Keith and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) review the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, bills that claim to fight online piracy but are actually more likely to end up killing commerce and freedom of speech. Wyden, who is working on an alternative bill with a bipartisan coalition of senators and representatives, says that if these bills go much further, “they would do a lot of damage to what we believe makes the Internet so special.”
via Countdown.
AT&T have joined many other telcos in claiming that they are the gatekeepers to the internet and that only they can decide what you can have access to. They have introduced new, ridiculous caps on their customers, many who do not have another choice to turn to for an internet connection. Here are some links to great articles about what is happening and why you should be concerned.
The Secretly Horrifying Implications of AT&Ts Bandwidth Caps. Cracked.com gives several reasons why this is not a good idea. One of the major points is that, while some think 150GB is a lot now, it won’t be in a few years. Online videos and gaming will eat that up in a heartbeat. In less than five years, 150GB in a month will be their low tier and you will pay dearly for what you use.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) says that he will monitor the situation and keep a close eye on what is happening. He pledges his vigilance to Americans. The caps don’t address competition at all.
AT&T Puts Broadband Users on Monthly Allowance. Wired’s Epicenter discusses the bandwidth caps and its future implications.
Ars Technica asks if the new caps are justified. This article researches the claims AT&T is making about the cost of bandwidth. It points out AT&T’s profits and how wireline expenses are shrinking.
AT&T data cap explanation invites skepticism is another great article from Ars Technica.
AT&T also admits that only 2% of its customers are “bandwidth hogs.” They are, in essence, freely admitting that they have been overcharging 98% of their customers and intend on continuing to do so. They claim congestion is a problem, but there is very little evidence to prove this.
The thing most people do not know or understand is that bandwidth is being paid for at both ends, sender and receiver. If you are, for example, a Netflix user, a typical movie is around 4GB to stream to you. Netflix then has to pay rates for their servers and the bandwidth required to get the movie to you. Netflix is charging you a rate for access to that movie. That movie is roughly costing you 2GB per hour. Then, you have to pay for access to the internet to view the movie. Now, AT&T is putting caps on your bandwidth and charging you if you go over.
Once you add streaming TV shows, Sports, gaming, Digital distribution systems (Steam, D2D, Amazon, etc.), internet radio, iTunes, skype, podcasts, and YouTube videos, it will be very easy to hit these caps. They are also getting larger in size and, in a few years, that 150GB cap is not going to change and AT&T is going to demand more money from you for more GB. Of course, their own U-Verse offering is exempt from bandwidth caps. That means you can watch as much of what they give you as you want. Just don’t think of watching watch you want to watch, or you’ll pay extra for that.
All telcos also received large amounts of government money in the 1990s to upgrade their services and lines. Most have yet to do that and claim they want more money now to upgrade their lines. Instead of upgrading their infrastructure with the free billions they were given, they just pocketed the money from the government.
Given the fact that the large majority of Americans don’t have a choice in broadband companies, they really have little choice in broadband caps being shoved down their throats. Hopefully, Rep. Edward Markey and others in Congress will keep their word and help the people fighting the caps. A similar plan backfired on TimeWarner. It could still backfire on AT&T. People just need to keep up the pressure.
Right now, the FCC and Department of Justice are preparing to approve the NBC/Comcast merger — something that would have dire consequences for years to come.
Please take 2 minutes to watch this important video and get the details.
Then please sign our open letter asking that this merger be stopped. It’s up to each one of us to do everything we can to stop big corporations from gaining control of our media.
