The Internet is free?

[Rhonda Huntress]

Clipped from a CNN story.  Linked here.

• NetFlix streaming movies now fill more of the U.S.'s internet tubes than any other service, including peer-to-peer file sharing, which long held the top spot -- to the consternation of Hollywood.
• That means for the first time perhaps in the internet's history, the largest percentage of the net's traffic is content that is paid for.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.  On the one hand it heralds in the death of free information.  On the other hand, it has not really been free since the inclusion of .com URL's.  Then again, the pre-dotcom web was rather barren (and probably before most of the current users were born -- I am getting too old ...)

The King is dead.
Long live the King.

[Perrie Juran]

The whole business model is changing and it is hard to see yet what the final outcome will be.

Some content providers such as newspapers have tried to go subscription based but that has been a dismal failure for them.  Some offer enhanced services with a subscription.  Usually these are industry targeted journals dealing with specific professions.

I worked for many years as a label rep servicing retail accounts.  Our sales at that time were about 85/15  music/movies.

With the onset of Napster, streaming music, etc, this ratio changed drastically.  Music sales dropped while movie sales at that time only posted small increases.  I can honestly say that my job got replaced by the internet.

I don't think that this spells the end of free internet.  What it is saying is that people consider Netflix a good value for their dollar.  It is a 'value added' service.  If you want to you can find the same content (much of it illegally) for free.  It is out there on the web.  Going with Netflix just makes it simpler, easier for people so they are willing to pay for the added value service.

The thing here is that we are not talking about 'information' per se but entertainment content.  I think information will basically stay free.  But if you are in a specific profession you might take advantage of value added services that collate and index information specific to your profression saving you the trouble of having to root it out.

Recently I needed to repair a almost antique door lock.  I needed detailed diagrams of the lock.  I could have gotten instant access to the diagrams by paying to join a locksmithing  web site.  Instead it took me over an hour of playing with search terms to find for free the diagram I needed.  Lock is now fixed.

In this case it was worth my time. 

 

[Jenni Darkwatch]

I never thought the Internet was free at all. Users pay for access, that pays for backbones and "free" servers. Then there's advertising, profiling etc.pp. - big business with big bucks being made.

Even information on the net is not by any definition "free". Regardless of where people live, posting the wrong content will get them in trouble. The US is lobbying against Chinas "Great Firewall", yet posting content the US dislikes (or bans by law - same thing in the end) will get people in jail just the same. The same holds true in Europe and in any other country.

Freedom is an illusion. "You're free to think and do as we please." And that's the same for the Internet.

[Kuda Oh]

It has been said, freedom does not come free. On another note, the internet was created by the government for government use originally. But as with all things that the government develops that end up  going to the public sector, there is always going to be someone making money off it and those paying for it. Your tax dollars at work! Sucks doesn't it?

[Kuda Oh]

Netflix is indeed convient, but also limited to new choices when new stuff is released on dvd, Pay Per View type channels get first shot apparently. Netflix does come up with stuff I have never heard of, which can make for some interesting viewing I suppose. I do like the fact they have lots of anime. As for other options, illegally dl'ding is one but fraught with possible bad outcomes. Ironic thing about pirating is at times it does boost sales for the various media companies; but you find people here in the U.S. getting sued by the big companies whilst the biggest violators keep doing what they have been doing for years with no penalty. /point China as one example.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

I see this as a worrisome development. It is in the nature of media content that it accounts for the majority of internet traffic, simply because the amount of data is insanely large compared to what people typically mean when they talk of free information (news articles, blogs, tutorials, information exchange in forums etc). It's good to see that an increasing number of people is willing to pay for their media content instead of stealing it.

(I have to admit that I download a few US TV series from peer-to-peer networks myself, but only because I have no way of paying for them here in Germany. I'd love to subscribe to channels such as HBO and Showtime, but they don't broadcast here. Sites like Netflix and Hulu won't have me either. It would be nice to see a truly global internet at some point, with movie and TV streaming services that are available in all countries).

[Perrie Juran]

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Kuda Oh wrote:

Netflix is indeed convient, but also limited to new choices when new stuff is released on dvd, Pay Per View type channels get first shot apparently. Netflix does come up with stuff I have never heard of, which can make for some interesting viewing I suppose. I do like the fact they have lots of anime. As for other options, illegally dl'ding is one but fraught with possible bad outcomes. Ironic thing about pirating is at times it does boost sales for the various media companies; but you find people here in the U.S. getting sued by the big companies whilst the biggest violators keep doing what they have been doing for years with no penalty. /point China as one example.

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I don't keep as up to date on all the issues the way I used to but they haven't changed much.

Many folks like to point a finger at the music labels (i.e. the executives) and say they were greedy little bastards.  And I will add my voice to that crowd.  But I also saw another side to this. Very few people really understood or understand how severe the problem was or is.

I serviced small to mid sized regional retail chains. I watched over a period of about five years as Napster and other torrents flourished from 2000 to 2005 the drop in annual sales.  Individual stores that dropped from  $300,000 a year in sales down to $30,000 a year.  Till finally my company closed.

It was not unusual in the 90's for a number one album to be certified platinum on street date.  By 2005 it was taking as long as six months.  When you look at numbers like this you can understand a little better why the labels via the RIAA do pursue the illegal down-loaders and especially those who are uploading the content.

As far as bootleged albums went, this was pursued also.  I never understood why outside of the trade journals the confiscation and destruction of bootlegged albums wasn't considered newsworthy by the mainstream media.  I can only guess it didn't make good copy.  But it was happening also.

There still is a strong sentiment in all industries (not just media) that the U.S. govt has not pressured China hard enough on all content theft.  China claims to be enforcing anti-bootlegging efforts and will publicize when they "bust" a company for it.  It does come up in trade negotiations with China. We have told them they need to fix the problem to maintain most favored trade status with us.  But it appears that all China does is pay lip service by occasionally busting a company for it.

Again, to be clear, I will whole heatedly agree that in many ways the music industry was and still is its own worst enemy.  But there are still two sides to this story.  I don't write this just to vindicate the Music Labels.

 

/end thread jack

[Kuda Oh]

I can understand the position you're in when you just can not get content in the country you are in from a different country. Some of that I have found out is due to different copy right laws etc amongst the various countries. If not Corporate finacial reasons ie: don't want competition. Itunes is a good example, can't get content from Japan or most of it (mp3's). One tirck I had read is to buy a iTunes card for the country/region you want mp3's from but you need a registered address that will work with that card. I believe it may include payment info. Kind of a big head ache if you ask me. As in Japans case thier laws are different plus Sony tends to have the biggest library but do they really want to share it with iTunes? Not at all considering they have thier own product similar to iPod.

In that example  they are not only hurting themselves, they are also hurting thier artists and keeping potential consumers from obtaining content legally. Thus pirating continues in part for those reasons perhaps. Definately food for thought for big media corporations. Hopefully netflix will expand to europe. Be interesting to see more of what europe has to offer in entertainment.

[Kuda Oh]

I agree with you and I can see and understand both sides, I don't advocate pirating. I just think they need to go after the big fish. Prosecuting the small user's I don't think is going to stop it, someone will always find a new way. The U.S. government really needs to step up on the issue. Maybe there should be a international copy right standard that can be followed and inforced by the world court? Hit the big guys first and foremost, they are the ones hurting the industries the most. Go after the piraters who distribute illegal hard copies. Then start mopping up the little fish. In other words fix the big leaks first before you do the little leaks. Make sense?

[Perrie Juran]

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Kuda Oh wrote:

It has been said, freedom does not come free. On another note, the internet was created by the government for government use originally.

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Of interest here also is that there is now an international consortium with the IEEE that wants to develop standards for Virtual Worlds.

http://metaversestandards.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

I know not everyone likes Prokfy but she really did write an excellent piece on this taking a look at exactly who is on that committee, "Running the Metaverse: Who Should Get to Set Its Standards?"   http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2011/04/running-the-metaverse-who-should-get-to-set-its-standards.html

 

 

[Perrie Juran]

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Kuda Oh wrote:

 Maybe there should be a international copy right standard that can be followed and inforced by the world court?

__________________________________________________________

See here in Wikipedia for what is going on with that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement



 

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

Main article:

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed

plurilateral

trade agreement

which is claimed by its proponents to be in response "to the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works."

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The scope of ACTA is broad, including

counterfeit

physical goods, as well as "internet distribution and information technology".

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In October 2007 the United States, the

European Community

, Switzerland and Japan announced that they would negotiate ACTA. Furthermore the following countries have joined the negotiations: Australia, the

Republic of Korea

, New Zealand, Mexico,

Jordan

,

Morocco

,

Singapore

, the

United Arab Emirates

and Canada.

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The ACTA negotiations have been largely conducted in secrecy, with very little information being officially disclosed. However, on 22 May 2008 a discussion paper about the proposed agreement was uploaded to

Wikileaks

, and newspaper reports about the secret negotiations quickly followed.

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China

Issues of copying of software and films for unauthorized distribution in China has become an ongoing diplomatic issue between the United States and China in the 21st century.

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[Kuda Oh]

Thanks for the links! First one is a bit too technically for me but the 2nd one is starting to open my eyes, and what I see possibly happening is kind of scarey least to say.

[Void Singer]

it's pretty simple really... give uses a cheap, easy and legitimate way to get what they want, and most of them will use it. that said, as far as traffic goes, there's a bit of a lie going on there... streams from netflix suck down bandwidth at an ungodly rate compared to even sharing the exact same movie as a file... a 1.5Mbit connection is about the minimum if you want to watch their content and make your eyes bleed from the poor quality. 3+ is my personal recommendation. and then you have to account for replay factor, a downloaded movie via file sharing can be viewed repeatedly without addition bandwidth used, but you multiply it if doing the same over a streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, or w/e.