At 09:38 PM 4/17/97 -0700, Michael Dillon wrote:
On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Matthew E. Pearson wrote:
There are SO many areas of broadband abuse that affect all of the Internet, I don't see the point in focusing in on one tiny aspect of it.
You're right. There are many different varieties of network abuse. So how do we define it and how do we communicate to people that they can't *DO* that?
My honest recommendation although nobody wants to hear it is simple. You accomplish it the same way telecom, video, and other providers have for years and years.. GOVERNMENT REGULATION. If every ISP had to get licensed by the US (or other..) government and a clearly defined set of regulations were in place, the government would put their foot down on those breaking the rules, the same way they would shut down NBC if they showed XXX movies uncut on purpose. If it was an accident they would fine them SOOO heavily that it would never happen again. I hate to say it but it appears that the Internet cannot run itself anymore because big-business does not want to sit down and play by the rules (not that there are any). Almost all the Internet "authorities" are a joke, they cant really do ANYTHING, they could be sued for making decisions that hurt one company or another, and at most meetings it usually at some point breaks down into mud slinging and accusations. There is no way that I can see logically to level the playing field for all participants, and allow every participant equal say or right to dispute a problem in an equitable manner except for government regulation (at least here in the US). Would this hurt business? Doubtfull for -serious- companies, look how many independent TV stations there are, or radio stations not part of the big 3 networks? No counting cable even. All it means is that a company would have to make a serious commitment to customer service, and maintain interconnection agreements overseen by the feds. If there was a problem between providers, the government would step in and mediate it. Also, if you think I am too liberal or a democrat I am not. In fact I am an Independant voter, and I am actually rather conservative about government. I just think this is one place where they could do good. In the end I think they will step in anyhow. After all, are ISPs so different than long-distance phone companies who lease lines from RBOCs, connect residential and business consumers, and take data interstate? Sound familiar to anyone? If you think the FCC isn't going to do something to regulate ISPs.. think again.. they could get the mandate far easier than you would like to belive. Unless some miracle happens and everyone drops the egos, drops the attitudes, and sits down at the table and irons out REAL standards, REAL policies, and REAL enforcement procedure, you can bet REAL money that the federal government will step in and regulate. Look how many lawsuits vs. ISPs / Online Services have come up in the last year for quality of service problems, look at the CDA! We better do something QUICK before Uncle Sam gets any bright ideas. My $0.2 Send all flames to /dev/null or root@127.0.0.1 ------------------------------------------------- Matthew E. Pearson Vice President of Development Games-Online Inc. http://www.games-online.com