Are traffic shaping poll results valid?
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Does a recent Harris-Decima poll on net neutrality have any credibility?
Most Canadians support the idea of traffic management — as long as all users are treated fairly, the survey suggests, says the Winnipeg Free Press.
If they’re OK with traffic throttling, the less corporate-friendly term for the practice, it stands to reason they must, then, be well-informed on what it is, how it works, who’s affected by it, and so on.
The topic has been front and centre for the last six days because of the CRTC into net neutrality, which wrapped yesterday.
Traffic throttling, traffic shaping, traffic management, etc, go hand-in-hand with net neutrality, and people who believe in it say they should have complete control of what they see, how they see it, and what applications they use when they’re online.
But, even though “Most Canadians support the idea of Internet traffic management,” only about one in five of those surveyed had even heard of it, says the Winnipeg Free Press
And, “Interestingly,” blogs Michael Geist, just prior to the release of the survey, “one of the people who was called over the weekend (the survey was conducted July 9 – 12th) contacted me to report”.
What was the substance of the poll?
Questions about traffic shaping, “could be roughly summed up as ‘Did you know that your neighbour’s movie downloading is slowing down your Internet’?” – said the informant.
“This doesn’t exactly inspire confidence about some of the poll results,” says Geist.
But then, nothing about the inquiry or the various ‘fact-finding’ processes surrounding it inspires confidence.
Stay tuned …
Winnipeg Free Press – Directing web traffic OK: survey, July 15, 2009
wrapped yesterday – CIPPIC on Twitter: final net neutrality tweets, July 14, 2009
Michael Geist – Harris-Decima Poll on Net Neutrality, July 15, 2009
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July 15th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I’m glad you posted this. I came across a Canadian Press release yesterday talking about the poll and it really bothered me. No, the results are NOT valid. The only thing the poll showed with any accuracy is that everyone is ignorant on the subject. I say that those polled should be educated about traffic management practices and what the future may hold for Canadians if the big ISP’s are allowed to have their way, then they take the poll again. Bet you everything I own that the results of that poll will come out completely different than it did the first time.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
What “most Canadiansâ think is completely immaterial, about as significant as what I think about the arrangements of the airbags in a Rolls Royce.
What counts is, what the paying customers think of cartel like arrangements by the providers of having their services âthrottledâ.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
“OTTAWA – Most Canadians support the idea of Internet traffic management as long as all users are treated fairly, a new poll suggests.”
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090714/national/poll_internet_traffic is basically alie, disrtortion
Meaning that Most Canadians would support the ISP, internet service providers breaking their promises, contracts as long as they do the same thing to everyone else… wow, that is a complete absurdity.. get real… and if that is how THEY all now conduct their dishonest polls then no wonder so many people think THEY are con men, liars rather.. In reality even here unless you know and fully understand firstly the exact questions being asked. The Poll wording itself can very much influence the outcome, example do you still beat your wife, yes or no? This even falsely implies everyone bats their wife. That’s a crude example, but it makes the point. ” What “60% of Canadiansâ think is completely immaterial, about as significant as what I think about the arrangements of the airbags in a Rolls Royce. What counts is, what the paying customers think of cartel like arrangements by the providers of having their services âthrottledâ.” Will give you a very different Poll answer.. Amazing how many non technical Canadian news reporters skirt the truth and distort it here too.
And the American public is likely similarly confused on the topic. Valid Education on the issue is a problem. Over 54 percent of Canadians had said that they did not understand the topic and how the issue affected their use. Only 15 percent said that they understood that were affected (or would be affected) by such actions. 22 percent voiced strong opposition, saying such practices were wrong regardless and if you mention internet throttling on a P2P forum that is generally composed of more technically minded computer nerds and you’ll instantly evoke strong emotion opposition. The Survey shows public’s overall ignorance of the effects of traffic management on their connections for the majority of average Joe or Jane in the public, the issue is poorly understood and falsely not a worry at all.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
“Questions about traffic shaping, âcould be roughly summed up as âDid you know that your neighbourâs movie downloading is slowing down your Internetâ?â – said the informant.”
My 11 year old daughter could come up with better questions than this, they would actually be relavent to the issue,
AND would not insult my inteligence!!
Besides that, this is another example of what our friend *surfer* calls “sheeple” ’cause the general damn public doesnt care enough to educate themselves about the technology they use!!
That is all!!
stw