Another example of how important net neturality is....and how much harder it's becomeing for the net to remain netural. From CNET
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/cnet/20081219/tc_cnet/8301102331012691493 The scary thing for us is this....how much longer till they start limiting us....don't think they won't try.... - The music industry's highly controversial strategy of suing customers for file sharing has mostly ended. The Recording Industry Association of America said Friday that it no longer plans to wage a legal assault against people who it suspects of pirating digital music files. What the RIAA should have said, though, is that it won't go after most people who illegally file share. My music industry sources say that the RIAA will continue to file lawsuits against the most egregious offenders--the person who "downloads 5,000 or 6,000 songs a month is still going to get sued," a source at a major record company told me. The strategy of suing music fans has long been criticized by artists, consumers, and even some record-label executives. Critics have said it alienates music buyers and more importantly has been ineffectual. Now, the music industry has a new form of protection: Internet service providers. According to a story in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), which broke the news about the RIAA's new strategy, unidentified Internet service providers have agreed to "reduce the service," to chronic file-sharers. Exactly what a reduction of service may include isn't specified, but likely means ISPs will limit a user's bandwidth, a practice known as throttling. The way the new enforcement system will work is that the RIAA will alert an ISP that a customer appears to be file sharing. The ISP will then notify the person that he or she appears to be file sharing. If the behavior by the customer doesn't change, then more e-mails will be sent. If the customer ignores these e-mails, then the ISP may choose to reduce service. If all else fails, they can choose to discontinue service. Under the plan, which was brokered by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the music industry will not know the customer's identity. I doubt this will be enough to prevent some Internet rights groups from complaining. The fact of the matter is that ISPs have now gone into the enforcement business, and this has always been one of the greatest fears of those who have wanted ISPs to remain neutral. Heath http://heathparks.com
