Legislation Would Prohibit ISPs From Throttling Online Video Services 222
Dega704 sends this story from Ars:
"A Senate bill called the 'Consumer Choice in Online Video Act' (PDF) takes aim at many of the tactics Internet service providers can use to overcharge customers and degrade the quality of rival online video services. Submitted yesterday by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the 63-page bill provides a comprehensive look at the potential ways in which ISPs can limit consumer choice, and it boots the Federal Communications Commission's power to prevent bad outcomes. 'It shall be unlawful for a designated Internet service provider to engage in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices, the purpose or effect of which are to hinder significantly or to prevent an online video distributor from providing video programming to a consumer,' the bill states. A little more specifically, it would be illegal to 'block, degrade, or otherwise impair any content provided by an online video distributor' or 'provide benefits in the transmission of the video content of any company affiliated with the Internet service provider through specialized services or other means.' Those provisions overlap a bit with the FCC's authority under its own net neutrality law, the Open Internet Order, which already prevents the blockage of websites and services. However, Verizon is in court attempting to kill that law, and there is a real possibility that it could be limited in some way. The Consumer Choice in Online Video Act could provide a hedge against that possible outcome."
Not going to happen (Score:5, Informative)
Too many Dems are in bed with Hollywood and too many Repubs will scream about socialism because it places limitations on big business.
Re:Not going to happen (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not going to happen (Score:5, Informative)
all i can think about is time warner and youtube. all youtube videos are throttled so horribly with time warner
Here's how to fix it. A good friend suffers under TWC and applied that fix over a year ago (that site is not the only one to discuss, just the first one I clicked on in google), since then youtube has been great for him.
http://mitchribar.com/2013/02/time-warner-cable-sucks-for-youtube-twitchtv/ [mitchribar.com]
Re:Whose networks are those? (Score:5, Informative)
In addition, many of these networks were built thanks to an infusion of taxpayer dollars to the companies in question in exchange for some promises that the ISPs then "forgot" about when it came time to deliver (and used their lobbying muscle to prevent anyone holding them to their promises).
Open Secrets - Jay Rockefeller (Score:5, Informative)
His profile [opensecrets.org] doesn't seem to have Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon listed as major contributors, so I'd guess this man is honestly trying to do something for his constituents. It's also worth noting that he is doing this in spite of Verizon being a major source of funding. Also related and notable, he is retiring at the end of the current Congress -- he came out in favor of gay marriage this year [wikipedia.org] too, and in West Virginia that probably means something. I get the impression he's trying to leave a good legacy, and it's nice to see that.
Re:Not going to happen (Score:3, Informative)
I suspect youtube has had a massive spike in traffic in the past year or so. And not like 20% more, more like 500%.
I suspect a LOT of people are doing what I'm doing.. Not watching regular TV at all, or only watching a few of the good shows that are worth watching(Probably downloaded, via DVD, or netflix - again like me. Only suckers wait for a broadcast that happens at a specific time)
I've found content on youtube that's vastly more interesting and entertaining than what I've found on TV. EE video blogs. People doing tear downs and analysis of equipment. People actively in research showing off cutting edge lab equipment and how they use it. Letsplayers playing obscure old classics, playing new games, playing bad games, playing good games. The amount of content is staggering and it's growing at an astonishing rate.
There's an AMAZING video blog dedicated to the old British spectrum computer and it's a very comprehensive and amazing view of the old computing world across the pond we dint see here in the US. They guy covers history, old companies, old games, old hardware, and stories from the period. - Really watch this. It's fucking amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BuckingTheTrend2008/videos
Point is there is a A LOT of really good stuff you can find that probably caters to your interests, and the popular guys make enough money off of youtube alone to do it full time so they can produce content you can watch every day. (Some have viewership that rivals small cable networks - staggering to think about) There's more stuff in my daily subscription feed than I can watch.
I'm just going to link some of my favorites - A lot of this stuff is odd, but so am I. That's what makes this great.
Electronics -
http://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/mikeselectricstuff/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSignalPathBlog/videos - This guy's stuff blows my mind.
Video games/geek stuff/wierdness -
http://www.youtube.com/user/ashens/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/NintendoCapriSun/videos
http://www.youtube.com/show/lgr/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/BlueXephos (The yogscast crew is one of the biggest youtube groups ever - Who knew that fucking around and playing video games can pull in millions?)
http://www.youtube.com/user/Northernlion/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/GameGrumps/videos
Re:Whose networks are those? (Score:5, Informative)
Here's one result from a quick Google search: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131012/02124724852/decades-failed-promises-verizon-it-promises-fiber-to-get-tax-breaks-then-never-delivers.shtml
Basically, Verizon asked for massive tax breaks ($2.1 billion) in 1994. In exchange, they said they would wire all homes up with fiber by 2015. By 2004, they were supposed to have 50% of homes wired, but didn't have any. Now they have halted all FIOS expansion and are basically reneging on the promise entirely. Of course, they're claiming that wording in the contract allows them to do some of this. (Stuff like lines "passing" homes which they claim means they can run a line near a home and that home counts even if that home isn't hooked up to the fiber.)
Re:Not going to happen (Score:4, Informative)
Downloadhelper + VLC locally = Winning. After enough time it practically becomes a habit.