nanog mailing list archives

Re: Hulu thinks all my IP addresses are "business class", how to reach them?


From: Owen DeLong <owen () delong com>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 09:51:38 -0800



On Nov 20, 2019, at 07:38 , Tom Beecher <beecher () beecher cc> wrote:

Never did figure out if it was stupidity
or malice driving that.

Personally I think it's neither; it's just $$$$$.  

They could invest in a robust system to accurately identify what they chose not to allow to access the service. Or, 
they can choose to run with a 'close enough' system with some legitimate users caught in the middle. 

They've most likely done the math and decided that the revenue lost from people getting caught up in inaccurate 
blocking is small enough that the investment in a more accurate method isn't worth it. This is unfortunately the more 
common decision in this age of worship at the Altar of Maximum Shareholder Value. 

I think you are exactly right here. It’s yet another example of how the incentives around DRM are all messed up and are 
creating economic bias in favor of screwing consumers as much as possible without loosing too much revenue.

What is needed is either a more conscientious consumer base that will see this and react by voting with their wallets, 
or, regulation which provides more costly penalties for screwing over legitimate consumers.

Owen


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