Rich Fiscus
21 Nov 2007 13:32
In a blog titled "An Open Letter to Comcast and Every cable/Telco on P2P" Mark Cuban urges broadband Internet providers to "BLOCK P2P TRAFFIC , PLEASE."
Calling P2P users "freeloaders" he urged internet service providers to charge commercial rates to users Seeding or relaying P2P traffic. He said "The last thing I want slowing my internet service down are P2P freeloaders. Thats right, P2P content distributors are nothing more than freeloaders. The only person/organization that benefits from P2P usage are those that are trying to distribute content and want to distribute it on someone else's Bandwidth dime."
The outspoken billionaire arguably has an interest in freeing up bandwidth currently being used for P2P traffic. His 2929 Entertainment venture is working to implement a distribution plan that includes simultaneously releasing movies theatrically at the same time they're available in home video formats. No doubt he'd benefit from reduced P2P traffic as it would free up bandwidth that could be used to deliver quality hi-def content. However, rival content providers are testing P2P technology, most notably BitTorrent, for their own content delivery. Even the music industry is looking at the potential of a P2P distribution model. No doubt they're less than thrilled with his proposal.
That doesn't mean his arguments are without merit though. He points out that "P2P is probably the least efficient means of distributing content in the last mile." While this is certainly true, it may simply be a sign that P2P technology is in need of efficiency improvements. It's even possible that the impressive growth in the U.S. of internet providers like Verizon, whose networks are built from the ground up around broadband data transfer, and have bandwidth several times that offered by either cable or DSL internet connections.
Cuban is certainly correct in asserting that service providers need to assess their infrastructure, determine who's using it and for what kind of traffic, and divide costs fairly. However, it's not as simple to say P2P users should be penalized. Like any traffic, if transmitted at the right time it can make use of otherwise unutilized bandwith, and if shut down during peak usage hours don't have to be a problem for other users. If it becomes a widely adopted method for entertainment companies to distribute content it could arguably affect the majority of broadband internet subscribers.