As an eternal optimist, this is difficult to admit: the Web is dying a slow, but painful, death.
The wonderful, Wild West, anything goes landscape that has made the Web so fascinating, innovative, fast-paced and useful is poised to disappear just like the buffaloes did when the settlers appeared and proceeded to slaughter nearly 30 million of these majestic animals.
On the Web today, the “settlers” are the telephone carriers, cablecos and government agencies who are hell-belt on re-making the Web to fit their economic and political agendas. If they succeed, there is no doubt they will savagely attack the Web - maybe not to near extinction like the buffaloes - but into something unrecognizable than what exists today.
This aggressive multi-pronged attacks starts with something seemingly innocuous - technology called traffic shaping that makes high-speed networks more efficient for the majority of customers by deliberately slowing down some traffic such as P2P and video that uses a lot of bandwidth.
While traffic shaping doesn’t seem evil because it’s aimed at all those bad music and movie downloaders, it is an alarming trend because an increasing number of high-speed service providers are inspecting everyone’s traffic and taking direct control of how traffic flows on the Web even though consumers are paying a pretty price for access.
It’s encouraging to see the Canadian Association of Internet Providers put the spotlight on traffic shaping by filing a complaint with Canada’s telecom regulator against Bell Canada’s traffic shaping activity. The CRTC has asked Bell to provide “full rationale” why it shapes traffic, which could offer some valuable insight into how traffic shaping being implemented.
In the U.S., traffic shaping was thrust into the spotlight earlier this week when Charter Communications unveiled plans to test an “enhanced” service where in which it will monitor how it customers surf and search on the Web so it can deliver contextual advertising. Charter is essentially saying that it not only wants its customers to pay for high-speed access but also wants the ability to squeeze more money out of them by selling their souls to advertisers. That’s troubling.
While the carriers and cablecos do their their best to castrate high-speed service, regulators in North America continue to waffle over issues such as Net Neutrality and whether the Web should be regulated.
In Canada, the CRTC made a smart decision 10 years ago by deciding not to regulate the Web. Now, it’s thinking about getting into the regulation business by
holding public hearings next year amid complaints from content makers that their efforts are being broadcast in a, heaven forbid, regulation-free environment.
Gee, I can’t wait to see government regulation of the Internet if, in fact, it is possible to regulate it.
Finally, let’s talk about the cost of high-speed access.
Let’s face it, high-speed access has become a utility like electricity, water and the telephone. It’s a public utility that has gone private and, in the process, competition has disappeared. Not to look too fondly at the days of slow dial-up access but at least there was a healthy competition as opposed to the monopolies and oligopolies that exist today.
For the most part, high-speed access is not inexpensive but it’s something people are happy to purchase because it gives them a big pipe to the Web that they can use how they like - be it just checking e-mail and surfing the Web, or legally downloading or watching/listening to movies and music. It’s like owning a car, and being able to drive it wherever and however you like (within the limits of the law, of course!)
Unfortunately, ISPs aren’t happy happy just to sell high-speed access that’s being marginalized by traffic shaping technology. Now, they want to put a cap on how much bandwidth you consume - a move some suggest is anti-competitive. Rogers, for example, has placed a cap of 60GB, which will disappear pretty quickly if you want to download high-def movies.
Of course, Rogers and other ISPs will be more than happy to sell you more bandwidth - a move that makes their lucrative high-speed businesses even more lucrative. (Note: You notice that broadband carriers and cablecos don’t break out the profitability of their high-speed units? Probably because they’re very, very profitable.)
I’m going to miss the free-wheeling, anything goes Web. Although the Web had a relatively short existence, it left nothing on the table and lived life to the fullest.
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