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Taking The Profit Out Of Killing 'Net Neutrality' (cringely.com)
Robert Cringely has a plan to ensure that internet providers will never profit from the end of net neutrality:
We are being depended upon to act like sheep -- Internet browsing sheep, if such exist -- and without a plan that's exactly what we'll be. The key to my plan is that this is a rare instance where consumers are not alone. There are just as many or more huge companies that would prefer to keep Net Neutrality as those that oppose it... Those companies in favor of Net Neutrality obviously include the big streamers like Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and a bunch of others. They also includes nearly every big Internet concern including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft. Those are some pretty big friends to have on your side -- our side...
So I suggest we all join ZeroTier (ZT), a thriving networking startup operating in Irvine, California. There are other companies like it but I just think ZeroTier is presently the best. ZeroTier is a very sophisticated Virtual Private Network (VPN) company that has created a Software Defined Network that goes beyond what normal VPNs are capable of. To your computer or almost any other networked device (even your smart phone), ZT looks like an Ethernet port, whether your device has Ethernet or not. Through that virtual Ethernet port you connect to a virtual IPv6 Local Area Network that's as big as the Internet itself, though the only users on this overlay network are ZT members.
The trick is to get all those big companies that are pro-Net Neutrality to join ZT. The most it will cost even Netflix is $750 per month, which is probably less than the company spends on salad bars in their Los Gatos HQ. Embracing ZT doesn't mean rejecting the regular Internet. Netflix can still be reached the old fashion way. I just want them to add a presence on ZT, too... What the ISPs won't like about this plan is that ZT traffic can't be read to determine what rules or pricing to apply. They could throttle it all down, but throttling that much traffic isn't really practical.
So I suggest we all join ZeroTier (ZT), a thriving networking startup operating in Irvine, California. There are other companies like it but I just think ZeroTier is presently the best. ZeroTier is a very sophisticated Virtual Private Network (VPN) company that has created a Software Defined Network that goes beyond what normal VPNs are capable of. To your computer or almost any other networked device (even your smart phone), ZT looks like an Ethernet port, whether your device has Ethernet or not. Through that virtual Ethernet port you connect to a virtual IPv6 Local Area Network that's as big as the Internet itself, though the only users on this overlay network are ZT members.
The trick is to get all those big companies that are pro-Net Neutrality to join ZT. The most it will cost even Netflix is $750 per month, which is probably less than the company spends on salad bars in their Los Gatos HQ. Embracing ZT doesn't mean rejecting the regular Internet. Netflix can still be reached the old fashion way. I just want them to add a presence on ZT, too... What the ISPs won't like about this plan is that ZT traffic can't be read to determine what rules or pricing to apply. They could throttle it all down, but throttling that much traffic isn't really practical.
...to ZT that was so thoughtfully removed in the summary.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
I only had a quick look at ZeroTier, but it doesn't seem to be a walled garden. It's a peer-to-peer network and their business model is to make money from support and closed-source licensing, while the software is available to the public under GPL.
They damn well CAN throttle that much traffic. AT&T, Comcast, and the rest of the big ISPs all dream of the days of yore when there was AOL, CompuServe, and GEnie. Nothing but a few walled gardens, and the paying customers lived inside and almost never ventured out.
THAT is what they want, and how they will throttle. Comcast vs non-Comcast traffic is how it will be played. They'll prioritize THEIR VoIP over companies like Vonage, implicitly harming competition. Want NetFlix? Well, Xfinity Streaming is just like Netflix, but faster and cheaper!
These companies desperately do not want to become only transport providers, or dumb pipes. The money is in the content -- what the roads lead to, not the roads themselves. The ISPs was the return of the Company Town, where they own the roads AND the stores, and a big toll gate leading out of town.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
The internet is not for sale by any pseudo owner.
Actually, it is. That's EXACTLY what it is. It's thousands of individual networks - some very large - that are privately owned and are for sale. They're not a natural resource. You don't get to use them for free. They don't HAVE to provide peering relationships to other networks. They have payroll to meet, and other very big overhead expenses. You, on the other hand, feel entitled to free stuff that someone else has to work to create for you. There is nothing "commons" about things that other people invest their own money to build. There's just parasites like you wishing that the government could take away those private networks, charge only rich people taxes to run them, and then give the services for free to you because you're a special snowflake that deserves nationalized services. You should probably move to a place where nationalized seizing of private businesses has worked so well to provide the free creature comforts you feel you deserve for existing. Perhaps Venezuela? They're your perfect role model. Go for it! You'll love how government-controlled internet works for you, there. China's great too, that way - everyone gets the same thing, there. You'll love it.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Which is why Verizon et al are also petitioning to pass a federal law that prevents states from passing state laws to protect privacy/neutrality. Because internet is "inherently interstate"... you heard it right, they're looking to both claim they don't deserve Title2 and that they are interstate and shouldn't be able to be regulated by states either.