How the Google/Verizon proposal could kill the internet in 5 years

iog.com ^ | Annalee Newitz

[Rashputin]

Keep in mind that the two-page Googlezon proposal, which you can read here, isn't law, though both companies have requested that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) turn it into a formal regulation. Even if it isn't law, though, Googlezon has stated it will follow the proposal's principles. And mostly those principles are harbingers of a dystopian media future.

[Rashputin]

Looks like the progressive types at Google don't think the Internet being available to everyone has worked out all that well. Is it just me or did this idea only arrive when it became obvious that the leftists weren't going to be able to have the same control of the Internet that they had over the dinosaur media?

[Vigilantcitizen]

Those leftist bastages better realize that any censorship of the internet will prolly be “That Line That Shouldn’t Be Crossed”.

[sodpoodle]

Clueless here;) doing some research.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-infrastructure.htm

http://www.pcworld.com/article/15574/who_owns_the_internet.html

[RoadTest]

In “Liberal Fascism”, Jonah Goldberg explains how large corporations seek alliance with the Federal Government which than imposes regulations on their industry. The smaller companes trying to compete in that industry can’t afford to do the things necessary to comply with the new regulations and are forced out of business.

[RoadTest]

The internet is free to oppose the ideas of the boa constrictors in Washington that are choking our country. Of course they don’t like the internet. They don’t like freedom!

[decimon]

Who Owns the Internet doesn't explain how the "infrastructure owners" are compensated for the use of their infrastructure. I've never seen an adequate explanation of Who Pays for the Internet.

[Hank Kerchief]

“Who Pays for the Internet?”

Which part? Everybody pays for the part they use.

Everyone pays for the use of the telephone lines or cables they use, the servers they use, etc. etc. What do you think the Internet is?

There’s no mystery here at all.

Hank

[MarkL]

In “Liberal Fascism”, Jonah Goldberg explains how large corporations seek alliance with the Federal Government which than imposes regulations on their industry. The smaller companes trying to compete in that industry can’t afford to do the things necessary to comply with the new regulations and are forced out of business.

And Ayn Rand wrote about this in Atlas Shrugged, starting with the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog" act. There's a long history of this... While becoming successful, many businesses are all in favor of an open market: Once they get big enough, they will then use government to try to put their competitors out of business.

Mark

[RayChuang88]

Unfortunately, Google has run head-on into the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and given that the EFF is quite well-funded, Google’s proposal may end up in the trash heap pretty soon over fears of an emasculated Internet experience over wireless connections.

[decimon]

Which part? Everybody pays for the part they use.

We had a telephone system that charged more for long distance domestic service and yet more for international service. Then came the internet which used the same telco infrastructure plus a vast network of additional equipment like routers. For this new service we paid a nominal fee to an ISP to communicate to where we wished, as much as we wished.

It has never made sense to me that we are truly paying for all that we get with the internet. I've never seen any breakdown of how the costs of the internet are covered.

[expatpat]

You pay a communications company and/or an ISP like Verizon a goodly amount each month for telephone service and Internet service, or, if on the cheap, smaller amounts. Google makes large sums from businesses who advertise with them - you pay for that indirectly through the businesses you buy from.

[B4Ranch]

>I’ve never seen any breakdown of how the costs of the internet are covered.<

The easiest way to think about the growth of the telephone/internet industry is that in the beginning we were restricted to one call using one pair of copper wires to connect two people. The further apart those people were the more miles of cable was being used.

Then came fiber optics were multiple calls could be made simultaneously. The electronic equipment kept advancing allowing more and more calls to be made simultaneously. That is what dropped the individual costs per call/connection.

Toss in satellites with faster switching equipment and take out telephone poles with large cables. Bring in wireless computers. More simultaneous calls and less real estate requirements dropped the costs per call/connection even further.

[Hank Kerchief]

“It has never made sense to me that we are truly paying for all that we get with the internet. I’ve never seen any breakdown of how the costs of the internet are covered.”

Well, there really isn’t, “an Internet,” only various switching and signalling protocals (mostly packet switching), but there is not a thing called the Internet. Every piece of hardware is either paid for by the users or owners (in ISPs or Companies, which is where most routers are), the telephone companies’ switches do not need routers, they just switch the packets.

Much of the cost reduction is due to new technology that makes switching and transmission much more efficient.

As for breaking down the cost, no one is interested in doing it, because everyone only accounts for the cost of their own piece, not the whole shebang.

Do you have any idea, by the way, what ISPs pay for the T1, T2, T3, and T4 trunks (to the telephone companies)? T1 is about $360 a month, after that it’s thousands a month. Most larger companies and universities have T1 or higher.

[in case you don’t know what I’m talking about:

http://www.dcbnet.com/notes/9611t1.html]

The ISPs make their money on volume to pay for their trunks.

Nobody is losing money on the Internet.

Pehaps this doesn’t answer your question, which I might not have understood.

Hank

[willyd]

In “Liberal Fascism”, Jonah Goldberg explains how large corporations seek alliance with the Federal Government which than imposes regulations on their industry. The smaller companes trying to compete in that industry can’t afford to do the things necessary to comply with the new regulations and are forced out of business.

You have described the GE business model.