Jockeying on the Net fast lane
p2p news / p2pnet: Some Internet service providers are using "bandwidth shaping" technology to prioritize whose data gets into the fast lane, a move that is polarizing the industry and could have expensive implications for business.
The flat-rate model for marketing the Internet is outdated, says Tom Donnelly, vice-president of Waterloo, Ontario, developer Sandvine Inc "Networks are big, dumb pipes that have become increasingly congested, and so it’s become a war, with the greediest applications winning."
Internet service providers, or ISPs, are able to use "deep packet inspection" tools from companies like Sandvine to tell whether Internet users are surfing, e-mailing or sharing files.
Once a piece of traffic is categorized, ISPs can direct it onto the Internet equivalent of an express lane or send it through the slower Internet backstreets.
The ISPs say tolls on the information highway are necessary to streamline traffic and increase revenue for new products, such as premium voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Users argue that in the spirit of "Net neutrality," ISPs have no business knowing what kind of programs people use on the Internet. And businesses are concerned that they will be required to pay more to ensure their data goes through quickly.
Bandwidth shaping is shaping up to be a bitter fight, promises Philippa Lawson of the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. "It’s nothing less than a battle for the future of the Internet."
The benefit of the technology is that it allows ISPs to avoid data bottlenecks, Mr Donnelly says. Applications that require instantaneous response, such as Internet telephones, would get priority over applications such as file sharing, which can tolerate delays. But, Mr. Donnelly emphasizes, Sandvine just makes the tools; it’s up to the service providers to determine policy.
A service provider could also use the technology to deliberately slow access to a competitor’s website; it could pressure subscribers to use a preferred telephone service by giving its traffic priority; it could decide to crush specific on-line activities. All of this is permissible in an unregulated industry.
"For smaller companies starting out now, bandwidth shaping will cut them off from their markets," adds lawyer and Internet columnist Michael Geist, tipping the playing field in favour of businesses that can afford priority Internet access.
But bandwidth shaping could also become a legal hot potato for ISPs. Mr. Geist says Internet providers that adopt the technology could no longer claim to be common carriers – messengers with no responsibility over content – as defined by the Canadian Telecommunications Act. "ISPs have used the common-carrier argument to absolve themselves of liability in what’s being transmitted. But you can’t be a common carrier and still practice discrimination."
"What we’re really talking about," says IDC Canada consultant Lawrence Surtees, "is packet-sniffing, like [US President George W.] Bush is doing. And do we really want ISPs doing that?"
Whether the public wants it or not, it’s here.
Vancouver telco Telus Corp used traffic filtering technology last year to briefly block access, by its one million subscribers, to a website called Voices For Change, run by the Telecommunications Workers Union, during a labour dispute (also blocking unrelated sites hosted on the same server). This year, Shaw cable slapped a $10 monthly quality of service premium on Internet telephone customers, prompting Vonage Canada to file a complaint with federal regulators.
Chat forums are also rife with file-sharing software users complaining about sharp drops in download speeds, saying they’re getting no explanation from ISPs. A Vancouver writer called "Zagato" summed up his feelings on a Techvibes bulletin board: "They’re simply overselling their services by degrading our services."
The ISPs blame file sharers for Internet congestion – Sandvine reports that 65.3 per cent of all on-line traffic is peer-to-peer (P2P), which includes things like file swapping. But while the recording industry’s violent reaction to file sharing gave P2P technology a bad name, it’s such a useful tool that it’s now appearing in many business applications. Salesforce.com is embedding Skype, a P2P telephone system, in its customer relationship management software, for example, and it’s also used to deliver things like speedy program updates.
Toronto-based Rogers Cable has been using bandwidth shaping to slow file-sharing traffic over its cable for the past year. Only 1 per cent of Rogers’ subscribers use bandwidth-intensive applications, said Rogers spokeswoman Taanta Gupta, but they can affect all users. Feedback from subscribers, she says, has been tame: "Some care," she said. "Most don’t."
Jack Kapica – The Globe & Mail
Digg this story.
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss
Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
June 23rd, 2006 at 3:58 pm
how surprising a guy from a company that stands to earn $$ selling the equipment to ’shape’ the traffic thinks its required.
Well he could at least admit the truth, it’s required to fill his bank account.