago
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AT&T Posts New Press Release: Calling for Constructive, Fact-Based Dialog with FCC

According to a post on the AT&T News Room site, "The FCC is conducting inquiries into the wireless industry regarding competition and innovation. Additionally, the FCC has announced an upcoming rule making on net neutrality that would apply to wired and wireless networks." said Ralph De la Vega during an address at CTIA’s semi-annual convention. If not the FCC than who? AT&T should be left to their own devices?

Getting calls on your mobile is one thing, but when you start allowing TelCo's to sanction access to internet based content, we are treading into the global, public pools of information. It comes down to cost, only those who can afford top-level services will have access to what should be publicly accessible information if AT&T et al have their way.

AT&T CEO, Richard Del La Vega is quoted as saying “The facts are clear: the U.S. wireless industry’s virtuous cycle of innovation and investment is working to deliver real value to American consumers,” said de la Vega. “We want that to continue.”

The post goes on to site the top ten reasons AT&T should be allowed to do whatever they want... (*ahem*) I mean, what de la vega says: “As part of our dialog with the FCC, we hope to present some important facts to show how — and why — less regulation is the best path to the future for America’s wireless industry,” or, "Why AT&T should be allowed to be the entity making those regulatory decisions because they know best! And to prove they know best, AT&T "created a site dedicated to the first completed decade of AT&T innovation in the 21st century. Supporting Mr. de la Vega’s remarks at CTIA, the new site reflects on AT&T’s effort to set a leader’s pace in bringing more innovation and customer choice to areas such as devices, networks and application development."

Ah, Mr. de la Vega started his career in 1974 with BellSouth (then Southern Bell) as a management assistant. He _would_ know how innovative AT&T is after all this time. See, they made a chart and everything! http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=2949

What do you think?According to a post on the AT&T News Room site, "The FCC is conducting inquiries into... more

NicoMcLane
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Meet the Bandwidth Bastards: The FCC, Sprint Nextel and TiVo??

Nico McLane (User of much Bandwidth and Streaming Media All-Star) muses along side A.M. Arno (abuser of much bandwidth and marketing professional) on the question of... "How should Net Neutrality affect the mobile Internet?"

It really is quite simple: the same way NetNeutrality effects the real internet. Why should there be a difference between the "mobile" internet and the "real" internet? There is only one internet, and it should not matter how you access content on it of whether it's via a smartphone, netbook, or your tv's set-top box. These are all IP-based communications over the same internet we all know and love today.

Watching live shows in real time requires real streaming over the real internet, mobile or otherwise. Cable companies have made some provisions toward handing over access to subscribers, and more options are available as to how subscribers are able to watch what they watch, but the industries are taking baby steps. Nico loves her new Palm Pre on Sprint Nextel; the live streaming experience may not be 100% at all times, but the seeds have been sown, and because we have access to the network and the devices are not locked down, we as an industry can work together to make the experience better.

Nico notes: "After spending a lot of time thinking about how I want to experience mobile to set top box to notebook programming, I think that Sprint, with their live Sprint TV already off the ground should partner with TiVo to develop the ultimate semantic, take-me -with-you programming experience—they share a similar corporate culture and the more I think about it, the more I realize what a wonderful partnership that would be!"

Verizon's FiOS TV offers limited access to a some user-generated web sites, and Comcast and Time Warner Cable are rolling out services that let subscribers stream cable channels to their PCs, but we are still in the proverbial "lab" of life trying to figure this all out! What do you think?

Time Warner Cable asked the FCC to lay off the Net Neutrality conversation, stating "Now is not the time to engage in a debate about the need for net neutrality obligations." But if we don't start out with equal and open access, how would we go backwards?Nico McLane (User of much Bandwidth and Streaming Media All-Star) muses along side... more