[Cialug] OT: Deep packet inspection meets 'Net neutrality, CALEA

[Brandon Griffis]

I consider myself to be somewhat middle ground on the issue.  For the most
part I find that the argument comes down to one one side claiming that
without "net neutrality" the Internet will become like cable (IE - you only
get access to the channels/websites that you specifically pay for or are in
your specific package), while the other side argues that not allowing any
packet prioritizing will keep us from newer/better technologies that require
substantial stable bandwidth (voip beyond).

Sadly, while I don't think regulation often works well.  In my experience
going it without regulation ends up much worse.  There are already
documented cases of the bigger ISPs and backbones outright blocking traffic
that competes with something they offer.  IE - you can't use Vonage on some
AT&T connections, because AT&T offers their own voip service.  Nevermind
that vonage is just over $20, while AT&T's service is nearly $30...  that's
obviously because it's "better".

This is always how it ends up when things are left to "the market".  The
biggest businesses take over and eliminate the competition and then charge
monopoly prices.  It's the natural end result of capitalism, and it's what
government is SUPPOSED to be protecting us from.  (The reality of what often
happens is for another discussion/debate)

However, QoS is a reality and a necessity.  no company/government can afford
to run all new cabling to cover the entire US every 5 years.  There's a
reason the average consumer internet connection speed is much faster in
England than it is here.  They're not surging ahead of us in tech. They
simply have less land mass and more concentrated populations.  So we need
different answers and QoS is one of them.

Now for the hard sell.

The real answer is to regulate it to the extent that "types" of service can
be prioritized, but not one provider over another.  So you want to
prioritize voip?  Fine.  But both your packets and your competitors packets
have to be given the same priority.  Which would be a greater priority than
let's say smtp or http.

Saying that is one thing.  Writing laws/regulations to do it, without
obvious loopholes, AND without limiting innovation and new technologies is
quite another.

-Brandon

On 7/27/07, Nathan Stien <nathanism at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Many of you may be interested in this article:
>
>
> http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/deep-packet-inspection-meets-net-neutrality.ars
>
> I'd be curious to hear some cialugger opinions on Net Neutrality.  Is
> there even a consensus on precisely what the term means?  I read
> conflicting versions of the idea all the time.  Both proponents and
> the opposition claim that their position is about "saving the
> internet".  Both sides argue that the other would harm innovation.
> Anyone here feel strongly about this either way?  I would be
> fascinated to hear your perspectives.
>
> I know some people here work at or run ISPs, and I'd be extra curious
> to hear their opinions.  Is this something we need to legislate, or
> could the market take care of it?  (Though in most towns there's not
> much of a real market...)  Do you ISPers long for the ability to shape
> traffic and provide tiered service levels?  What about that "pay us
> $10/month and we'll uncripple your VoIP" thing from the article?
>
> I would imagine most people here, ISPer and non-ISPer alike, would
> prefer that things like CALEA didn't exist.  Anyone have pro-CALEA
> feelings or arguments?  (I myself would prefer complete deregulation
> of strong crypto and more widespread usage of it among everyday people
> for emails, cell phones, etc...)
>
> --
> Nathan P. Stien
> Consulting Engineer / Software Developer
> Embedded Systems Electronics and Software
> http://linkedin.com/in/nathanstien
> Mobile: 309.241.2581
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>
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