Metered Internet
Metered internet usage (also called "Usage-Based Billing") is coming to Canada, and it is going to cost internet users. "The ostensible, theoretical reason behind UBB is to conserve capacity, but that issue is very questionable," noted Ontario-based indie ISP TekSavvy's CEO, Rocky Gaudrault. "One certain result though, is that Bell will make much more profit on its internet service, and discourage Canadians from watching TV and movies on the internet instead of CTV, which Bell now owns." US-based VOD provider Netflix has this to say: "Wired ISPs have large fixed costs of building and maintaining their last mile network of residential cable and fiber. The ISPs' costs, however, to deliver a marginal gigabyte from one of our regional interchange points over their last mile wired network to the consumer is less than a penny, and falling, so there is no reason that pay-per-gigabyte is economically necessary. At $1 per gigabyte over wired networks, it would be grossly overpriced." Netflix has begun publishing graphs of ISP performance in both the US and Canada. The big question now is how these kind of billing changes will impact internet consumption patterns. Many subscribers use minimal data, but that is changing as internet video becomes the norm. If these new plans scare consumers away from legitimate non-ISP affiliated movie and content sharing sites, that should be a firebell concern to consumers, entrepreneurs, and regulators. And not only in Canada.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars
Egypt shuts off internet access
Several sources are reporting Egypt has shut off all internet access ahead of a new wave of anti-government protests are expected to begin. A major service provider for Egypt, Italy-based Seabone, reported early Friday that there was no internet traffic going into or out of the country after 12:30 a.m. local time. The Associated Press reports that the government has "deployed an elite special operations counterterrorism force" to the streets.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/01/28/0114217/Egypt-Shuts-Off-All-Internet-Access
"It's for the children"
The UK government has plans to ask ISPs to block all pornography from home internet connections by default. Under the plan, customers would have to ask the ISP for access to pornography. UK’s largest ISPs will be called to a meeting next month to discuss the idea, which is being presented as a way of stopping children from accessing porn. Says Conservative MP Claire Perry: "We are not coming at this from an anti-porn perspective. We just want to make sure our children are not stumbling across things we do not want them to see.”
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2010/12/19/all-internet-porn-to-be-blocked-in-the-uk/
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