Comcast is Coming for You
Comcast has a plan.
Net neutrality is something we take for granted. It gives us the freedom to download and browse sites from whatever source we want to–we are all equal. Imagine though if we were re-routed to another source or others given priority to choice sites because of their affiliation to the service provider. Well, this could well become a reality with the recent appeal court decision that says that the FCC lacks jurisdiction in this area. Comcast’s game was citing how they wanted to limit the traffic of a BitTorrent site (BitTorrent’s usually a nest for illegal downloads).
Ok, while I do agree with the fact that we should be fair and not let some bad apples slow down the network and gobble up all the bandwidth and consuming it with illegal use, I think their motives are different. There are looking to make more money from services they already offer by proposing tier based data packages. Imagine if you wanted to rent a movie on demand and the movie to download costs you $3.99 or maybe you have a mem
bership to Netflix of $8.99 per month. Would you ever stop to think about how much bandwidth you have left before you start your movie? So you rent that movie and at the end of the month you get another bill from your Internet service provider for an extra $5.00 for your bandwidth overage. You think that seems unrealistic? Well, that is where we are headed.
This battle of the ISP (Internet service provider) wanting to charge more isn’t a new battle but you have to wonder why now? Could it be that many homes don’t have a regular telephone? Do you think it is strange that even phone companies have bundles that include internet and TV? Everyone is looking for more revenue from within and in my opinion this is where they
are trying to stick it to the consumer.
For our technology and national connectivity to progress we depend on net neutrality. Here is simple example: What if in two years all of our TV’s were integrated in the web making our viewing habits more of an online experience. Something like this would kill that progression. No one could afford it.
The guy in the picture looks so evil~~~chilly…
I hope Google Fiber comes to LA…level the field a little.
I am interested to see what happens with this case. I was in a legal class when the FCC first won the ruling but we knew they would be back. As I described, it really gives them the chance to rape their customers.