MEDIA WATCH

The death of the internet?

By Jeff Chester

Oct. 29— The internet’s promise as a new medium — where text, audio, video and data can be freely exchanged — is under attack by the corporations that control the public’s access to the net, as they see opportunities to monitor and charge for the content people seek and send.

To achieve this, the cable industry, which sells internet access to most Americans, is pursuing multiple strategies to closely monitor and tightly control subscribers and their use of the net. One element can be seen in industry lobbying for new use-based pricing schemes, which has been widely reported in trade press. Related to this is the industry’s new public relations campaign, which seeks to introduce a new “menace” into the pricing debate and boost their case, the so-called “bandwidth hog.” But beyond political and press circles is another equally important development: new technologies being developed and embraced that can, in practice, transform today’s open internet into a new industry-regulated system that will prevent or discourage people from using the net for file-sharing, internet radio and video, and peer-to-peer communications.

“The IP Service Control System from Ellacoya Networks gives the Broadband Operator ‘Total Service Control’ to closely monitor and tightly control its subscribers, network and offerings.” So reads the Web site of Ellacoya.com, a relatively new firm, describing the business-to-business service that it is selling to large Internet service providers.

Ellacoya is backed by Wall Street investment powerhouse Goldman Sachs, which sees a major opportunity to turn around the red ink-plagued broadband sector. The web site explains: “Talkative applications, especially peer-to-peer programs like KaZaA and Morpheus, tend to fill all of the available bandwidth... The IP Service Control System allows operators to identify, limit and report on these aggressive applications.”

The fundamental character of the Internet today is that it lacks precisely these kinds of tolls, barriers and gatekeepers. But technology like Ellacoya’s hardware and software is not just an enticing idea; it’s more of a silver bullet for beleaguered telecom executives and points to the kind of internet the industry would like to develop over the next few years.

Industry’s new business plan

Most people now pay a flat fee for online access. But the big media companies offering internet service -- Comcast, ATT, AOL — would like to change that.

The broadband industry’s plans to institute tiered pricing have been widely reported in its trade press. There are numerous articles about replacing today’s open net environment with industry-self-described versions of “walled gardens” or “Internet Lite.”

To make the case to regulators that such pricing is fair and overdue, cable operators have begun a PR effort, spinning that a small percent of users account for a disproportionately large amount of bandwidth used on broadband networks. They’ve created and embraced the pejorative term “bandwidth hog” to describe those who — like music-obsessed college students — find robust uses for high-speed connections. Already major news sources, such as the BBC, and technology journalists are using the term in their reports.

To deal with this “problem,” the companies are considering a variety of approaches to ensure they remain in full control of their bandwidth — unless consumers can afford to pay the hefty access fees. Under a typical plan, a user would be allotted a limited amount of bandwidth per month, and would be charged extra fees for going over this amount.

Bandwidth caps have already been implemented in Canada by major Internet service provider Sympatico, Inc., and observers have been quick to note that the limit — 5 GB per month — would effectively restrict regular use of emerging applications such as internet radio, streaming media and video-on-demand.

In a recent letter to globetechnology.com, Andrew Cole, manager of media relations for Bell Sympatico, defended the 5GB bit cap, saying that “In my experience, Internet radio stations usually transmit at approximately 20 Kbps. This equates to 1.2MB per minute, or 72MB per hour. At this rate, a HSE customer could enjoy 70 hours of Internet Radio per month and remain within the bandwidth usage plan.”

But a 20-Kbps stream is considered poor quality by many or even “pathetic at best,” according to Tony Petrilli of Level Platforms Inc. of Ottawa.

“Decent audio quality starts at 56 Kbps to 64 Kbps, and really gets acceptable only around 100 Kbps,” he said. This alone, continued Petrilli, “will blow the cap, let alone any other form of surfing, such as looking at movie trailers or even reading Web-based news. Heaven forbid that someone listens to 90 minutes a day of quality Internet radio. That way we’d blow the cap in 20 days.”

When you consider the fact that the largest American telecommunications firms are often part of the same mega-corporation with music, video or movie-producing entertainment divisions — such as AOL-Time Warner — you can see how an industry-regulated Internet would handily end music and movie industry worries about Napster-like file swapping by people who don’t want to pay industry-monopolized retail prices for content.

The industry spin

The cable industry will argue that such ubiquitous control systems and restrictive pricing structures are necessary to resolve bandwidth backups. But the fact is, this cannot be the case, because cable systems are constructed to avoid bandwidth shortages.

Mike LaJoie, vice president for advanced technology at AOL-Time Warner, told MultiChannel News: “The way that the HFC (hybrid fiber coaxial) architecture works, we never run out of bandwidth,” LaJoie said. “We can always split or do other things that will give us the bandwidth that we want, so it really ends up being a desire to provide the best and highest experience for our customers. By charging a toll for every bit, the industry can simultaneously extract great profits from the new applications that it allows on its networks, as well as restrict access to those that it finds problematic, i.e. those that compete with its own content offerings. In short, the industry finally sees a way to monetize bandwith and make money online.”

These calculations are utterly self-serving, ignoring the fact that the net was developed with tax dollars.

Worse, this business model will erect high economic and technical barriers to entry for non-commercial and public interest uses of the high-speed Internet, threatening civic discourse, artistic expression and non-profit communications. In moving to implement this highly centralized vision for broadband, the cable industry does not simply ignore the democratic and competitive history of the Internet — it is actively hostile to it. New threats to privacy are also clear, given the intrusive nature of the technology to closely monitor all online use.

And where is the FCC?

This new threat to online communications is a direct consequence of recent Federal Communications Commission policies by Chairman Michael Powell that permit cable companies to operate their broadband platforms in a “discriminatory, non-open access” manner. This legalese means the FCC, the historic guardian of the public interest in the communications field, has abdicated its founding charge: to serve the public interest before private interests.

In the absence of public policy safeguards, the emerging pricing and control structures will fundamentally change the kinds of information — and the way it’s delivered — on the internet.

Source: Center for Digital Democracy

Media Watch Briefs

Kuwait shuts down al-Jazeera bureau

Though it’s not clear if it is a permanent or temporary closure, Kuwait has shut down the local offices of Arabic satellite television channel al-Jazeera, saying the station is not objective. Al-Jazeera, based in Qatar and one of the Arab world’s most popular news channels, announced recently that it planned to launch an English language satellite service and web site. A senior Kuwaiti government official said that the closure was due to what he called a “lack of professionalism and neutrality when dealing with Kuwaiti issues.” (BBC News)

Jakarta audience calls US film on Muslims’ lives
‘propaganda’

According to the Jakarta Post newspaper on Oct. 30, a 10-minute movie entitled Common Ground: Muslim Life in America is meant to show to the Muslim world that the US allows Islam to spread and develop in the country, this amid rising public suspicion toward the US-led “war on terrorism.”

US Ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph L. Boyce said Indonesias was given first opportunity to watch the documentary due to its status as the world’s most populous Muslim country. However, the film was immediately criticized with audience members saying that it came across as more pro-US propaganda. (IPS)

Cronkite predicts World War III

Walter Cronkite warned on Oct. 27 that if the US takes action against Iraq without support from the UN it could set the stage for World War III.

“The threat from the White House is to go in anyway,” Cronkite said during a speech at Texas A&M University. “Our only ally would probably be Great Britain. That is not good enough. I see the possibility if we do that of really setting forth World War III.”

Cronkite said he believes the best way to handle the situation with Iraq would be through a two-stage resolution adopted by the UN. It should first call for weapons inspections and then an invasion if inspectors are not allowed or meet interference. Such a strategy could help the US gain other allies, especially Russia and France, he said. (The Bryan-College Station Eagle)

Police minister
fails to shut down anti-WTO web sites

The Australian Broadcasting Authority has cleared Melbourne Indymedia and the s11.org web site saying they are not in breach of government regulations. Luther Blissett from the Melbourne Indymedia collective said the complaint, prompted by the New South Wales Police Minister, was an attempt to discredit legitimate protest. The web sites are forums for news and discussion about the protest of the upcoming November WTO meetings in Sydney. No venue has been announced, which has prompted Blissett to comment: “If there was nothing wrong with the World Trade Organization and the behavior of corporations, then what would they have to hide?” (ABC News - Australia)