'Super Telco', Net Neutrality Debated in Europe

My Nipples Explode With Delight writes to mention a ZDNet article looking at a proposal for a 'super-telco' regulation board for the EU. The idea was ripped apart, at an event where Net Neutrality in Europe and roaming charges were also discussed. From the article: "'The Commissioner thinks Net neutrality needs to be addressed,' said Blowers, who claimed a lack of relevant regulation in America had led to the issue being so explosive there. 'It is probably not sufficient to just talk about competition powers to deal with Net neutrality,' he continued, before suggesting that, if tiered services were introduced in the UK and Europe, 'there should be sufficient transparency in the market that consumers can make informed choices'."

Have a nice weekend.

[grub]

My Nipples Explode With Delight writes [...]
Now that's something you don't see in Forbes.

agreed

[RingDev]

I have no idea what the article is about. I got to the "My Nipples Explode With Delight writes" part and cracked up laughing.

-Rick

Re:Have a nice weekend.

[CopaceticOpus]

For anyone who doesn't get the reference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Gn6a3WbYw [youtube.com]

Re:

[stunt_penguin]

That's the second time that's beeen posted on the site this week; I posted it on the Iraq translation machineybob. Ta!

Re:

[shadowbearer]

  Don't know if it's just me, but youtube is suffering badly trying to deliver that video right now (4:53 Mountain time US)

  I've never seen it like this.

SB

Re:

[dorianh49]

Hungarian phrasebook today: "My internets is full of eels." "I will not buy this record; it is DRM'd." "Drop your lawsuits, Sir William, it is infected."

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

My Nipples Explode With Delight

Reminds me of an X-Files episode, "F. Emasculata", but it wasn't nipples that were exploding open.

Re:

[dorianh49]

Do the nipples exploding have anything to do with the tubes? Monty Python would've had a field day with this whole thing back in the day.

Re:

[Tyber]

Join the Corrupt Side. corruptioniscontrol.com

eww

[Wellington Grey]

My Nipples Explode With Delight writes...

And so, in the October of 2006 the great slashdot war of dirtiest-handle-on-the-frontpage was begun.

-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]

Re:

[eclectro]

And so, in the October of 2006 the great slashdot war of dirtiest-handle-on-the-frontpage was begun.

And the worst thing of the dirtiest-handle-on-the-frontpage war is that it was started by a male.

Re:eww

[truthsearch]

You expect otherwise on Slashdot?

Re:

[eclectro]

That's what I meant - it's a guy's nipples 'sploding with delight. Probably has man-boobs too.

Re:

[wootest]

And so, in the October of 2006 the great slashdot war of dirtiest-handle-on-the-frontpage was begun.

We get sign- oh, screw it.

Re:eww

[Tackhead]

> > My Nipples Explode With Delight writes...
>
> And so, in the October of 2006 the great slashdot war of dirtiest-handle-on-the-frontpage was begun.

"And so, it begins..."
"The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the nipples to vote."

"Slashdot.org was our last, best hope for geeks. It failed. But, in the Year of the Handle War, it became something greater: our last, best hope... for my nipples. The year is 2006. The place: Nippylon 5." - Commander Susan Ivanova, whose nipples, I might add, are a lot better-looking than Commander Taco, who did this voice track last year. Ivanova is always right. Ivanova is God. And every time this post gets modded up, her nipples will explode with delight.

Re:

[cayenne8]

Its only a Python reference......nothing dirty about it really....

Re:

[McGiraf]

"Its only a Python reference......nothing dirty about it really...."

In the US nipples are considered a dangerous for the children.

Hey... I totally understand

[not already in use]

Yeah guys username is a bit wierd... but I understand the frustration of trying to pick a username that is not already in use.

Re:

[Lord Ender]

This thread is going to be more a discussion of usernames than of net neutrality.

Re:Hey... I totally understand

[Em Adespoton]

In fact, I'd say you completely failed to pick a username that was not already in use.

Re:

[complete loony]

Hey, he's right "The nickname 'already in use', or another similar to it, is already in use. Please choose another."

Link's iffy

[xoyoyo]

TFA actually starts a page before the one linked: here http://tinyurl.co.uk/v1qw [tinyurl.co.uk]

It isn't any more interesting if you actually read it in order though

What a terrible article

[CopaceticOpus]

This article is such a poorly written mess. I've looked over it twice and I don't think I even know which side the EC is taking on net neutrality. (I know, I know, that's what I get for RTFA...)

Re:What a terrible article

[illegalcortex]

I think it was something about combustible mammaries...

mod me down

[chuckfucter]

because all i can do is make comments about the submitters username

Hell with the article

[Rodness]

I just wanna see the exploding nipples!

Re:

[McFortner]

Yep, that will leave a mark.

Tubes?

[From A Far Away Land]

"if tiered services were introduced in the UK and Europe, 'there should be sufficient transparency in the market that consumers can make informed choices'."

That's the key to Network Neutrality. The Internet's Tubes have to be see-through so they know what service they are getting.

Net Neutrality anybody ?

[salber]

What everybody seems to be overlooking is that actual EU regulations committees are completely ignoring Net Neutrality. Check out a critique of the latest EU Telecom Regulations Review [eucap.com]

Market Transparency

[TheWoozle]

...is exactly what the telcos do *not* want. If they actually had to list out all of the under-handed "traffic shaping" (ed. - I realize that there is a necessity for legitimate traffic shaping, but the potential for abuse is the whole point of this discussion) and hidden bandwith-capping that they engage in, then people would know what the whole Net Neutrality* debate is really about.

*I've said it before and I'll say it again, can we please come up with a better sobriquet than "Net Neutrality"?! How the hell am I supposed to get my family and friends interested in "neutrality"?

Re:

[Em Adespoton]

Well, you could threaten them with exploding mammaries if they don't support it.

Re:Market Transparency

[EvilNTUser]

"*I've said it before and I'll say it again, can we please come up with a better sobriquet than "Net Neutrality"?! How the hell am I supposed to get my family and friends interested in "neutrality"?"

Hopefully by appealing to reasoning and your conversational skills. We don't want any more PATRIOT and SAVETHECHILDREN style votes, even if they benefit us.

Re:

[aztec rain god]

How about net-antidisestablishmentarianism?

Net EQUALITY

[Ungrounded Lightning]

*I've said it before and I'll say it again, can we please come up with a better sobriquet than "Net Neutrality"?! How the hell am I supposed to get my family and friends interested in "neutrality"?

How about "network EQUALITY"? How can they POSSIBLY be against "equality"? People have fought wars FOR "equality"?

(I thought about "network NON-DISCRIMINATION" but that sounded too much like it had something to do with eliminating the "digital divide".)

Re:

[Anpheus]

The internet is serious business.

An article about network neutrality.

[todd10k]

And almost every comment so far has been about the submitter's username. Maybe i should sign up a new username. "Póg mo thóin"

Re:

[dotoole]

Or as a great literary mind once said:

"Téim go dtí an siopa ar nós na gaoítha"

Regulation Is Good

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Let me tell you something about the free market. It's a crock of shit. There's a lot of great laisse faire thinkers out there lauding the idea of zero government interfereance in private affairs, but other forces, such as reality, tend to conflict with their ideals.

Left to its own devices, the market will form a monopoly. With a higher cost of entry, the monopoly will simply form faster. If there was no government oversight, we'd have one worldwide telco/isp/overlord within about 20 years. As it stands we only have less than a dozen tier 1 telcos anyway. Companies so huge they have "Gentlemen's Agreements" instead of monied contracts. What more evidence do you need. It's a cartel!

Now of course, if you have too much regulations, inefficiency, blah, blah, blah. Great, I'll keep it in mind, but at the moment, the internet is rapidly becoming the private demesne of a handful of companies. Companies beholden to no one. I foresee a future where private company regulations superceed any and all rights you or I have to use the internet in the way we want. BellSouth could permanantly blacklist you for irritiating them in your blog.

I say, fuck private companies. The internet, electricity, water, etc, should be public resources, like the air. So if they want to run things, they can do so under a regulator. Oh yeah, and transparently too. You provide a public service, then you've got to do it publically pal. Fuckers paw all our juicy data, but we're not entitled to get their caffeteria menus? Gods danm plutocrats.

The existing regulators are pretty good

[the_womble]

Most of the existing European telecoms regualtors have done a good job so far - there is nothing that needs fixing, this is just EU land grabbing for the sake of it.

A big European regulator is likely to listen more to industry lobbyists and less to consumers than the national regulators - look at the example of the European Comission, and the corruption in the EU bureaucracy.