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Home Communications Policy

Net Neutrality Defend Thyself

by Dana Blankenhorn
August 22, 2006
in Communications Policy, Internet, investment, network neutrality
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Googlesignii
Lately I’ve found that my Comcast cable modem is having a tough time finding Google.

I have the Google search bar. I enter the search term there. I hit enter. Then I wait. And wait. And wait.

On the other hand, if I enter Yahoo, everything goes much faster?

What’s up? Has Comcast done a deal with Yahoo they are not telling me about? If they are, it’s perfectly legal, because while net neutrality advocates can claim a draw in their battle with the Bells this year, only a victory could have prevented the Bells (and cable operators) from doing what they will.

In other words, they could already be screwing Google, they could tell you nothing, and there is nothing you can do about it. Chances are your only choices for broadband connectivity are the cable operator and the Bellco. If they’re both doing the same deal, what are you supposed to do?

So far there has been a lot of talk about using a SET@Home approach to this, but that’s all it is — talk.

  • Here’s a New Scientist piece that appears to promise it, but the details are hidden behind a paid firewall.
  • Here’s Cory Doctorow saying let’s do it, but no indication that anyone has followed up.
  • Craig Newmark (of Craigslist) tells TechDirt he likes the idea, but there’s nothing here or at his own cnewmark.com blog to indicate anything has happened.
  • Meanwhile, any such program needs a business model. The original SETI@Home project has begun begging for funds.

Now, I think Google could do this for a relative pittance. So could any other large company (such as Level3) that wants to fight violations of network neutrality.

But talk is cheap. When are we going to see some action?

We could be getting screwed right now and not know it.

Tags: AT&Tbroadband speedComcastCory DoctorowCraig NewmarkGooglenet neutralityNew ScientistSETI@HomeVerizonYahoo
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Comments 4

  1. Brad Hutchings says:
    17 years ago

    Oh come on Dana. You have the technical chops to isolate the cause of the delay. Is it the DNS lookup? What is the round trip time for pinging the server by IP address? How about a traceroute? Is it possible that the delay is the Google server itself? Is the delay sensitive to the search terms you’re using? Since you bring Yahoo! into this, how about a detailed comparison between Google and Yahoo! for the above metrics?
    Andrew Orlowski is basically right about the net-neuter crowd. You guys don’t have a technical leg to stand on. Or if you do, you’d rather play politics with conspiracies and innuendo than present your technical case.

    Reply
  2. Brad Hutchings says:
    17 years ago

    Oh come on Dana. You have the technical chops to isolate the cause of the delay. Is it the DNS lookup? What is the round trip time for pinging the server by IP address? How about a traceroute? Is it possible that the delay is the Google server itself? Is the delay sensitive to the search terms you’re using? Since you bring Yahoo! into this, how about a detailed comparison between Google and Yahoo! for the above metrics?
    Andrew Orlowski is basically right about the net-neuter crowd. You guys don’t have a technical leg to stand on. Or if you do, you’d rather play politics with conspiracies and innuendo than present your technical case.

    Reply
  3. Jesse Kopelman says:
    17 years ago

    Brad, Net Neutrality is a political issue. That said, there is no shortage of politics over tech on the other side. I’ve never seen a tiering advocate point to any analysis that shows building smart low capacity networks are any less expensive than dumb high capacity networks. The central issue of Net Neutrality has nothing to do with bits/sec or packet latency, it has to do with whether network owners should be allowed to use a service model that charges different amounts for different packets or if we should keep “the Internet model” where a packet is just a packet regardless of whether it is part of an e-mail or a video.

    Reply
  4. Jesse Kopelman says:
    17 years ago

    Brad, Net Neutrality is a political issue. That said, there is no shortage of politics over tech on the other side. I’ve never seen a tiering advocate point to any analysis that shows building smart low capacity networks are any less expensive than dumb high capacity networks. The central issue of Net Neutrality has nothing to do with bits/sec or packet latency, it has to do with whether network owners should be allowed to use a service model that charges different amounts for different packets or if we should keep “the Internet model” where a packet is just a packet regardless of whether it is part of an e-mail or a video.

    Reply

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