[8736] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: One-way Internet?..no, it's "Asymetric"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Christopher Zguris)
Thu Dec 2 11:58:07 1993
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 93 11:16 EST
From: Christopher Zguris <0004854540@mcimail.com>
To: com-priv <com-priv@psi.com>
>The debate is not whether all users can be satisfied with an asymmetric
>(hi inbound, lo outbound) connection but whether such an offering is so
>harmful that EFF is justified in, as I read their position, saying that
>the US government must not allow it. Given that there _is_ a reverse
>path, and I can use to post my diatribes, I think that position is
>untenable.
>
>I think the dreadful error would be to allow only one way to get to my
>house, or to have all the ways controlled by one company/consortium/cabal.
>
> Barney Wolff, Pres. Voice: 914-591-6572
> Databus Inc. Fax: 914-591-5677
> 15 Victor Drive Internet: barney@databus.com
>
In my opinion cable companies in genreal have shown little attention to
providing "two-way" anything, there motivation is to hawk channels. I'm in
NYC, and the local cable provider went to a great deal of trouble to push
digital addressable channel selectors to everyone- the result? 6
pay-per-view channels, channel remapping, and everything scrambled. No
innovations in what a receive, better for them (no more replacing
hard-programmed boxes, since they are all programmed/reprogrammed from the
central control). Scrambling and remapping all the channels is obnoxious as
far as I'm concerned. I have a stereo TV and VCR with features on the
remotes I would like to use, but I can't because the channels are scrambled
and I must use the provided decoder (which is extremely slow and offers
nothing in the way of channel preference selection like my television).
Scrambling premium channels used to be the norm and was fair, scrambling
everything is simply a way for the cable provider to move more boxes. As I
remember, TV & VCR makers had the same unhappy feelings about channel
scrambling because it makes it impossible for them to introduce/sell
features on their products.
I think this shows the tendancy to do what is good for them entirely, with
only secondary concerns for consumers want. Apply that attitude to an
information superhighway and you get a one-way street with a goal towards
pushing services you pay for and little else. To expect cable operators with
this attitude to control the information superhighway in a fair and open
"two-way" manner goes against everything I've read and seen in their
actions. I don't have any connections with the cable co's or the telco's, I
just think the telco's have a better grasp of working as a utility and
information carrier.
Just my opinion, for what it's worth.
Christopher Zguris
CZGURIS@MCIMAIL.COM
