Up until now I've always assumed that the internet would just get faster and faster. And that if blogging is all about words today...one day it would be ALL about videos.
But now I'm not so sure.
"Overall, transmitting over a saturated broadband link will feel a lot like the bad old days of dial-up: Long pauses between request and response, with some applications just too painful to bother with."
The biggest problem for the internet itself is that it could strangle competition and innovation.
"The next Google, YouTube, or Amazon might not arise, not because of a lack of demand, but due to an inability to fulfil that demand," the report said.
The biggest problem for users? Many could be squeezed out along with smaller companies.
And as internet service providers move to ration bandwith ... the issue of net neutrality will become even more critical.
The carriers say they would never discriminate based on content. But, they are starting. And, more to the point, they have also consistently denied that they throttle bandwidth and target peer-to-peer sharing. We now know they do. We have the smoking gun. So, when it comes to net neutrality, they're not to be trusted. And, they've only just started.
And what would a slower internet mean for the WAY people blog?
Will bloggers be forced to cutdown on pictures and videos? Will aggregators force them to do that. Will people read blogs that take a long time to load?
Will we be forced to go back to just.....words? What a bore.
And what will I do with my time? According to the study three quarters of American internet users spend about two and a half hours a month watching videos. But I spend much more time than that...and so do all my friends.
From music videos....to the real war in Iraq and Afghanistan....to Paris Hilton's latest fuck fest and the guy who fired a rocket out of his ass while riding upside down on a bicycle...I depend on viral videos to know what's REALLY going on out there
And communicate with my fellow monkeys.
I just don't know WHAT I would do if I couldn't share viral videos like this one...
OK....so I'm dum....
But smart enough to know that even if they do come up with all those billions they need to fix the internet traffic jam.
The one THEY should have fixed long ago.
WE are going to pay for it.
One way or the other....
3 comments:
Simon,
I saw the CBC MarketPlace piece last night - very informative (not the news I wanted to hear but what I have suspected for while - in a layperson sort of way).
Good post, love the video link.
Oh no Simon, say it ain't so!!! If I have to go back to dialup speed after the last week, I'll hang myself with my ethernet cable.
(Hilarious vid, btw.)
Hi Sassy!! I wanted to watch it but I forgot. :(
I try to do as little filesharing as I can...and never movies or anything like that. But there are so many other programs these days...like good old i-tunes that can slow your computer down. And now with this bandwith/router problem the ISPs have an excuse to start rationing on a larger scale...
Hi JJ!! I read your post and sympathized. I don't know what I'd do if I had to go back to dial-up. When I come across it occasionally it takes me back in time!! :)
The interesting this is that this problem would have been caught sooner if so much fibre optic cable hadn't been left over from the hi-tech boom and bust. So they didn't bother to lay down more. Or build up their routing system which is the main problem now. I have a feeling that the wildest days of the internet are behind us and it's going to be a lot more corporate in future. But hopefully I'm wrong!! :)
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