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TheMadSwede
Premium
join:2001-01-30
Holland, MI
 ·Charter Pipeline
| reply to oliphant5
Re: IMHO the main concern
I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV, but I don't know if it is illegal (in the truest sense of the word) for an ISP to restrict content/access.
That said, the only thing the general public has going for it is that any company that tries to control bandwidth (or even access) in the manner oliphant describes could face a PR backlash if their shady measures are proven to be true.
I am not one so silly to think that PR is all that matters to corporations, but most media companies want to appear to their customers as free and open, even if that's not what they are. Just a thought.
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| Here is how it happens....
There are some real dangers here, fortunately not yet materialized.
For now, throttling the competition doesn't seem to be a big problem, but I too worry that it will become one--perhaps by giving favored content "enhanced" access, rather than "restricting" the competition.
Example: Perhaps limited play downloads of HDTV movies become a big Internet item. What happens when your broadband provider agrees to turn off the traffic shaper/meter for "preferred" downloads? Will you still shop "Angie's Movie Outlet" and download at 1.6Meg when your affiliated "ISP Movie Store" can give you the same download at 5Meg? (Advocates will yell, ISPs will claim "we're not hurting Angie, we're just helping ourselves," and point out that it's just another form of "bundling" products.)
Either way, it ends up being an uneven playing field.
Calvoiper
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