The Hypocrisy Weblog

Boing Boing picked up on the story of Canadian Internet Service Provider Shaw blocking iTunes store and / or their podcasts due to the content coming from multiple sources.

Over the past month Rogers (ISP) in Canada has put some software on their networks that prevents activity for BitTorrents, P2P, IRC, and also along with that is a rule that if you are trying to download a large media file from more then 1 server it will be dropped. When you download a Podcast from iTunes it downloads that file from multiple servers in the background (I confirmed this by watching my cable modem logs). As soon as it tries to use more than 2 different servers for the download, it just stops. That’s the reason why Podcast downloads stop at random places – it’s the point where a 2nd server is involved in the download. The same issue causes timeouts and cut-offs in the iTunes music store.Here is the problem – when anyone calls Rogers about the problem they say it is either a router, firewall or Apple problem and they shrug you off.

Hundreds or thousands of people in Canada can no longer get Podcasts or purchase music from the iTunes Music store. This is BAD. Please, Apple, contact Rogers and sort it out. So many people have called Rogers with no luck.

The question I ask myself is why an Internet Service Provider should be capping bandwidth or limiting net-services in any way?! For security issues I do not mind certain restrictions, such as blocking port 25 for outgoing email to reduce spam coming from the network, and/ or blocking the ports135 to 139 in order to reduce common worm-threats – but there should always be some kind of user agreement where the advanced user should be able to sign a paper and taking all responsibility for unlocking these ports.

What your Internet Service Provider should do is to deliver you an unfiltered Internet-connection, if you choose to have this. With no traffic limitations or other restrictions. What you do with your Internet connection should be your business and responsibility, no-one else should be able to dictate what sites you surf to, what content you choose to download and so on. What should be applicable is the laws of the country you reside in, not the arbitrariness of your Internet Service Provider.

So, if you are a customer of Shaw or any other Internet Service Provider that is limiting your Internet-access, vote with your feet and with your wallet: switch to a provider that will provide you with un-filtered access. Sooner or later, your old provider will be forced to change their policy.

After having read the article ‘Podcasters’ look to net money over at the good old BBC, I can not see what Adam Curry is thinking about.

Adam says; -”It is totally going to kill the business model of radio,”

I say it won’t! I may sound like a grumpy old man now, even if merely 26 years old (haha), but just because Adam Curry is a remarkable DJ and host in his podcast (and in his past as well), I doubt that he’ll have an easy job getting the visitors and advertisement-base that is needed to be able to live on his pod-cast.

Look; Adam is the top-name of podcasting, and yes – the concept of being able to subscribe to the programming of your choice into your portable mediaplayer is cool and I support his mission with all my heart&mind, yet podcasting will never threaten traditional radio. (Note that “never” can be transcribed to ~10 years, even if I am right most of the time, I can be wrong! (I know, tragic is it not?! ))

“Why won’t podcasts threaten traditional radio?”, you might ask yourself… I say it is very elementary; individual podcaster do not have the marketing muscles that tradional media has. It is very rare that a new radio company comes up from nowhere and cuts a large (if even any) portion of the market, and this is impossible without both marketing know-how and capital.

What I personally am looking forward to is an al� carte-type of television, that I can obtain fast and for a moderate sum of Euros (yes, I’m a Swede in mourning) – after this is introduced with a working business-model and with a demand for this kind of service, then I think that the market is ready for Adam Curry&his fellow podcasters!

Over and out