Does AA VoIP usage violate the "federal Internet policy"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Barbara Esbin <besbin () pff org>
Date: September 15, 2008 7:46:30 PM EDT
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   Official Message From Comcast-- a question)

Dave:
I have written today on the issue that Laura raises on her Net  
Neutrality
squad website:  does the American Airline/Aircell service permitting web
surfing, but blocking VoIP usage violate the "federal Internet policy"
announced by the FCC in its Comcast Order:
http://blog.pff.org/archives/2008/09/does_disclosure.html
Barbara


> From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Reply-To: <dave () farber net>
> Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:30:43 -0400
> To: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Subject: [IP] Re:   Official Message From Comcast-- a question)
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Date: September 15, 2008 6:42:25 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: lauren () vortex com
> Subject: SDV (was: Re: [IP] Re: Official Message From Comcast-- a
> question)
>
>
> > From: Dan Ritter <dsr () tao merseine nu>
> ...
> > All this screams out for Switched Digital Video (over IP or over
> > QAM), in which the provider makes multicast streams available
> > for viewing. If no one in a cable neighborhood is watching one
> > of the 400 channels that no one watches, no bandwidth is
> > consumed.
>
> Dave,
>
> Switched Digital Video (SDV) has its own interesting attributes,
> some of which are also potentially anti-competitive.  First, I'll
> note that IPTV systems (like AT&T U-verse) are fundamentally
> designed to take advantage of distributed architectures.  U-verse
> has its own major problems though -- like the fact that even after
> the recent upgrades it's limited to no more than two HD streams to a
> household (plus a number of SD streams) on a single copper pair.
>
> While there may be ways to boost this again without compromising
> video quality too much, AT&T seems to have underestimated the speed
> with which HD transmissions would themselves become the "normal"
> fare for most viewers (and indeed, the Comcast/TW bandwidth caps
> seem to be similarly using standard definition programming as their
> benchmarks, rather than more realistic HD numbers).
>
> But SDV itself has been embroiled in a battle between CableLabs and
> third-party companies like TiVo who depend on CableCARDs for access
> to cable company programming.  External "tuning adapters" to deal
> with SDV have just now started becoming available since I wrote (a
> bit over a year ago):
>
> Important Warning Regarding New HD TiVo and Cable System
> Incompatibilities
> http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000273.html
>
> and shortly thereafter:
>
> The Coax Straightjacket: Stopping Cable Copy-Protection Abuse
> http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000310.html
>
> Ihe issues of third-party access to VOD/PPV, etc. programming vs.
> cable industry demands that only *their* software be allowed to
> access these facilities are still very much in play (the "keyword"
> in these disputes is "OCAP" - OpenCable Applications Platform).
>
> Just ask me if you want more info on these areas.  Thanks.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Co-Founder, PFIR
>   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, NNSquad
>   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
> Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
>
>
>
>
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