Thursday, October 06, 2005
Clearwire decides what traffic types are acceptable
I'm tracking down Ray Gifford's blogged statement that Clearwire has explicitly declared its "right" to block third-party applications like Vonage. Indeed, even after Madison River, Clearwire apparently did actually block Vonage VOIP calls for a time, according to News.com. Gifford quotes some suggestive statements from Clearwire's Terms of Service, but the smoking gun is in Clearwire's Acceptable Use Policy:
There's nothing like this language in Verizon's Internet Access Terms of Service (which includes its Acceptable Use Policy) governing my own FIOS service. There's the usual vague language about excessive amounts of traffic, but -- gratifyingly -- nothing about blocking based on type of traffic. Furthermore, at TPRC a couple of weeks ago, Dennis Weller, Verizon's Chief Economist, said (from the audience, during a Q&A) that Verizon had no plans to block based on content type. I wonder, how is Verizon so all-fired resistant to temptation when its cash cow is at stake?
The tone of Clearwire's Acceptable Use Policy differs markedly from Verizon's. Clearwire attempts to extend the law and become a surrogate for it through language like this
Meanwhile Clearwire even prohibits its customers from using its service . . .
To protect its customers and its network Clearwire may, without limitation, block and allow traffic types as we see fit at any time.My recent column in VON Magazine, entitled, Error: Application Not Recognized, explains why blocking on content type is particularly pernicious. (In brief, "application awareness" is today's reactionary way of preserving yesterday's single-purpose networking companies.)
There's nothing like this language in Verizon's Internet Access Terms of Service (which includes its Acceptable Use Policy) governing my own FIOS service. There's the usual vague language about excessive amounts of traffic, but -- gratifyingly -- nothing about blocking based on type of traffic. Furthermore, at TPRC a couple of weeks ago, Dennis Weller, Verizon's Chief Economist, said (from the audience, during a Q&A) that Verizon had no plans to block based on content type. I wonder, how is Verizon so all-fired resistant to temptation when its cash cow is at stake?
The tone of Clearwire's Acceptable Use Policy differs markedly from Verizon's. Clearwire attempts to extend the law and become a surrogate for it through language like this
. . . you may not use the Service for any unlawful or abusive purpose, in any way that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any Clearwire property, or in any way that directly or indirectly interferes with or disrupts our network or adversely affects another’s use or enjoyment of any Service . . .Whereas Verizon is happy to trust its customers to have responsible behavior; check this!
. . . you may have access to information, which may be sexually explicit, obscene or offensive, or otherwise unsuitable or objectionable, especially for children under the age of eighteen (18) years old. You agree to supervise usage of the Service by any minors who use your account to access the Service. Verizon is not responsible for access by any users, you, or minors, to objectionable or offensive information or data.Clearwire takes the role of policeman. Verizon says, "Hey, you're on your own out there . . ."
Meanwhile Clearwire even prohibits its customers from using its service . . .
. . . to store or collect, or attempt to store or collect, personal information about third parties without their prior knowledge and consent.So if you look up your friend's phone number without, uh, calling your friend first to find out if you can look up her number, you're in violation. This one will find every user in violation every day. One can only hope that Clearwire's desire to have some customers outweighs its desire to keep its network unsullied. With ISPs like Clearwire, (I never thought I'd say this, but) I'm glad I'm Verizon's customer.
Technorati Tags: Clearwire, Content-Conduit, F2C, NetworkNeutrality, Clearwire, Verizon, TPRC, VOIP
Comments:
More (and the first) info on Clearwire's blocking strategies can be found here; they also made an announcement at VON about "certifying" VoIP providers.
The ITFS folks, with their high falutin' rhetoric about public service, should be absolutely ashamed to be affiliated with Clearwire. But on the contrary, they have long-term leases with Clearwire and are anxious for Clearwire to suck every possible dollar out of the public. Where are all those wonderful educational services they promised they'd create if the FCC gave them the billions of dollars of spectrum rights they could then lease to Clearwire ? I certainly haven't seen any. Not even a pipsqueak.
The ITFS folks, with their high falutin' rhetoric about public service, should be absolutely ashamed to be affiliated with Clearwire. But on the contrary, they have long-term leases with Clearwire and are anxious for Clearwire to suck every possible dollar out of the public. Where are all those wonderful educational services they promised they'd create if the FCC gave them the billions of dollars of spectrum rights they could then lease to Clearwire ? I certainly haven't seen any—nor heard of any. Not even a pipsqueak.
That is truly bizarre. The nanny state in the cable modem is not something I or other consumers should want.
Yesterday, I was about to sign up for Clearwire, but after reading the TOS, I was too spooked.
Their Visitor policy (for visitors to the web site, not necessarily isps) allows them to publically post anything you send them. This could easily be interpreted to include Name, CC #, Address, etc. Since I gave them all that information during signup (before it asked me to agree to the TOS), they could arguably legally post my private information on their front page.
OK, now for beefs about their actual TOS:
Nothing their representatives or other policys say are binding. Only what's in the TOS. So if the privacy policy says something like "We won't look at your private communication", well, according to the TOS you agree to, they can. It trumps their privacy policy.
It is essentially impossible to sue them for any reason once you click I agree. If they rape your dog and dig out your living room with a backhoe, you might naturally take them to court right? Well, you still have to pay all their attorney fees, expert witnesses, etc. No matter if you win. Besides, you can't win because you indemified them. And that agreement stays in effect even after you cancel their service. So if they come with a flamethrower 5 years after you canceled and burn your house to the ground, well, they are indemified still. Not to mention you waive your right to join a class action lawsuit. I give extreme examples only to illustrate how preposterous the agreement is.
Another rule, which I was going to turn a blind eye to and break anyway is that you may only use the service at the address you give them. Weird rule, especially since I've seen a sales rep put a router and modem in his car and share (and advertise) Clearwire to people with laptops and WLAN. I was wanting to get Clearwire to put in my car (I'm a developer and I was wanting to make a voice recognition system for my car that would access the Internet and do things like read my e-mail).
Oh, and there's hardly anything "early" about their "early termination fee". With cell phones, you sign a 1 year contract, and after the contract is up, you can cancel anytime. You have to read all the way to the 14th page to find that your contract auto-renews 1 year at a time. And if you want to cancel service without being charged the $180 "Early Termination Fee", you must do so in writing sent via snail mail to their headquarters at least 60 days before your service is to be canceled. So basically, there is only 1 day per year you can cancel your service without being charged $180.
Oh, and about "early termination".. well that includes if they terminate you too. Which they can do for any reason. I suspect that if the company ever goes under, they will simply tell all their subscribers "you're terminated - now give us $180 each".
I think I had one more beef with the agreement but can't think of it now. Other than their draconian legal agreements, they seem like a pretty cool company. All I can say is their legal agreements were directly responsible for them losing what should have been a customer. I suppose they don't care since, honestly, hardly anyone reads those agreements.
In fact, they don't even expect you to read it. I read their 20 page legal document in just under an hour. And when I clicked the Disagree button and hit next, the site informed me that my session had timed out. Now, I can read faster than the average person, and I didn't read the agreement in painstaking detail like you're supposedly supposed to. What that tells me about the company is they don't expect nor want their customers reading the agreement they agree to. I'll just have to wait for other WiMax providers in my area.
Their Visitor policy (for visitors to the web site, not necessarily isps) allows them to publically post anything you send them. This could easily be interpreted to include Name, CC #, Address, etc. Since I gave them all that information during signup (before it asked me to agree to the TOS), they could arguably legally post my private information on their front page.
OK, now for beefs about their actual TOS:
Nothing their representatives or other policys say are binding. Only what's in the TOS. So if the privacy policy says something like "We won't look at your private communication", well, according to the TOS you agree to, they can. It trumps their privacy policy.
It is essentially impossible to sue them for any reason once you click I agree. If they rape your dog and dig out your living room with a backhoe, you might naturally take them to court right? Well, you still have to pay all their attorney fees, expert witnesses, etc. No matter if you win. Besides, you can't win because you indemified them. And that agreement stays in effect even after you cancel their service. So if they come with a flamethrower 5 years after you canceled and burn your house to the ground, well, they are indemified still. Not to mention you waive your right to join a class action lawsuit. I give extreme examples only to illustrate how preposterous the agreement is.
Another rule, which I was going to turn a blind eye to and break anyway is that you may only use the service at the address you give them. Weird rule, especially since I've seen a sales rep put a router and modem in his car and share (and advertise) Clearwire to people with laptops and WLAN. I was wanting to get Clearwire to put in my car (I'm a developer and I was wanting to make a voice recognition system for my car that would access the Internet and do things like read my e-mail).
Oh, and there's hardly anything "early" about their "early termination fee". With cell phones, you sign a 1 year contract, and after the contract is up, you can cancel anytime. You have to read all the way to the 14th page to find that your contract auto-renews 1 year at a time. And if you want to cancel service without being charged the $180 "Early Termination Fee", you must do so in writing sent via snail mail to their headquarters at least 60 days before your service is to be canceled. So basically, there is only 1 day per year you can cancel your service without being charged $180.
Oh, and about "early termination".. well that includes if they terminate you too. Which they can do for any reason. I suspect that if the company ever goes under, they will simply tell all their subscribers "you're terminated - now give us $180 each".
I think I had one more beef with the agreement but can't think of it now. Other than their draconian legal agreements, they seem like a pretty cool company. All I can say is their legal agreements were directly responsible for them losing what should have been a customer. I suppose they don't care since, honestly, hardly anyone reads those agreements.
In fact, they don't even expect you to read it. I read their 20 page legal document in just under an hour. And when I clicked the Disagree button and hit next, the site informed me that my session had timed out. Now, I can read faster than the average person, and I didn't read the agreement in painstaking detail like you're supposedly supposed to. What that tells me about the company is they don't expect nor want their customers reading the agreement they agree to. I'll just have to wait for other WiMax providers in my area.
# posted by 
: 5/30/2006 12:39 AM
: 5/30/2006 12:39 AM
I no longer have a URL, thanks to Clearwire, deleting my 12 page family website without notice,explanation or apology once,confronted. They wrote a trouble ticket to "investigate" why no one could access my 10 mb website published on clearwire hosting 5/06. They only wrote this "trouble" tkt. after 5 or more calls between Nov24th and Dec 25 about the "no" access problem. Finally on 12/28 a so called resolutions expert T2 Tim came on the line to tell me, they were clearing the trouble ticket because the problem was resolved,by informing me that my entire Website http://fox.clearwire.net, was accidentally deleted in November. Now as I tried to make some coherent statement about how much time ,effort and more/as importantly how many of my family members strung out across the world rely on the site for information ,news,and a place to interact. I spent months setting up that 12 page site complete with pictures ,sound,and Family reunion updates. They didn't even apologize,not once, all either of the so called techs said was its gone,you will have to rebuild it. We don't know how or when it was deleted,it is just gone. I asked a few questions, like why didn't they inform me of the deletion? Like the first few times I called about the problem,maybe? They said other sites where also deleted in error, but they don't know which sites until somebody complained. Now I am not a Webhosting tech, but you tell me how you delete any number of sites, but "Don't know which ones..." How is that possible, sounds like you also don't know what sites you were hosting, or you would know when they were deleted, by you .. !!!! Am I crazy, I don't think so. What way is this for a company this size still doing business and soliciting new customes to respond to me? I joined Clearwire in June of '05 Jacksonville,FL first test market, two year contract,not scheduled to end until June7,'07. NOT !!! They are in serious breach at this moment for lack of service, failing on may occations to provide any Internet access at all as well as failing to "Host" the 10 MB Website I am paying them for ! There is no such animal as "customer Care" and they need to quickly rename that department to "We don't know and We don't care,about the customer,especially YOU"!!!! I am ending my association with them and turning in this lousy equipment. What I am NOT doing is building another Website for them to delete,nor continuing to day them $28 automatically each month while being screwed. NOPE, sure can't see myself doing that any longer. What I want to do is somehow get the word out to the present & future consumer of these persons of questionable Internet and business skills. Is flimflam still legal if you don't get caught.
A tad beyond disqruntled in Jacksonville
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A tad beyond disqruntled in Jacksonville
# posted by : 12/31/2006 9:44 AM
: 12/31/2006 9:44 AM
