----- Original Message -----
From: "Rubens Kuhl" <rubensk@gmail.com>
Isn't the real problem with global multicast: "How do we ultimately bill the broadcaster for all that traffic amplification that happened *inside* every other AS?" It seems like you'd have to do per-packet accounting at every router, and coordinate billing/reporting amongst all providers that saw those packets.
Broadcast encrypted streams. Unicast the key distribution, allowing interested parties to count, bill, block, allow, litigate, agree...
And that's the snap answer, yes. But the *load*, while admittedly lessened over unicast, falls *mostly* to the carriers, who cannot anymore bill for it, either to end users, providers, *or* as transit. Will they not complain about having their equipment utilization go up with no recompense -- for something that is only of benefit to commercial customers of some other entity? You're effectively pushing the CDN into the backbone, here; no? Cheers, -- jra