02.24.14

Gemini version available ♊︎

Netflix Killed the Free Web With DRM, Now Kills Net Neutrality

Posted in DRM at 8:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft’s close partner, Netflix, is quickly turning the Internet into another Big Cable/Telecom-controlled DRM streaming conduit

WHEN Net Neutrality was dying in the US many people wondered why Netflix did almost nothing in response. Well, just like Google, Netflix should not be assumed to be an advocate for Net Neutrality. Both companies, along with Microsoft, promote DRM on the Web. Google pretty much stopped fighting for Net Neutrality several years ago. All Google cared about was itself. If it could make the policies work out for its business model (e.g. not discriminating among users of YouTube), then why should it bother with the interests of the vast majority of the population? The same goes for privacy and the so-called ‘resistance’ NSA faces from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, et al.

According to new reports, Comcast and Netflix sort of collude against Net Neutrality (even though the corporate press will not say it like that). “Comcast,” says the New York Times, “the country’s largest cable and broadband provider, and Netflix, the giant television and movie streaming service, announced an agreement Sunday in which Netflix will pay Comcast for faster and more reliable access to Comcast’s subscribers.”

This is appalling. So Netflix is now actively helping Big Cable/Telecom end Net Neutrality. Suffice to say, the bias from the press of Rupert Murdoch continues shamelessly [1], comparing the situation of Net Neutrality to “Traffic Jam” (right there in the headline) while the Internet’s Net Neutrality is not even mentioned (in the whole article). The corporate press (all of it from New York in this case) is now telling us [2] that Tom Wheeler, the mole inside the FCC, is going to write new rules. Perhaps it’s all about normalising this new status quo. He never really fought for Net Neutrality. The mega-corporations got their way on the Internet (and the Web) yet again. We are losing the battle for free and equal speech. Those in power eliminate it little by little.

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. America’s 10-Year Experiment in Broadband Investment Has Failed

    Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, announced Wednesday that there would be new rules written to guarantee net neutrality. It’s a good thing any website can reach any person unimpeded by tolls, and it’s good that Wheeler still wants to make this possible. The Internet service providers will first work to dilute the new rules, of course, and then sue to overturn them. Entire legal departments, lobbying outfits, and public-relations firms live for this moment, the beginning of a now-familiar three-year grind with the FCC.

  2. Netflix Agrees to Pay Comcast to End Traffic Jam

    Deal Ends Standoff Over Streaming, Would Give Netflix Direct Access to Comcast Systems

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Reddit
  • email

Decor ᶃ Gemini Space

Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.

Black/white/grey bullet button This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).

Decor ✐ Cross-references

Black/white/grey bullet button Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.

Decor ▢ Respond and Discuss

Black/white/grey bullet button If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

DecorWhat Else is New


  1. IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 20, 2023

    IRC logs for Monday, March 20, 2023



  2. Links 20/03/2023: Curl 8.0.0/1 and CloudStack 4.18.0.0 LTS

    Links for the day



  3. Standard Life (Phoenix Group Holdings): Three Weeks to Merely Start Investigating Pension Fraud (and Only After Repeated Reminders From the Fraud's Victims)

    As the phonecall above hopefully shows (or further elucidates), Standard Life leaves customers in a Kafkaesque situation, bouncing them from one person to another person without actually progressing on a fraud investigation



  4. Standard Life Paper Mills in Edinburgh

    Standard Life is issuing official-looking financial papers for companies that then use that paperwork to embezzle staff



  5. Pension Fraud Investigation Not a High Priority in Standard Life (Phoenix Group Holdings)

    The 'Open Source' company where I worked for nearly 12 years embezzled its staff; despite knowing that employees were subjected to fraud in Standard Life's name, it doesn't seem like Standard Life has bothered to investigate (it has been a fortnight already; no progress is reported by management at Standard Life)



  6. Links 20/03/2023: Tails 5.11 and EasyOS 5.1.1

    Links for the day



  7. Links 20/03/2023: Amazon Linux 2023 and Linux Kernel 6.3 RC3

    Links for the day



  8. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 19, 2023

    IRC logs for Sunday, March 19, 2023



  9. An Update on Sirius 'Open Source' Pensiongate: It's Looking Worse Than Ever

    It's starting to look more and more like pension providers in the UK, including some very major and large ones, are aiding criminals who steal money from their workers under the guise of "pensions"



  10. Services and Users TRApped in Telescreen-Running Apps

    TRApp, term that lends its name to this article, is short for "Telescreen-Running App". It sounds just like "trap". Any similarity is not purely coincidental.



  11. Links 19/03/2023: Release of Libreboot 20230319 and NATO Expanding

    Links for the day



  12. Great Things Brewing

    We've been very busy behind the scenes this past week; we expect some good publications ahead



  13. Links 19/03/2023: LLVM 16.0.0 and EasyOS Kirkstone 5.1 Releases

    Links for the day



  14. IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 18, 2023

    IRC logs for Saturday, March 18, 2023



  15. Links 18/03/2023: Many HowTos, Several New Releases

    Links for the day



  16. Links 18/03/2023: Tor Browser 12.0.4 and Politics

    Links for the day



  17. Links 18/03/2023: Docker is Deleting Free Software Organisations

    Links for the day



  18. IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 17, 2023

    IRC logs for Friday, March 17, 2023



  19. New Talk: Richard Stallman Explains His Problem With Rust (Trademark Restrictions), Openwashing (Including Linux Kernel), Machine Learning, and the JavaScript Trap

    Richard Stallman's talk is now available above (skip to 18:20 to get to the talk; the volume was improved over time, corrected at the sender's end)



  20. Links 17/03/2023: CentOS Newsletter and News About 'Mr. UNIX' Ken Thompson Hopping on GNU/Linux

    Links for the day



  21. The European Patent Office's Central Staff Committee Explains the Situation at the EPO to the 'Yes Men' of António Campinos (Who is Stacking All the Panels)

    The EPO’s management is lying to staff (even right to their faces!) and it is actively obstructing attempts to step back into compliance with the law; elected staff representatives have produced detailed documents that explain the nature of some of the problems they’re facing



  22. Links 17/03/2023: Linux 6.2.7 and LibreSSL 3.7.1 Released

    Links for the day



  23. GNU/Linux in Honduras: 10% Market Share? (Updated)

    As per the latest statistics



  24. Links 17/03/2023: Update on John Deere’s Ongoing GPL Violations and PyTorch 2.0

    Links for the day



  25. IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 16, 2023

    IRC logs for Thursday, March 16, 2023



  26. RMS: A Tour of Malicious Software, With a Typical Cell Phone as Example

    Tonight in Europe or this afternoon in America Richard M. Stallman (RMS), who turned 70 yesterday, gives a talk



  27. Skyfall for Sirius 'Open Source': A Second Pension Provider Starts to Investigate Serious (Sirius) Abuses

    Further to yesterday's update on Sirius ‘Open Source’ and its “Pensiongate” we can gladly report some progress following escalation to management; this is about tech and “Open Source” employees facing abuse at work, even subjected to crimes



  28. NOW: Pensions Lying, Obstructing and Gaslighting Clients After Months of Lies, Delays, and Cover-up (Amid Pension Fraud)

    The “Pensiongate” of Sirius ‘Open Source’ (the company which embezzled/robbed many workers for years) helps reveal the awful state of British pension providers, which are in effect enabling the embezzlement to carry on while lying to their clients



  29. Links 16/03/2023: War Escalations and More

    Links for the day



  30. Links 16/03/2023: OpenSSH 9.3 Released and WordPress 6.2 Release Candidate 2, Lapdock News

    Links for the day


RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts