Netroots Net Neutrality "Lobbying" (was: Re: [asterisk-biz] Iptables rule help)

[Matthew Rubenstein]

On Fri, 2006-12-15 at 16:18 -0600, Henry J. Cobb wrote:
> "Michael Jerris" <mike at jerris.com> wrote:
> > This only works if consumers have choice.  Many areas in the US have
> > little choice between carriers for broadband, and those that do, it
> > won't help if all the carriers are blocking.  A friend was recently
> > telling me about a meeting he had with a large number of clec and ilec
> > customers, and the main thing they were interested in was detecting sip
> > and voip traffic including on alternate ports so that they can block or
> > degrade this traffic on their networks.  The theories of open markets
> > only work when there is sufficient regulation in place to make sure that
> > there is truly a level playing field in the market place and in places
> > where there is no up side for the provider, to enforce or entice them to
> > do the right thing.  I am big on free market philosophy, but when there
> > are people at the top making the decisions that are not good for the end
> > customer; regulation must come in to protect it.
> 
> I'd rather just hide as an SSL stream and let the telcos decide if they're
> going to block people's access to their online bank accounts.

	Except that SSL stream cuts into the economy of VoIP. And besides, the
pattern of connections is easily distinguishable as phone streams,
rather than short banking transactions, or most anything else. The
backbones can run traffic analysis, even as simple as the routed IP#
going to/from a PSTN gateway. Any other lock/pick you try will be up
against the highly motivated/financed backbones trying to crush you.

	Meanwhile, you're paying for a justice system. And all kinds of
subsidies to the bad guys. Why wouldn't you demand you get value for
your money, as well as justice? Are you that eager to imagine you'll be
the monopoly telco yourself someday that you'll let them compete
unfairly with you now, thwarting that dream?
-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein