OT: How do US Net Neutrality Rules affect others?

craftech wrote on 2/17/2011, 4:25 AM

I always wondered how any changes in Net Neutrality rules here in the US would affect those of you in Australia, Canada, the UK, and other countries?

Yesterday, Congress held a hearing on Net Neutrality, at which members of Congress squared off over the issue of Net Neutrality (Internet freedom where everyone has equal access) while debating a GOP bill which would roll back the FCC's efforts to protect users from corporate abuses of power on the Internet.

The bill moving through Congress would overturn the FCC's recently announced Net Neutrality regulations. The bill would also prevent the FCC from creating future rules to protect consumers on the web.

The media largely didn't report it (they never do) so it is likely to go through in relative secrecy in the US. It is unlikely that the BBC or other legitimate International media will pick up on it, but my question to those of you that live in countries with a free press is will it affect you?

I actually have no idea how that works.

John

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Comments

farss wrote on 2/19/2011, 2:01 PM

I think the political and the technical issues need to be separated.
From a technical perspective I can understand why the changing nature of web traffic is going to raise issues. This has been an issue raised regarding our governments investment in our NBN which will give most of the population 100Mbps via fibre. One of the exemplars to justify this investment has been South Korea.

My understanding is that in SK over 80% of their Internet traffic is contained within SK. Here in Australia the opposite applies, something like 80% of our traffic originates offshore. It should only require a rudimentary understanding of provisioning to see how the arrival of YT and VOD are going to create issues with the connections to the USA from here. What I find curious is how in general ISPs frown on peer to peer traffic in general and torrents in particular. They should be embracing this as a way to reduce their costs.
Currently my Internet plan's cap doesn't include any bandwidth that originates on my ISP's servers and that's also the case for the other major player down here who is starting to offer VOD services. So one could argue our Net is not neutral.

Bob.

craftech wrote on 2/19/2011, 4:10 PM

One of the exemplars to justify this investment has been South Korea.
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In SK most of it is ADSL, not VDSL although VDSL is rapidly expanding. Don't forget, the majority of the population are concentrated in apartments which makes distribution easier for them. I believe most of the cell phones in SK have internet access as well. In Australia, isn't competitive distribution difficult particularly to the rural areas of South Australia, and doesn't that count for a significant amount of the money the Australian government had to invest in Broadband distribution to keep the prices to those areas roughly equal to those in your urban areas? Do you even have VDSL there?
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What I find curious is how in general ISPs frown on peer to peer traffic in general and torrents in particular
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Piracy maybe?

John

craftech wrote on 2/19/2011, 4:24 PM

It's getting interesting to say the least. Going back to Canada for a moment, they are reviewing UBB but is far from dead as this link points out.
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I read in the Ottawa Sun that the smaller ISPs had to testify before the MPs on February 8. It seems apparent that unless the Canadian government steps in, the CRTC won't stop the practice.

John

craftech wrote on 2/19/2011, 4:39 PM

No. Don't mean to offend but...

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Yes. It's pretty frustrating for the few of us here in the states that realize what these media conglomerates are doing to the public. Devoid of substance they just repeat falsehoods over and over and over again until they become the truth. It's more like training. I knew John Roberts was from Canada. A few years ago when I detailed and substantiated a lie Roberts was telling the viewers on CNN (Time Warner's propaganda outlet) someone from Canada responded. He was happy Roberts left Canada. Roberts recently married another CNN opinion dispenser and then left CNN for Fox News (News Corporation's propaganda outlet). It should be noted that I am absolutely not suggesting that there is any substantive difference between the two. There isn't. Two different colored burning bags on the porch Halloween night. Doesn't matter which one you stomp on first. The contents are still the same.

John

farss wrote on 2/19/2011, 4:54 PM

Very limited VDSL here, mostly ADSL2 and cable which I use, gives me 20Mbps down, 500Kbps up. The NBN will give over 90% of the population oodles of speed....at a staggering cost....effectively paid for by China.
Yes country areas are a BIG problem, remember we're bigger than the USA with a 10th the population and our population is WAY more concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Demographically close to Canada. Even our two biggest cities have low population density compared to the rest of the world. Australians love their quarter acre block of land.

SK is a unique case, largely because of their language oddly enough. Down here any site in an English speaking country is desirable. Korean is not widely used outside of Korea so sites outside SK have lower interest. Population density is also a factor of course but the language factor is easily overlooked.

Bob.