Comments on: Recommended Reading: The End of DVDs http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2008/05/21/recommended-reading-the-end-of-dvds/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:13:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dave http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2008/05/21/recommended-reading-the-end-of-dvds/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Dave Fri, 23 May 2008 02:47:54 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=52#comment-60 Further to that, Ars Technica <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080522-bell-canada-opens-online-video-store-as-p2p-debate-rages-on.html" rel="nofollow">reports</a>: "Yesterday's announcement from Bell Canada that the telecom behemoth was officially launching its downloadable video store [came] just as Bell is caught up in a government inquiry into its traffic-shaping practices. It's hard to imagine a time at which touting your own downloadable video store makes less sense than when you're on the hot seat for throttling all P2P traffic .... " Makes a good point; part of the traffic-shaping problem is a very obvious conflict-of-interest; CBC.ca offers programming for free, and Bell offers competing programming at a price. If it turns out Bell is slowing down people's attempts to download competing content, it will look very bad indeed. Further to that, Ars Technica reports:

“Yesterday’s announcement from Bell Canada that the telecom behemoth was officially launching its downloadable video store [came] just as Bell is caught up in a government inquiry into its traffic-shaping practices. It’s hard to imagine a time at which touting your own downloadable video store makes less sense than when you’re on the hot seat for throttling all P2P traffic …. ”

Makes a good point; part of the traffic-shaping problem is a very obvious conflict-of-interest; CBC.ca offers programming for free, and Bell offers competing programming at a price. If it turns out Bell is slowing down people’s attempts to download competing content, it will look very bad indeed.

]]> By: melon http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2008/05/21/recommended-reading-the-end-of-dvds/comment-page-1/#comment-57 melon Thu, 22 May 2008 13:04:39 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=52#comment-57 Why wouldn't Bell charge those fees? That seems like precisely the kind of behavior worthy of a psychopathic corporate oligarch. They don't exist to do anyone any favors. Why wouldn’t Bell charge those fees? That seems like precisely the kind of behavior worthy of a psychopathic corporate oligarch. They don’t exist to do anyone any favors.

]]> By: Dave http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2008/05/21/recommended-reading-the-end-of-dvds/comment-page-1/#comment-56 Dave Thu, 22 May 2008 06:36:29 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=52#comment-56 I rent movies all the time, both from Blockbuster and the "independent" Queen video. Call me old fashioned but sometimes I like browsing. As for the capping issue, it's a bit of a contradiction. Usually the people letting you download the movies are not the same people renting you bandwidth, so their concerns are obviously not the same. But with Bell, it's (potentially) the same people renting you bandwidth as an ISP as it is renting you the movie for download. I wonder if Bell will sell you 2GB downloading a month, urge you to download a 6GB movie, and then charge you a hundred dollars in overage fees? I rent movies all the time, both from Blockbuster and the “independent” Queen video. Call me old fashioned but sometimes I like browsing.

As for the capping issue, it’s a bit of a contradiction. Usually the people letting you download the movies are not the same people renting you bandwidth, so their concerns are obviously not the same. But with Bell, it’s (potentially) the same people renting you bandwidth as an ISP as it is renting you the movie for download. I wonder if Bell will sell you 2GB downloading a month, urge you to download a 6GB movie, and then charge you a hundred dollars in overage fees?

]]> By: Scrupo http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2008/05/21/recommended-reading-the-end-of-dvds/comment-page-1/#comment-55 Scrupo Thu, 22 May 2008 03:54:23 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=52#comment-55 Yeah I don't remember the last I rented a movie :) Yeah I don’t remember the last I rented a movie :)

]]> By: melon http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2008/05/21/recommended-reading-the-end-of-dvds/comment-page-1/#comment-54 melon Thu, 22 May 2008 03:05:37 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=52#comment-54 I find it hard to believe that DVDs will be going away anytime soon, if only because the current trends in how ISPs operate is that they're looking to start setting hard caps on bandwidth. Canada, of course, is already "ahead of the curve" with this brand of consumer-hating business practice. I think many people will think twice about wanting to download multi-gig files with the way our ISPs currently treat us and government's unwillingness to do anything at all about it. I find it hard to believe that DVDs will be going away anytime soon, if only because the current trends in how ISPs operate is that they’re looking to start setting hard caps on bandwidth. Canada, of course, is already “ahead of the curve” with this brand of consumer-hating business practice. I think many people will think twice about wanting to download multi-gig files with the way our ISPs currently treat us and government’s unwillingness to do anything at all about it.

]]> By: beverly http://www.ignisfatuus.com/2008/05/21/recommended-reading-the-end-of-dvds/comment-page-1/#comment-52 beverly Wed, 21 May 2008 21:47:46 +0000 http://www.ignisfatuus.com/?p=52#comment-52 As if I needed another reason to hate Bell. As if I needed another reason to hate Bell.

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