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T-Mobile's Binge On Violates Net Neutrality, Says Stanford Report (tmonews.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The debate over whether or not Binge On violates Net Neutrality has been raging ever since the service was announced in November. The latest party to weigh in is Barbara van Schewick, law professor at Stanford University.
In a new report published today — and filed to the FCC, as well — van Schewick says that Binge on "violates key net neutrality principles" and "is likely to violate the FCC's general conduct rule." She goes on to make several arguments against Binge On, saying that services in Binge On distorts competition because they're zero-rated and because video creators are more likely to use those providers for their content, as the zero-rated content is more attractive to consumers.
In a new report published today — and filed to the FCC, as well — van Schewick says that Binge on "violates key net neutrality principles" and "is likely to violate the FCC's general conduct rule." She goes on to make several arguments against Binge On, saying that services in Binge On distorts competition because they're zero-rated and because video creators are more likely to use those providers for their content, as the zero-rated content is more attractive to consumers.
Better? No.
Neutral? Yes.
That's the point of net neutrality, show no favoritism. For good or ill.
It's not about users, it's about the massive transfer of control to the carriers with net neutrality violating programs like this. All content providers now have to conform to Tmobile's throttling rules in order to qualify for special status, and these rules are subject to change at Tmobile's whim.
In addition, video services NOT INCLUDED IN BINGE-ON are also being throttled while other types of traffic are not throttled. This is a textbook violation of net neutrality.
It's about control. Users and content creators should have control of the internet, and carriers should be blind carriers of data. That's the entire point of net neutrality.
The customers don't benefit when the entire industry is harmed. Imagine Comcast and Time Warner metering Netflix to 1 GB/month while letting you use their own video services without metering. Netflix would basically cease to exist, and take their programming along with them.
This is why net neutrality as a concept exists - so that the delivery companies don't get to decide which content providers are allowed to exist.