Two-tier fear (and Canadian teen 'shop queen)

In today's IT Blogwatch, we look at fears of a two-tiered internet. Not to mention the Canadian government's inspired campaign to educate teenage girls about how the big bad media uses Photoshop to make them feel fat and ugly ...

Two-tier or not two-tier, is that the question? [You're fired - Ed.] A good article from Michael Geist based on the Canadian experience: "Although providing Internet connectivity is certainly a profitable enterprise, ISPs have understandably sought to identify how they can leverage their role as intermediaries to generate additional revenues ... network neutrality has enabled ISPs to invest heavily in new infrastructure, fostered greater competition and innovation, and provided all Canadians with equal access to a dizzying array of content. Notwithstanding its benefits, in recent months ISPs have begun to chip away at the principle. Internet telephony (often referred to as Voice-over-IP or VoIP) provides a classic illustration of this trend. As each major ISP races to offer their own Internet telephony services, some have begun to use their network position to unfairly disadvantage the competition. For example, Canadian cable provider Shaw now offers a premium VoIP service that promises to prioritize Internet telephony traffic for a monthly fee. The potential implications of such a service are obvious -- the use of competing services will require a supplemental fee, while Shaw will be free to waive the charge for its own service ... These developments should send alarm bells to Internet companies, users, and regulators." [Quite a long article, but worth a read if you have time]

» Robert L. Mitchell sees the irony: "More than 40 years after the packet switching network was first invented, carriers are finally getting religion about the technology ... The problem, of course, is that VoIP turns voice telephony into just another Internet-based service ... No switches. No phones. No wiring to the home required. That has some carriers fuming ... SBC and some other telcos want to block access to competing services and maintain control ... But barring government intervention that's not going to happen. It will be difficult for carriers to maintain control over customers in the way they have with the traditional telecommunications network. WiMax, WiFi and competition from cable providers will see to that. And customers won't stand for it."

» 5blocksfree: "This kind of lameness is what happens when companies saturate their market, and, rather than finding ways to innovate or bring new, VALUE ADDED services to the market, figure out ways to either artificially inflate the 'value' of their existing service, or create minefields that result in consumers paying extra charges for any number of reasons ... The other part of the problem is that consumers are generally lazy (if not stupid in some ways). I am willing to cancel my internet service from my current cable provider should they attempt something like this. How many others would be willing to do the same?"

» whackaxe: "if ISPs are going to go to the trouble to filter VOip and partner websites, then they should also be able to filter botnets, kiddie porn etc, and held liable if they don't." [Good point well made -- erosion of Common Carrier status is a slippery slope]

» Salon Blogs: "My weekly Law Bytes column examines the growing trend toward a two-tiered Internet, which upends the longstanding principle of network neutrality under which ISPs treat all data equally. The column, which suggests that legal protection for network neutrality may be needed, points to a wide range of examples involving packet preferencing, content blocking, traffic shaping, and public musings about premium charges for faster content downloads."

»Dgatwood: "Even if you could get rid of all the local regulations that limit the number of wires on a pole, the laws of physics will eventually prevail, resulting in poles falling over from the weight. Even if you could dig every year to add a new underground wire in people's yards, after a while, you're going to run short on space and start cutting other companies' wires in the process. And again, this assumes that the area can even support more than one wire provider. Most can't. In fact, most telcos actually are forced (by regulations) to LOSE money in order to serve rural areas fairly. That's why they charge that universal access surcharge to everybody. It helps defray the fact that they have to provide phone service to the most distant farmhouse on Sugar Creek Rd ... If we had deregulation... guess what? Those areas wouldn't have any phone service AT ALL."

Buffer overflow:

• Jonathan Schwartz: Free Sun server, just in time for the holidays.
• Albert Raiani: Short on methodology...
• Search Engine Watch: Google & Yahoo Make Dogpile's Top Searches Of 2005 List
• Techdirt: Is The Internet Really Broken?
• Jonathan Bruce: Binary XML debate
• Scoble, R.: Riya not recognized by Google
• IT Toolbox: Minimal integration 12: integration summarised
• GMSV: TypePad? More Like GripePad.
• IT Toolbox: I Want This Yesterday!
• techboard:  Wikipedia to create more 'stable' version in search for better quality
• drunkendata: Interesting Article on Six Sigma
• Schneier on Security: Cell Phone Companies and Security
• Pondering Primate: Attention All Cell Phone Shoppers
• InformationWeek: WiMax Versus Wi-Fi: Which One Will Be The King Kong?
• Om Malik: 440 million mobile users in China by end 2006
• Schneier on Security: Insider Threat Statistics
• Douglas Schweitzer: Dad’s Dell doesn’t have enough horsepower to run AOL 9.0
• Martin MC Brown: Open sourcing systems management
• Mitch Betts: The IT triumph of 2005
• Robert L. Mitchell: Why the FCC will regulate the Internet
• Shark Tank: Just a Little Bit Confused

And finally... Canadian government educates teens on Photoshopping

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk. Also contributing to today's post: Judi Dey, our very own Antipodean.