Two days before the FCC holds its re-do hearing (note the FCC still relies on either Word or PDF and not HTML for its announcements) on broadband network management practices at Stanford, Comcast has announced it is partnering with P4P pioneer Pando Networks to create a "P2P Bill of Rights and Responsibilities" for peer-to-peer users and ISPs.
Working with other players, Pando and Comcast plan to spell out "what choices and controls consumers should have when using P2P applications as well as what processes and practices ISPs should use to manage P2P applications running on their networks." I'm not exactly sure what this means but I've got a note into Comcast seeking further clarification.
Just as Verizon and AT&T have done, Comcast will test out Pando's technology to see how it can best manage P2P traffic, although from the sounds of it, Comcast will simply use Pando's platform to measure traffic. Verizon and AT&T have tested Pando's P4P technology so that P2P bandwidth demands are reduced.
This is Comcast's latest act of contrition following the discovery that the nation's top operator interferes with P2P applications. The company forged a pact with BitTorrent to help devise ways of creating protocol neutral traffic management technologies.
Update: Consumer and public interest groups are, not surprisingly, skeptical that Comcast is capable of steering an initiative aimed at creating a consumer bill of rights. Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said in a statement:
The fact that Comcast is trying to come up with a Bill of Rights for customers is ludicrous. This is the company that not only lied for a year about the workings of its Internet service, but also created such ill will among its cable subscribers that one elderly woman busted up a customer service office with a hammer because she and her husband were kept waiting for hours in the heat.On the other hand, the Distributed Computing Industry Association announced a call for participation in crafting the new bill of rights at its upcoming P2P Media Summit in LA. The Association represents a wide range of companies that use or supply P2P or some form of distributed computing technology. Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 2:46 PM | Print | Comments (1)
Actor Tim Robbins delivered a funny, profanity-laced diatribe against the media at the NAB Show yesterday. (Audio of Robbins extraordinary appearance is here.) Robbins began his smartly humorous blast by acknowledging how puzzled he was at being invited to speak at the show to discuss the challenges of new media. "I don't know what that f*cking means," he said.
Although billed as a conversation between NPR's TV critic David Bianculli and Robbins, Robbins delivered a speech he had written recapping the history of the media. Talking about Edward R. Murrow's famous broadcasts from London, Robbins said that one of Murrow's lesser known sign-offs was "Die you Nazi c---suckers."
But in a true echo of pioneering broadcaster Murrow's "wire and lights in a box" speech, Robbins turned serious and appealed to the broadcasters' higher natures by asking them to work for the nation's good instead of focusing on sex scandals, screaming matching among political pundits and "startlet(s) without panties getting out of the car." Acknowledging that the Internet has revolutionized the media, Robbins said that "we are are at an abyss…as an industry and as a country."
"You the broadcasters...have tremendous power and tremendous potential to affect change," he said. "Now is the time to admit and recognize that we aren't just businessmen but guardians of the human spirit and the health of this nation."
Urging the broadcasters to stop pandering to lurid and common tastes, Robbins said that "only with your courage...can we imagine a world of broadcasting where a general consensus of those with real power can say 'enough is enough.'"
Although some people walked out of the room, Robbins got a standing ovation at the end. Ostensible moderator Bianculli said this about the speech: "Much of Robbins' speech urged an increased diversity of voices, allowing minority viewpoints and artistic expressions to have their day, and their say. By booking Robbins as their keynote speaker, the NAB ended up doing precisely that."
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:47 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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