Comcast-NBC Merger Approved By FCC 268
AndyAndyAndyAndy writes "It seems that the FCC has approved the proposed merger between Comcast and NBC, effectively kicking apart hopes for protection against 'pipes and their water' frameworks. Pres. Obama's 2008 goal also goes ignored: 'I strongly favor diversity of ownership of outlets and protection against the excessive concentration of power in the hands of any one corporation, interest or small group.' The Dept. of Justice is also onboard, leaving little hope that this will be stopped."
Get out of te way! (Score:3, Interesting)
Big business coming through!
Re:Awesome. (Score:5, Interesting)
One step closer to a single outfit controlling^Wsupplying all your media needs.
Along with that, it will be interesting to see what happens when Comcast gets Universal Studios along with NBC. I guess it means they'll start suing their own file-sharing customers -- which they won't even have to subpoena the names for. Maybe you'll even just see a charge on your next bill:
Comcast High Speed Internet Service: $52.99
Movie Sharing Fee: $25,000.00
Total due by Feb 8, 2011: $25,052.99
Thank you for choosing Comcast!
Been there . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Obama: liar, weak, or naive? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Obama: liar, weak, or naive? (Score:1, Interesting)
You do? Where? Every liberal I know just sucks up to Obama despite minor things like his failure to close Guantanamo or end Don't Ask, Don't Tell. (What, you thought that was repealed? Check again - it can only be repealed two months after Congress votes that it "won't effect troop readiness." Guess what the chances of that happening are.)
Likewise all the liberals supporting Obamacare despite clear evidence from Massachusetts that the parts they did pass will only raise costs and lower actual coverage. The number of people in Massachusetts who have no access to a regular doctor and must instead seek all their care through the emergency room SKYROCKETED thanks to the very things Obamacare does.
Yet the one thing that could have actually helped lower costs (single payer, tort reform - the vast majority of health care costs are red tape) - Obama cut.
So, yeah. Where are all the liberals questioning him?
Hell, the liberals are still blaming Palin for the Giffords shooting, despite the fact that we now know that the shooter was a radical liberal!
Re:To whome is may concern (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you ready to concede, that the FCC should not to be in charge of regulating the internet? ..or do you need the FCC to fuck you over a couple more times before you will listen?
You are drawing exactly the wrong conclusion. In this case, the FCC is letting Comcast fuck us over. If the FCC is not in charge of regulating the internet, everyone with money and power will be able to fuck us over. At least with net neutrality regulation, they'll at least have to ask the FCC before they do it. It's not the best possible world, but it's better than the one we get without net neutrality.
Re:Awesome. (Score:5, Interesting)
Mesh Networks, Mesh Networks, Mesh Networks, Mesh Networks!
*sigh*
If only it were really that simple. Unfortunately, it isn't. Mesh Networks would suffer from quite a few problems trying to create a 2nd Internet with the infrastructure owned and operated entirely by the people.
1) Density. If every single person had this magical box fully capable of doing everything we wanted it to do in Los Angeles, it would not be able to communicate with everyone doing it in Las Vegas. There are large patches of dead space in which the only way to get across are dedicated pathways, which shockingly, are expensive. The only difference between the Atlantic ocean and Death Valley is the cost of running of the fiber through it. Other than that, they are pretty much the same as far as networking is concerned.
2) Bandwidth. We better create a Darknet with distribution principles similar to Freenet. Even then, it will be slow. You just can't take for granted edge network delivery, aka, CDN's like Akamai for granted. If Mesh Network nodes are like little leaves, then it will really suck if the whole network is connected together with twigs and branches. You actually need the ISPs here with their fat ass trunks and peering and transit agreements.
3) Latency. Another thing you are taking for granted, and probably the worst one to be taking for granted. With CDN, I have seen as little as 4 hops to get to Google. Most places you need to get to will be between 10-15 hops, and a good portion of on fiber. Meaning, pulses of light . That 30-70ms latency you have been enjoying is going to get a lot worse with Mesh Networking. It's just Physics. Remember all the little twigs and branches right? Well to get all the way from one end of Los Angeles to the other I am betting you will be going through dozens of wireless nodes. So on top of being limited the biggest pipe for bandwidth along the route, you are going to be enjoying latencies that make most real time stuff like gaming, voip, etc. impossible.
Every last mile provider sucks ass. They all do because there really is very little competition. But we need the backbone ISPs like Verizon, AT&T, etc. They are the *only* way we currently have to create an actual functioning Internet with the peering and transit agreements that make the whole darn thing work.
There is *only* ONE way Mesh Networking can succeed. We must have wireless POPs distributed throughout all of the communities that allow those Mesh Network nodes to connect and send traffic through them that they can't reach, which is going to be a lot more than you think.
Mesh Networks are a pipe dream. If the government can't get together, or won't get together, to stop shit like this NBC-Comcast merger, then we have no hope at all of getting cities to lay down their own fiber and start operating their own wireless POPs for the citizenry.
Which is really really really fucking sad . We gave easements to the telecom corporations for years with the understanding they would contribute to the community. Not only have the telcos mostly fucked the people, but now they are gouging the crap out of us. We the people own most of the damned land they run their fiber across. When are we going to start to see a payback on all the leeway and incentives we have given those bastards for decades?
Why is it that when cities start wanting to put down their own fiber the telcos start crying like little bitches and bring out the lawyers?
The whole thing just reeks of corruption and oppression at this point. The Internet is dying at this point. It will turn into some sort of pathetic shadow of itself. What I predict will happen is that people will go back to Sneakernet style sharing since storage is getting so massive. At that point it would probably be faster and safer anyways. Not only will the bandwidth be expensive, but anything that is not being paid a premium will be throttled down into something not viable for its purpose. Encryption might not be outlawed, but it will certainly be given lower priority because they can't analyze it and figure out if it is competition to them.