Tuesday, January 4, 2011

BT in 'two-tier net' controversy

BT has introduced a controversial service that some say could allow broadband providers to create a "two-tier internet".

Content Connect, as it is known, allows Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that use BT's network to charge content firms for high-speed delivery of video.

It could spell the end of so-called "net neutrality", where all traffic on the net is treated equally.

Critics say it will also reduce competition for consumers.

"This is a sea change in the way that content is delivered by ISPs," Jim Killock of the net freedom campaign organisation, the Open Rights Group, told BBC News.

"It is essentially them saying: 'Rather than delivering whatever content is on the internet as best we can, here are our services that we will deliver through our own network.'"

He said the result could be a "fundamental shift" from consumers choosing what video and gaming services they buy on the internet to "buying services from the internet to bundled services from ISPs".

"This would reduce competition and take investment away from internet companies - that would be bad for everyone."

But a spokesperson for BT denied that the offering would create a "two-tier internet".

"BT supports the concept of net neutrality, but believes that service providers should also be free to strike commercial deals, should content owners want a higher quality or assured service delivery."

It said that its new service would speed up download speeds across its network - even for those not buying into Content Connect - by easing congestion.

Free experiments

Network neutrality is one of the founding principles of the internet and is meant to ensure that all ISPs treat all web traffic equally - serving merely as a conduit for whatever data is passing from content providers to end users.

But debates have been raging around the world as the explosive growth in internet traffic - and particularly video - has put a strain on the existing infrastructure.

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The treatment of content on the network - such as prioritisation of content or bandwidth throttling - is strictly within the domain of the ISP and not the wholesale provider"

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In the US, regulators recently voted in favour of rules that are designed to uphold the principles of network neutrality.

The EU has openly backed network neutrality, but has introduced regulation that allows network providers to manage traffic on their networks, provided what they are doing is transparent.

The UK regulator Ofcom is expected to clarify its stance later this year.

In the meantime, the UK government has already said that it backs a two-speed internet.

Culture minister Ed Vaizey said in November that ISPs had to be free to experiment with new charges to help pay for the expansion in internet services and infrastructure.

"This could include the evolution of a two-sided market, where consumers and content providers could choose to pay for differing levels of quality of service," he said.

The new offering from BT seems to be the first major step in that direction.

The service, offered by BT's wholesale division, is based on a new content distribution network built by BT that stores video content closer to the user, reducing congestion on the network and speeding up load times.

BT retail - a separate division of BT - will begin to use the service to deliver BBC iPlayer content on its BT Vision TV service within the next few months.

"It will cache iPlayer content closer to customers on the network, allowing for the content to be delivered to customers in a more efficient and cost-effective way, as well as improving the overall viewing experience," a BT spokesperson told BBC News.

"The Content Connect service will also be available to all UK ISPs within the same timescales."

The spokesperson said that BT would not throttle or discriminate against other video services on the network, but did not rule out that ISPs using the network could do so.

"The treatment of content on the network - such as prioritisation of content or bandwidth throttling - is strictly within the domain of the ISP and not the wholesale provider."



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Activists target government sites

Key websites of the Tunisian government have been taken offline by a group that recently attacked sites and services perceived to be anti-Wikileaks.

Sites belonging to the Ministry of Industry and the Tunisian Stock Exchange were amongst seven targeted by the Anonymous group since Monday.

Other sites have been defaced for what the group calls "an outrageous level of censorship" in the country.

The group also recently targeted the websites of the Zimbabwean government.

What is Anonymous?

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'Anonymous' describes itself as an 'internet gathering'. The term is used to describe a leaderless collective of people who come together online, commonly to stage a protest.

The groups vary in size and make-up depending on the cause. Members often identify themselves in web videos by wearing the Guy Fawkes masks popularised by the book and film V for Vendetta.

Its protests often take the form of disrupting websites and services.

Its use of the term Anonymous comes from a series of websites frequented by members, such as the anarchic image board 4Chan.

These allow users to post without having to register or provide a name. As a result, their comments are tagged "Anonymous".

In the past, groups have staged high-profile protests against plans by the Australian government to filter the internet and the Church of Scientology.

The latter spilled over into the real world with protests by masked members outside churches. An offshoot of Anonymous called Project Chanology focuses purely on this cause.

Many Anonymous protests tackle issues of free speech and preserving the openness of the net.

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Those attacks were reportedly in retaliation after the president's wife Grace Mugabe sued a Zimbabwean newspaper for $15m (�9.6m) over its reporting of a cable released by Wikileaks that claimed she had made "tremendous profits" from the country's diamond mines.

The attacks, which started in the run up to the New Year, hit the government's online portal and the official site of Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.

"We are targeting Mugabe and his regime in the Zanu-PF who have outlawed the free press and threaten to sue anyone publishing Wikileaks," the group said at the time.

The latest attacks against Tunisia have taken at least seven websites offline, according to statistics released by site watching firm Netcraft.

In an open letter published online, Anonymous said that it had launched distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to highlight a spate of recent riots that have taken place over youth unemployment in the country as well as net and press censorship.

The country has reportedly stepped up its control of the web in light of the recent violence.

Free speech organisation Reporters without Borders ranks Tunisia 164th out of 178 countries in its press freedom index.

The retaliatory DDoS attacks used to knock the government's websites offline do so by bombarding them with so much data that they can no longer respond to legitimate page requests.

Security researcher Graham Cluley said the group, which encourages members to download a piece of software to launch the attacks, had selected its targets in discussions in an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) forum on Sunday.

But he warned people against being tempted to take part.

"Anyone considering signing-up to join in the attacks on the websites of various governments would be wise to remember that participating in a DDoS attack is against the law," he said.

As well as the DDoS attacks, Anonymous said it had taken other measures.

"We have accessed one of their websites and defaced it by placing our Open Letter to the Government of Tunisia on the main page

"In addition, we have taken steps to ensure that Tunisians can connect anonymously to the internet and access."

The Tunisian government has not responded to a request for comment on the attacks.

In a twist, websites associated with Anonymous are also under DDoS attack, according to Netcraft.

The firm said that it had seen attacks against the AnonNews.org site, and the anarchic message board 4Chan, commonly frequented by members of Anonymous.

The attack on 4Chan is the second against the site in the last week.

"Another day, another DDoS," wrote 4Chan's founder Christopher "Moot" Poole, shortly before the site came back online.



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