Mark Cuban: Block P2P Traffic, Please

Authored by Mark Cuban on November 20, 2007 - 10:26am.

I'm not a Comcast customer. I happen to get service from Verizon, ATT and Time Warner at various locations where I pay for internet service. If I was a Comcast customer, I would tell them, as I am now telling all the services I am a customer of: BLOCK P2P TRAFFIC , PLEASE. As a consumer, I want my internet experience to be as fast as possible. 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.

Does anyone really think its free ? That all the bandwidth consumed with content being distributed by P2P isn't being paid for by someone ? That bandwidth is being paid for by consumers. Consumers who pay for personal, not commercial applications. When consumers provide their bandwidth to assist commercial applications, they are subsidizing those commercial applications which if it isn't already, should be against an ISPs terms of service.

Thats not to say there isnt a place for P2P. There is. P2P is probably the least efficient means of distributing content in the last mile. Comcast, Time Warner, etc should charge a premium to those users who want to act as a seed and relay for P2P traffic. After all, that is why P2P is used, right ? For content distributors to avoid significant bandwidth and hosting charges. That makes it commercial traffic far more often than not. So make them pay commercial rates.

That will stop P2P dead in its tracks. P2P isnt so good that people will use it when they have to pay for all the bandwidth it consumes. It will die a quick death. That will speed up my internet connection.

thats a good thing.

So hang in there Comcast

Update: I wanted to offer the best alternative to P2P for audio and video..... Google Video. If you are trying to do distribution of audio or video, why in the world would you use P2P when Google Video will host and distribute it very efficiently and for free ?

To help those of you who cant understand how to distribute audio on Google Video, here is a hint: Re encode it with a little video, a couple pictures, whatever. Then it it wont be an audio file, it will be a video file.. Ta da . You get distribution by the best distribution network on the planet, for free.

Mark Cuban

This piece was originally published on Mark's blog Blog Maverick and is posted on DMW with the author's permission. Mark's bio can be viewed here. The views expressed in this post are the author’s own, and do not represent the views of Digital Media Wire.

Flickr Photo By Kerplunk Whoops

Published in DMW Daily, November 20, 2007

Previous story: Indian VOD Provider TinselVision Raises Over $3 Million
Next story: Buzz Watch: Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited

Email this page

Comments

Want some cheese to go with that....

Submitted by Gabriel Kent (not verified) on November 21, 2007 - 12:34am.

Hmm... Say Mark and I are neighbors and we both pay for 1Mbps internet connections. And at some point while Mark is streaming NBA highlights his connection begins to sputter. At that very moment I am seeding the latest Ubuntu distribution because I just downloaded it from others and am giving back by acting like a seed for those who do not yet have it. Now after some techno-wizardry we determine that his internet stream is stuttering because of my seeding Ubuntu. So am I responsible for interrupting Mark's NBA highlights? Or would the ISP be fairly blamed for allowing that to happen? In other words, we both paid for 1Mbps and one of us is receiving that and perhaps more and the other is not. Is Mark's problem with me or the ISP for which he has a contract with for a given amount of bandwidth? This is a problem with the inability of the ISP to segment and provide the services for which they are contracted to provide. Regardless of how I use 1Mbps...if I use it for 20 minutes a day or 24/7 never stop, that is my choice. I paid my $20/month for that bandwidth. And if I choose to subsidize Ubuntu...good for me. If Mark's connection is sputtering, he mustn't attack his neighbors...rather the company ripping him off. Instead, he writes an open letter to the ISPs crying about P2P slowing his internet connection and doesn't question why the ISP is not providing him with what he is supposed to have paid for. Sad really... >||;] p2p peer / futureprogress.net

Can't have your cake and eat it too

Submitted by andrew wise (not verified) on November 21, 2007 - 1:37am.

I think if you take this stance, you have to let it go the other way too. When AT&T was forced to release their $10 DSL, and then proceeded to hide it from consumers, that was ridiculous. You have broadband providers trying to squeeze more money out of consumers with this whole Net Neutrality nonsense, but you don't see it going the other way. And as far as throttling p2p, the internet may fall victim of a tradegy of the commons, just as we've come to expect the highways to be crowded, the DMV being unbearable, and these series of tubes getting mighty clogged.

Why is a photo of me on

Submitted by The person in the pic? (not verified) on January 22, 2009 - 10:18am.

Why is a photo of me on display here then??? Funny though.