Esso
13 May 2006, 2:51pm
If the mods thinks this thread is better placed somewhere else, please move it.
I fear that companys likes to control the internet, because some of them failed with the VoIP solution.
This legislation is not going to pass - "Lord of the rings".
Wrecking the Internet: Turning Gold into Lead (by Robert Storey)
Link (http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20060508#opinion)
Not everyone realizes that the USA invented the Internet.
Even fewer people realize that the USA is on the verge of wrecking it.
This is not an exaggeration. Some nasty new legislation currently under debate in the US Congress could make
the Internet as bland as day-old yogurt.
Those who do not live in the USA should not be smug.
There is a famous old saying that when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia.
The USA has a history of exporting its bad laws. Most geeks are familiar with the notorious DMCA and software patents.
Thanks to the DMCA, DVDs are region-coded and it's illegal to buy mod-chips for an Xbox.
Thanks to software patents, most Linux distros do not have video codecs or an MP3 player.
The fact that this execrable legislation originated in America did not prevent its rottenness from spreading around the world.
To understand what is at stake, you should become familiar with the term net neutrality.
The basic concept of net neutrality is that Internet content should be dished out in a non-discriminatory fashion.
Thus, your ISP should not be preventing you from accessing DistroWatch, nor should your bandwidth be throttled when you
try to use BitTorrent or Skype. In this sense, the network is neutral - it does not play favorites.
All this would change (for USA residents) if the US Congress passes the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006.
This odious new law is the brainchild of telecom and cable TV companies. Chief ogres include Verizon, Comcast, BellSouth and AT&T.
Their incentive for pushing this legal abomination is the opportunity to make a lot of money.
The COPE Act would do away with the requirement for net neutrality, thus turning America's Internet into a "private network."
This would permit ISPs and telecom companies to dish out Internet access to the highest bidder. Under such a regime, AOL could, for example, block access to MSN, or Verizon could throttle your Skype bandwidth because it competes with their own voice-over-IP service.
Even worse, a wealthy political party could pay ISPs to block access to a rival party's web sites and blogs.
Emailing lists could also be throttled.
It's not hard to imagine proprietary software companies paying to block access to DistroWatch, or prevent you from downloading the latest Ubuntu or Fedora release.
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits.
- Albert Einstein.
Edit: The connections.
Save The Internet (http://www.savetheinternet.com/)
XS conversation thread (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=99106)
I fear that companys likes to control the internet, because some of them failed with the VoIP solution.
This legislation is not going to pass - "Lord of the rings".
Wrecking the Internet: Turning Gold into Lead (by Robert Storey)
Link (http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20060508#opinion)
Not everyone realizes that the USA invented the Internet.
Even fewer people realize that the USA is on the verge of wrecking it.
This is not an exaggeration. Some nasty new legislation currently under debate in the US Congress could make
the Internet as bland as day-old yogurt.
Those who do not live in the USA should not be smug.
There is a famous old saying that when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia.
The USA has a history of exporting its bad laws. Most geeks are familiar with the notorious DMCA and software patents.
Thanks to the DMCA, DVDs are region-coded and it's illegal to buy mod-chips for an Xbox.
Thanks to software patents, most Linux distros do not have video codecs or an MP3 player.
The fact that this execrable legislation originated in America did not prevent its rottenness from spreading around the world.
To understand what is at stake, you should become familiar with the term net neutrality.
The basic concept of net neutrality is that Internet content should be dished out in a non-discriminatory fashion.
Thus, your ISP should not be preventing you from accessing DistroWatch, nor should your bandwidth be throttled when you
try to use BitTorrent or Skype. In this sense, the network is neutral - it does not play favorites.
All this would change (for USA residents) if the US Congress passes the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006.
This odious new law is the brainchild of telecom and cable TV companies. Chief ogres include Verizon, Comcast, BellSouth and AT&T.
Their incentive for pushing this legal abomination is the opportunity to make a lot of money.
The COPE Act would do away with the requirement for net neutrality, thus turning America's Internet into a "private network."
This would permit ISPs and telecom companies to dish out Internet access to the highest bidder. Under such a regime, AOL could, for example, block access to MSN, or Verizon could throttle your Skype bandwidth because it competes with their own voice-over-IP service.
Even worse, a wealthy political party could pay ISPs to block access to a rival party's web sites and blogs.
Emailing lists could also be throttled.
It's not hard to imagine proprietary software companies paying to block access to DistroWatch, or prevent you from downloading the latest Ubuntu or Fedora release.
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits.
- Albert Einstein.
Edit: The connections.
Save The Internet (http://www.savetheinternet.com/)
XS conversation thread (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=99106)