Curiouser and Curiouser! on terry-frazier

More skype talk

Sun, 26 Oct 2003 20:23:57 +0000

Had Skype conversations last night with both Terry Frazier and Stuart Henshall. Terry and I have spoken a couple of times now thanks to Skype and it's much better than IM. We were ruminating on how our circumstances have changed since we first 'met.' It was the first time I had spoken to Stuart but I warmed to him straight away. We talked about K-Collector/MovableType (which should be forthcoming RSN), Skype and the opportunities it offers and about some knowledge management issues close to our hearts.

The very model of a modern internet service provider

Fri, 21 Nov 2003 16:11:57 +0000

The ISP Nanny State. I've become interested in the wireless ISP business, partly because I'm tired of the "half-fast" Internet served up by the telcos and cablecos, and partly because the cost/quality ratio of radios has improved to the point that it's plausible to consider establishing a wireless ISP business in some of the growing, but under connected, areas where I live. So I started prowling several industry web sites and mail lists to get a feel for the landscape.

One of the first things I came across did not make me feel good. Going through the [isp-wireless] list archives I came across a disturbing, 35-message thread on P2P blocking. Over two dozen people made comments after a wISP in Sioux Falls, SD posted the following:

Last week I installed a Mikrotik 2.8beta box configured as a bridge after the router. We are blocking P2P file sharing and the results have been very entertaining. People will not actually call up and tell you that Kazaa is not working. It is the "Internet" has stopped working... Or I cannot get to the sites that I need.

This ISP has instituted arbitrary packet blocking without notice to customers and seems to think it's a joke. A number of other wISPs expressed interest in just how this was being done, what equipment was being used, and how they could serve up the same QOS. There was a fair amount of discussion of how and why to block P2P, how much to choke it down, and whether or not customers who think "the Internet has stopped working" could figure out what was happening. But not much about the blatant stupidity of this policy. Only one participant called this outright foolishness and asked how the wISP was getting away with it, though in fairness there were a few others who voiced some disapproval or suggested smarter alternatives such as more flexible billing or blocking only the outbound P2P packets.

To some extent this conversation isn't surprising. There is a real need to manage bandwidth usage and costs and with the wireless ISP industry still nascent, and with a disproportionate number of small-time (and likely unsophisticated) operators, it's not surprising to see this sort of talk. But it is still sad. And worse, these guys apparently think this sort of thing is going on at larger ISPs:

This type of filtering is the EXACT same thing that cable companies are putting into place nation wide. Here in Mass, Our local cable company is putting caps on the kazaa downloads and uploads using this type of filter but because it only effects that application, web browsing and email are totally unaffected. Although they are not admitting to doing this, we have confirmed via actual trials that this is indeed what is going on. The trick is to figure out what a good speed ratio is and cater to that figure. For us, the 1k/s per person is perfectly acceptable since it doesn't impact downloading. Less then that would affect search packets and thus be noticed.

I do not, at present, use any of the P2P file sharing packages. I wouldn't know if my ISP, earthlink, were blocking outbound Kazaa packets. But I do know that once the ISPs start down the path of arbitrary packet monitor they have stopped being an ISP and become the worst kind of nanny -- a nanny who hides behind the cloak of technology and does in secret what could not be done in public.

Some of the ISPs fall back on the "NO SERVERS" clause in their customer contracts -- a brain-dead paean to the half-fast "consumer" Internet model of the media conglomerates (you know, those people who think the purpose of a roof is to keep rain off the television set.) Others don't see any need to justify what they're doing, proving they don't know what they're doing at all.

I won't argue with an ISP who wants to become a hall monitor as long as they disclose what they're doing (AOL makes billions selling the Internet with training wheels.) I certainly won't argue with one who wants to bill for excess bandwidth usage. But I wonder if this business of approving some content while preventing others doesn't start the whole ISP industry down a slippery slope of legal liability for messages that pass across their pipes.

What I do know is that there is a lot more at stake here than just some backwater ISP's backhaul bill. Secret packet filtering is neither good ethics nor good business. [b.cognosco]

Good post Terry.

I have a real problem with ISP's selling bandwidth with their left hand and then taking it away with their right. If they can't afford for all their users to actually use the bandwidth they've paid for then perhaps they're in the wrong business. I have no problem with being charged in accordance with my usage (which is not to say that I advocate per-byte costs or anything like that, just that I think I am heavy internet user and would expect to pay for it) but don't sell me something and then not deliver it!

I also agree that ISP's should have no business messing about with what I can or cannot do with the bandwidth I have. I totally agree that this no servers business is a load of old crap. If it's because they are afraid of bandwidth use - deal with that problem! If it's because they think it will undercut their over priced business packages - get a clue! But don't try and tell me what I can do with bandwidth I've paid for. It's none of your business!

I should also say that Telewest Blueyonder are a great ISP and I would recommend them for their service and aftercare. They do have an AUP but so far I've had no cause to read it and complain.

Conversations

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 23:22:39 +0100

A few days back I had the pleasure of a Skype call from Terry Frazier. Unfortunately I was busy Skyping with someone else at the time so had to call him back. At that point he was Skyping with Stuart Henshall, so Stuart conferenced me in to that call. So there were were London, Atlanata and California on a free call with great quality. Thank you Skype.

And speaking of conversations with people from far flung places Veer Bothra (Bombay) was the first person to visit the #kmtalk IRC channel that I setup. Suw dropped in also. We had an interesting chat. I hope that, in time, others may find there way there also.

More on #kmtalk and IRC integration

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 17:58:47 +0100

A couple more visitors to #kmtalk. First there was the author of Your Guess Is As Good as Mine (Jonathan Smith?). Also Terry Frazier and Rick Klau stopped by. Terry demonstrated his l33t skills by signing in using his Treo 600 (using upIRC).

Anyone and everyone who is interested in knowledge management, communities of practice, collaboration, wiki, social networks and other related topics is welcome to stop by. Right now I am interested in how IRC can be linked to other tools (including K-Collector of course).

For example might it be useful to link K-Collector topics (e.g. Knowledge Management) to IRC channels? For example topics like Knowledge Management, K-Logs, Knowledge Organisation, Knowledge Economy, Collaboration, Commercial blogging, ... could all be linked to the #kmtalk IRC channel. Topics about different subjects could be linked to other channels.

The idea is that people viewing the web topic could see who was talking in the channel (want to join in?) and recent traffic in the channel (have something to add?) Could this be a useful application?

EditMe if you can

Mon, 10 May 2004 14:04:51 +0100

Terry put me on to EditMe which is a hosted Wiki service and it's quite impressive.

Two things really strike me:

They got rid of Wiki markup and use a WYSIWYG editor like blogs do. This is great. I'm not terribly anti- WikiMarkup except that it's grown into this horrible overblown formatting language, or should I say into a hundred overblown formatting language and every wiki has it's own damned brand of it. Hello? Standards?
They have a good, simple, security model. Pages are visible to public, registered users, administrators. Pages can be edited by public, registered users, administrators. You get a drop-down on the page. Neat.

It's priced to go at $5/month for the basic service. If they have an open Wiki-API too I'd be in heaven.

Terry Frazier MIA

Thu, 12 May 2005 20:56:57 +0100

Can it be true? My good fried Terry is gone?

We are sad to report this morning the tragic death of blogger Terry Frazier. Mr. Frazier, whose real name was Mr. Frazier, disappeared from weblogs.com sometime in late March or early April. His unheralded and unmarked disappearance went unnoticed for some time, until friends and relatives reported him missing. Authorities have been uncooperative to date, ignoring repeated calls for assistance. -- [From the ghost of Terry Frazier's Weblog]

Perhaps we should call in the Feds?

The four questions every reader should ask

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:11:44 +0100

Terry has just setup his own bookstore which is pretty cool since he mentions a lot of books and his and my taste seem to intersect quite a lot.

In particular How To Read A Book looks very interesting:

Mortimer Adler and Charles van Dorens book on reading methodology never fails to draw a laugh when I take it out in public. Yet its one of the most useful, and well-used, books on my bookshelf. This is a practical book, filled with solid, step-by-step instructions to help you read quickly, actively, and effectively...

One for the Amazon wishlist.

It would be neat if Amazon would let you wishlist something with the associate information intact so that they would get their cut when you (or someone else) finally buys it.

Awaited

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:32:15 +0100

It's been a long time coming but I'm pleased to see the time is drawing near...